Sylvia Robinson’s Impact on Hip-Hop

In every era of music, there are legends both on stage and behind the scenes.  In 1935, a legend by the name of Sylvia Robinson was born in New York. She would become a multi-faceted producer, singer-songwriter, club owner and label owner. During her journey, she would take many risks and try unconventional ideas. Let us get into her story and the pathways she took to create and open doors. 

Sylvia started her road to the music business at a young age as an R&B vocalist. She dropped out of school and spent her time at the Columbia Records studio recording for various records. Her stage name was Little Sylvia, under which she released at least 7 tracks.  She later became part of the guitar and vocal duo Sylvia and Mickey.  Sylvia’s career began to take off at this point, after the duo released their hit song “Love is Strange” in addition to many other tracks.  Eventually, Mickey moved abroad and the duo disbanded, ending their seven-year collaboration. Sylvia married Joe Robinson in 1964, but her career was by no means over– she would go on to run a club, open an in-house recording studio called Soul Sound, and found All Platinum Record Company. 

Sylvia was not involved in the New York rap scene until her son got her into it.  This discovery pushed her to create her own group by driving around the city and looking for rappers to join it. 

This was the beginning of the Sugarhill Gang.  

In 1979, Sylvia Robinson produced the Sugarhill Gang’s hit song, “Rapper’s Delight”, which reached the top 40 and was one of the first hit singles to feature rapping, introducing hip-hop to a huge audience of new listeners.  Through the years, Sylvia added more notable artists to her roster, such as Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, The Treacherous Three, and The Funky 4+1.  

Sylvia developed many records across genres, but she was left out of many of the credits she deserved. She produced the pop track “You Talk Too Much”.  Had she been credited for this track, she would have been the first Black woman to have independently created a top 10 pop hit. Unfortunately, this is common practice, especially with women as they are treated like secretaries rather than taken seriously as contributors to the music. She also created Tina Turner’s “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine”, which was nominated for a Grammy. However, due to the erasure of her contribution, she never received the recognition she deserved for that track and a few others. 

Regardless, it is widely understood that Sylvia Robinson paved the way for the structure of hip-hop today, from her trailblazing label creating pathways for future labels, such as Def Jam and Top Dawg, to other facets of hip-hop culture such as bringing social consciousness into musical themes and lifestyle.  Sylvia’s contributions allowed others to follow her same path in the future.  Sylvia Robinson is an amazing role model for women in the music industry.