Kurtis Blow Fans...

[Trauma-san]

Did the original "If I Ruled the World", and "The Breaks", etc... can anybody tell me (trivia question) where he got his name from?

[Leggy Hendrix]

*waits for the jokers of the forum to come up with something hilarious*

from allmusic.com:

Kurtis Blow was born Kurtis Walker in Harlem in 1959. He was in on the earliest stages of hip-hop culture in the '70s -- first as a breakdancer, then as a block-party and club DJ performing under the name Kool DJ Kurt; after enrolling at CCNY in 1976, he also served as program director for the college radio station. He became an MC in his own right around 1977, and changed his name to Kurtis Blow (as in a body blow) at the suggestion of his manager, future Def Jam founder and rap mogul Russell Simmons. Blow performed with legendary DJs like Grandmaster Flash, and for a time his regular DJ was Simmons' teenage brother Joseph -- who, after changing his stage name from "Son of Kurtis Blow," would go on to become the first half of Run-D.M.C. Over 1977-1978, Blow's club gigs around Harlem and the Bronx made him an underground sensation, and Billboard magazine writer Robert Ford approached Simmons about making a record. Blow cut a song co-written by Ford and financier J.B. Moore called "Christmas Rappin'," and it helped him get a deal with Mercury once the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" had climbed into the R&B Top Five.

 

[Trauma-san]

Yeah, but there's another connection, he didn't just come up with "Kurtis Blow" out of thin air.  anybody know it?

[Leggy Hendrix]

he was fond of smoking crack at the time?...i dunno...

[Trauma-san]

Kurtis was hiphopizing a Lynyrd Skynyrd song that came out in 1974 (a few years before he made it big, so it would have been on the radio at the time).... "The Ballad of Curtis Loew"... so like people do today, he took it ,changed it a little bit, and made a cool ass MC name out of it.  So like M&M's became "Eminem" and Corrupt became "Kurupt"... Curtis Loew became "Kurtis Blow"... at the time, I believe lots of blacks in America saw Southern Rock with it's rebel flags and things as racist, as well. 


The Ballad of Curtis Loew
Lynyrd Skynyrd
lyrics: Ronnie Van Zant


Well I used to wake the morning before the rooster crowed
Searching for soda bottles to get myself some dough
Brought 'em down to the corner, down to the country store
Cash 'em in and give my money to a man named Curtis Loew

Old Curt was a black man with white curly hair
When he had a fifth of wine he did not have a care
He used to own an old dobro, used to play it across his knee
I'd give old Curt my money, he'd play all day for me

(Chorus)
Play me a song Curtis Loew, Curtis Loew
I got your drinking money, tune up your dobro
People said he was useless, them people are the fools
'Cause Curtis Loew was the finest picker to ever play the blues

He looked to be sixty, and maybe I was ten
Mama used to whip me but I'd go see him again
I'd clap my hands, stomp my feets, try to stay in time
He'd play me a song or two
Then take another drink of wine.

Chorus

Yes sir

On the day old Curtis died, nobody came to pray
Ol' preacher said some words, and they chunked him in the clay
But he lived a lifetime playin' the black man's blues
And on the day he lost his life, that's all he had to lose

Play me a song Curtis Loew, Hey Curtis Loew
I wish that you was here so everyone would know
People said he was useless, them people all are fools
'Cause Curtis you're the finest picker to ever play the blues

[ecrazy]

M&M's became "Eminem"

i thought he named himself eminem because of his initials : marshall mathers

[pappy]

M&M's became "Eminem"

i thought he named himself eminem because of his initials : marshall mathers

yea he got his name from his initials.  trauma where did you hear thats how kurtis blow got his name

[Trauma-san]

M&M's became "Eminem"

i thought he named himself eminem because of his initials : marshall mathers

That's the whole thing.  Say my name is Bob Brantley.  I could call myself "beenBee" right?  Sounds like shit.

The reason "Eminem" sounds good, is because not only does it represent his initials, it's also a play on a word we're already familiar with; m&m's.  So it has several meanings, it's a pun.

If I named myself "Trauma Blow" it could represent 'blow' like in a body blow from a boxer, etc.... but "Kurtis Blow" works much better, because 1. the guy's name is already Kurtis... 2. the 'blow' represents a body blow or whatever from a boxer, and 3. there was a song called "Curtis Loew", so Kurtis Blow is a play on all 3. 

[pappy]

M&M's became "Eminem"

i thought he named himself eminem because of his initials : marshall mathers

That's the whole thing.  Say my name is Bob Brantley.  I could call myself "beenBee" right?  Sounds like shit.

The reason "Eminem" sounds good, is because not only does it represent his initials, it's also a play on a word we're already familiar with; m&m's.  So it has several meanings, it's a pun.

If I named myself "Trauma Blow" it could represent 'blow' like in a body blow from a boxer, etc.... but "Kurtis Blow" works much better, because 1. the guy's name is already Kurtis... 2. the 'blow' represents a body blow or whatever from a boxer, and 3. there was a song called "Curtis Loew", so Kurtis Blow is a play on all 3. 

i askin how do you kno he played it off the song curtis loew, it just sounds more like a coincidence than anything else.