8.15.2005
The Boxing Game
Hurt 'Em Bad & the S.C. Band The Boxing Game 45 (Profile, 1983)
Here is a winning combination: an early rap song about boxing with a Cameo-style funk backing. One of the few, maybe only, rap group from early 80s Las Vegas, Hurt 'Em Bad is also responsible for a basketball song and one on Monday Night football (either of which I have yet to hear). Here he shows a pretty good knowledge of the boxing world, name-dropping many of the champs and contenders of the 1970s & 80s, as well as key historical figures. By my ear, I got Marvin Hagler, Leon Spinks, Sugar Ray Robinson, Jack Dempsey, Jimmy Young, Tommy Hearns, Aaron Pryor, Roberto Colon, Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, Sugar Ray Leonard, Sonny Liston, Michael Doakes, Joe Lewis, Gerry Cooney, LeRoy Boone, Michael Spinks, George Foreman, Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson, Jake La Motta, Jersey Joe Walcott, Alexis Arguello, Ken Norton, Max Schmeling, Jack Johnson, and Mr. T. Ali, Marciano, Leonard, Frazier, Hearns, I all understand but Gerry Cooney? LeRoy Boone? Max Schmeling? That is the kind of detail that pushes this one into "classic" status. I'm not sure what became of Hurt 'Em Bad or the Soul Connection Band. Any takers?
# posted by Scott Soriano : 21:59
