R.I.P. Sylvia Robinson

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Sylvia Robinson, the co-founder of Sugar Hill Records with her husband Joe passed today of congestive heart failure. Robinson had the vision to record rap music at a time when it was still mostly unknown to America. She formed the Sugarhill Gang and recorded their “Rapper’s Delight” which became hip-hop’s first commercially successful single. Sugar Hill Records is also credited with recording “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five. Earlier in her music career she had a hit with “Love Is Strange” in 1957 as Mickey & Sylvia and “Pillowtalk” in 1973.