"The Breaks" is a

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – In ...

single by American rapper

Kurtis Blow Kurtis Walker (born August 9, 1959), professionally known by his stage name Kurtis Blow, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record/film producer, b-boy, DJ, public speaker and minister. He is the first commercially successful rapper ...

from his self-titled debut album. It peaked at #87 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It was the first certified gold

rap song "Rap Song" is a song by R&B singer T-Pain. The song features rapper Rick Ross and originally served as a single off T-Pain's fourth studio album '' RevolveЯ'', but never made it on the track list. Background His previous singles " Take Your ...

, and the second certified gold

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

. In 2008, the song ranked #10 on VH1's 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs.

Lyrics and structure

"The Breaks" repeats the word "

break Break or Breaks or The Break may refer to: Time off from duties * Recess (break), time in which a group of people is temporarily dismissed from its duties * Break (work), time off during a shift/recess ** Coffee break, a short mid-morning rest ...

" (or any of its

homophone A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same (to varying extent) as another word but differs in meaning. A ''homophone'' may also differ in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (pa ...

s) 84 times over six and a half minutes. It features six breakdowns (seven including the outro) while there are three definitions for "break," "to break" or "brakes" used in the lyrics. Unlike most hip-hop songs which sample prerecorded funk, the funk beat in this song is original (contrary to suggestions that it sampled "

Long Train Runnin' "Long Train Runnin" (or "Long Train Running") is a song recorded by the Doobie Brothers and written by band member Tom Johnston. It was included on the band's 1973 album '' The Captain and Me'' and was released as a single, becoming a hit and pe ...

" by

The Doobie Brothers The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band formed in 1970 in San Jose, California, known for their flexibility in performing across numerous genres and their vocal harmonies. Active for five decades, with their greatest success in the 1970s, ...

Charts

The single hit #87 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100, #4 on the U.S. ''Billboard''

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

, and #9 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' dance chart.

Certifications

It sold over 500,000 copies, becoming the first

to earn a

gold certification Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

from the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

and the second

to earn a gold certification, following " No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" by

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...

and

Donna Summer LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the " Queen of Disco", while her musi ...

Media

The song has also featured in few games: the 2002 game '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' on the fictional in-game radio station "Wildstyle", the 2005 game '' True Crime: New York City'', the 2006 game '' Scarface: The World Is Yours'' and 2011

Kinect Kinect is a line of motion sensing input devices produced by Microsoft and first released in 2010. The devices generally contain RGB cameras, and infrared projectors and detectors that map depth through either structured light or time of fli ...

game ''

Dance Central 2 ''Dance Central 2'' is a music rhythm game for the Xbox 360 and is the sequel to ''Dance Central''. It was released in October 2011. Plot Dr. Tan is monitoring the status of the area in The Airship, laughing while doing so. The player first ...

''.

Samples

It has been

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

by others, including the background beat being used in Organized Rhyme's song "Check The O.R." and the 2005

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ), also known as reggaetón and reguetón (), is a music style that originated in Panama during the late 1980s. It was later popularized in Puerto Rico. It has evolved from dancehall and has been influenced by American hip hop, ...

single, "

Chacarron Macarron "Chacarron" (often known as "Chacarron Macarron") is a song by Panamanian artists Rodney Clark (El Chombo) and Andres de la Cruz (also known as Andy's Val Gourmet). It is a reworking of the original version from 2003 by Andy's Val Gourmet, who ...

" by El Chombo The female rap group Nadanuf remade the song alongside Kurtis Blow on their 1997 album ''Worldwide''. Blow re-recorded the song on the album ''Tricka Technology'' by

A Skillz A.Skillz (born Adam Mills) is an English electronic musician. He has worked across the UK at FabricLive, Spectrum, Chew The Fat, Supercharged, The Boutique and Sugarbeat as well as gigs around the world at major events, festivals and music indus ...

and

Krafty Kuts Krafty Kuts (real name Martin Reeves) is an English producer and DJ of electronic music and breakbeat. His first album, ''Freakshow'', was released in 2006 on his Against The Grain label and contains guest artists Tim Deluxe and Ashley Slat ...

. H H.O.T's Tony Ahn rapped the portions of The Breaks as an uncredited vocal for the intro of S.E.S.'s "I'm Your Girl".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Breaks, The 1980 singles Kurtis Blow songs Funk-rap songs 1979 songs Mercury Records singles