J.B. Moore, the advertising executive from suburban Long Island who helped write the lyrics for one of rap’s first hits, Kurtis Blow’s 1979 novelty track “Christmas Rappin’,” has died at the age of 81. Moore passed away on March 13 in Manhattan due to pancreatic cancer, according to his friend Seth Glassman.
Alongside his partner Robert “Rocky” Ford, Moore played a significant role in producing Kurtis Blow’s albums, which helped catapult the rapper to fame in the early 1980s. The duo’s unlikely partnership began in the 1970s at Billboard magazine, where Moore worked as an advertising salesman and occasional jazz reviewer, while Ford was a reporter and critic. Ford, one of the first to cover the rise of rap music in New York City, later connected Moore to the emerging hip-hop scene.
In a 2001 oral history for the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle, Moore reflected on the unique bond between him and Ford, saying, “I was a white guy from Long Island, and he was a Black guy from Queens. But our record collections were virtually identical.”
In the summer of 1979, Ford pitched Moore an idea to write a Christmas song. Inspired by a Billboard colleague who had written a holiday tune for Perry Como, Ford wanted to capitalize on the lucrative royalties of Christmas music. Moore, who had musical experience as a guitarist and bassist, agreed to the project and funded it with $10,000 of his savings, which he had originally set aside to write a novel about his time in Vietnam.
The pair approached Kurtis Blow, an aspiring rapper from Harlem, to record the song. Blow, initially skeptical of the lyrics, quickly warmed to the quirky charm of Moore’s writing. He added some of his own lines, and within one night, the song was recorded.
Despite facing rejection from over 20 labels, Mercury Records finally released “Christmas Rappin’” in December 1979. The song became a hit in the UK, charting in the Top 30, and sold over 350,000 copies. Although it didn’t chart in the U.S., it became a staple in hip-hop parties, long after the holiday season.
Moore and Ford’s partnership helped launch Blow’s career. Blow’s debut album, released in 1980, featured the single “The Breaks,” which became the first rap song to be certified gold, selling more than 500,000 copies. This success proved that rap records could transcend novelty status and reach a wider audience.
Moore’s contributions to early hip-hop were significant, with Blow recently praising him on social media for helping bridge the gap between rap and mainstream music in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Moore’s influence continued through Blow’s 1984 album, Ego Trip, which included the popular song “Basketball.” After that, Blow took over production duties.
Beyond his work with Blow, Moore and Ford also produced albums for the Brooklyn electro-R&B group Full Force and worked on novelty rap tracks such as Rodney Dangerfield’s “Rappin’ Rodney” (1983) and “City of Crime” (1987), a collaboration with Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd for the film Dragnet.
Born on November 4, 1943, in Cleveland, Moore grew up in Plandome, Long Island. After serving in Vietnam, he attended American University and later began his career at Billboard. He is survived by no immediate family.
Looking back on his early success in the rap world, Moore recalled the moment he realized the impact of “The Breaks,” when a friend played a version by a bar mitzvah band. “We had arrived,” he said, reflecting on the lasting legacy of his work in hip-hop.
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