“Rapture” • Blondie • Sire/Warner Bros. Records • 1980
The friendship between graffiti artist and culture framer “Fab 5 Freddy” Brathwaite and new wave musicians Deborah Harry and Chris Stein led to this unlikely pop hit in 1981 by Harry and Stein’s band, Blondie.
“Rapture” went on to become the first record containing rap to reach number one on the American pop charts, although that “rap” was performed by a cultural tourist.