This was only the second hip-hop song to make the Billboard Pop Top 40. Sugarhill Gang were first with Rapper's Delight. And unless you count Blondie's "Rapture", it took over a year for hip-hop to break the Top 40 twice. (sorry, Kurtis Blow fans. As massive a seller as The Breaks was, it never entered Casey Kasem's radio radar.)
I was in 6th grade when Double Dutch Bus crawled it's way up to #30 in the US (besting Rapper's Delight's peak of #36). And I couldn't get enough of it! Never mind how silly the lyrics are, the song is so fun and infectious you might find yourself rushing out to buy a couple jump ropes just so you can learn the Double Dutch.
Unfortunately, Mr. Smith never had another big hit. But he deserves a prominent place in hip-hop history. For one thing, he invented the "iz/izzle" slang that later became Snoop Dogg's trademark. And Double Dutch Bus has been sampled countless times, most notably by Missy Elliott (Gossip Folks), Madonna, and Kylie Minogue. So though serious heads may dismiss this song as a novelty, it will always be 5 stars worth of fun for me.
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