King Tim III (Personality Jock)

"King Tim III (Personality Jock)" is a 1979 hip hop song by the Fatback Band from the disco album Fatback XII. Engineered by Delano “Rock” McLaurin and released on March 25, 1979,^[1] this song is often cited^[2] as the beginning of recorded hip hop music. The title refers to vocalist Tim Washington. A few months later, "Rapper's Delight" came out, which is widely regarded as the first commercially released hip hop song.

"King Tim III (Personality Jock)"
Single by Fatback Band
from the album Fatback XII
A-side	"You're My Candy Sweet"
Released	March 25, 1979
Genre	Funk disco old-school hip hop
Length	6:15 4:10 (Single edit)
Label	Spring Records
Songwriter(s)	Fred Demery, Bill Curtis
Producer(s)	Fatback Band, Jerry Thomas
Audio video
"King Tim III (Personality Jock)" on YouTube

The song was originally the B-side of the 7-inch single, with the A-side "You're My Candy Sweet" a mid-tempo disco song. However the song stalled at #67 after 4-weeks on the R&B chart and was replaced the following week with "King Tim III (Personality Jock)" on the chart. It peaked at #26 on the R&B chart and stayed on for 11 weeks.

Origins

Bill Curtis and Gerry Thomas were in the studio recording Fatback XII and Curtis didn't think the album had a hit. Curtis recalls turning to Thomas and saying

“‘We’ve got to do something different in there.’ And I had this one tune in there, which was kind of like an instrumental called ‘Catch the Beat.’ I said, ‘Jerry, let’s do a rap.’ First thing Jerry said, ‘Can’t nobody in the band rap. What do you mean, let’s do a rap?’ In the meantime one of the roadies was in the studio with me and heard me say that. He said, ‘I have a friend that lives in the projects that can rap.’ I said, ‘Yeah, bring him in tomorrow night.’ And he brought in Timothy Washington. That’s his name. He brought Timothy in and I said, ‘Go in the studio and start rapping.’ And he went in there and laid it down in two shots. Bang! Then we changed his name to King Tim III."^[3]

— Bill Curtis