Kurtis Blow

Kurtis Blow is a genuine founding figure, and the firsts here say it all. Born in Harlem in 1959, he was the first commercially successful rapper and the first to sign with a major label, and his 1980 single The Breaks became the first certified gold rap song. That's not just a career, that's a doorway the rest of hip-hop walked through. Seventeen albums later, the detail that sticks with me is that he became an ordained minister, a turn that says something about a man who moved from the block parties to the pulpit. I have real reverence for pioneers who made the path others now take for granted.

Name (English)

Kurtis Blow

Name (Japanese)

カーティス・ブロウ

Reading

かーてぃす・ぶろう

Born

August 9, 1959 (age 66)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Leo / Boar

Origin

New York, United States

Occupation

singer / record producer / composer / beatboxer / rapper

University

Nyack College

Motto

Private

• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/kurtisblow/
• Xhttps://x.com/kurtisblow1
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3%E3%82%B9%E3%83%BB%E3%83%96%E3%83%AD%E3%82%A6

Tags

• New York
• singer
• record producer
• composer

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.