Robert "Rocky" Ford Jr. (June 30, 1949 – May 19, 2020) was an American journalist and record producer. While working for ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' in 1978, Ford wrote the first article about

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

to appear in any major publication. He went on to produce albums and write songs for acts including

Kurtis Blow Kurtis Walker (born August 9, 1959), known professionally by his stage name Kurtis Blow, is an American rapping , rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Walker is the first commercially successful rapper and the first to sign with a major rec ...

Rodney Dangerfield Jack Roy (born Jacob Cohen; November 22, 1921 – October 5, 2004), better known by the stage name Rodney Dangerfield, was an American stand-up comedian, actor, screenwriter, and producer. He was known for his self-deprecating one-liner humor, ...

, and

Full Force Full Force is an American music group of hip hop and R&B singers, songwriters and producers from Brooklyn, New York. Members *B-Fine (Brian George) – drums and drum programming, backing vocals *Shy Shy (Hugh Junior Clark) – bass guita ...

, and has been recognized as having played "a crucial role in early commercial hip-hop". Ford has been credited as a mentor by entrepreneur

Russell Simmons Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. He has p ...

Early life

Robert Ford Jr. was born in

Harlem, Manhattan Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...

, on June 30, 1949. His parents would play

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, and R&B records around the house while he was growing up. His family later moved to St. Albans, Queens, and he became friends with Larry Smith while attending Andrew Jackson High School there. After graduating, he briefly attended

Queensborough Community College Queensborough Community College (QCC) is a Public college, public community college in New York City. One of seven community colleges within the City University of New York (CUNY) system, Queensborough enrolls more than 12,000 attending studen ...

Journalism

Ford began his career in journalism working as production manager for ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' and ''

.'' He then became a journalist for the latter magazine, primarily writing about

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

. In 1978, Ford traveled to

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

to figure out why certain obscure R&B records were suddenly in high demand at a popular record store in the area. He met with

DJ Kool Herc Clive Campbell (born April 16, 1955), better known by his stage name DJ Kool Herc, is a Jamaican-American DJ who is credited with being the founder of hip hop music in the Bronx, New York City, in 1973. Nicknamed the Father of Hip-Hop, Campbe ...

and learned that DJs were buying up these records in order to play short

drum breaks In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece. A break is usually interpolated between sections of a song, to p ...

in the songs on repeat at parties. On July 1 of that year, ''Billboard'' ran his article about the trip, titled "B-Beats Bombarding Bronx: Mobile DJ Starts Something With Oldie R&B Disks", which is now widely considered to be the first article about hip-hop in a major publication. In May 1979, Ford published "Jive Talking N.Y. DJs Rapping Away in Black Discos", which focused on DJs like

Eddie Cheeba Eddie Cheeba (October 18, 1956 – February 13, 2024) was an American DJ in New York in the 1970s, considered to be the number one club DJ. Eddie, real name Edward Sturgis, was born in New York and grew up in the Douglas Projects of the Bronx wh ...

DJ Hollywood DJ Hollywood (born Anthony Holloway; December 10, 1954) is an American MC and disc jockey. His rhythmic MC sets have led him to be credited as one of the first-ever rappers. Career In the 1970s, DJ Hollywood became known for DJ sets during wh ...

, and

Lovebug Starski Kevin Smith (May 16, 1960 – February 8, 2018), best known by his stage name Lovebug Starski, was an American MC, musician, and record producer. He began his career as a record boy in 1971 as hip hop first appeared in the Bronx, and he eventu ...

that rapped while spinning records. It was also in the late 1970s that Ford helped then-aspiring writer

Nelson George Nelson George (born September 1, 1957) is an American author, columnist, music and culture critic, journalist, and filmmaker. He has been nominated twice for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Biography George attended St. John's Universit ...

get an internship at ''Billboard''.

Songwriting and record production

Ford left ''Billboard'' in 1979 to concentrate on writing and producing the song " Christmas Rappin'" with former co-worker J.B. Moore. The duo gave the song to rapper Kurtis Blow, who Ford met while working on his "Jive Talking N.Y. DJs..." article. The song was released by

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...

in December 1979 to wide success, causing Blow to sign a deal with the label. Also in 1979, Ford met rapper

Joseph Simmons Joseph Ward Simmons (born November 14, 1964), better known by the stage name Run, Rev. Run or DJ Run, is an American rapper, producer, DJ, and television personality. Simmons is one of the founding members of the influential Hip-hop, hip hop g ...

(later known as Run of

Run-DMC Run-DMC (also formatted Run-D.M.C., RUN DMC, or some combination thereof) was an American hip-hop group formed in Hollis, Queens, New York City in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as one of the mos ...

), who then introduced him to his older brother

. Ford began taking Russell to industry events, encouraged him to become a record producer, and encouraged Blow to hire Russell as a manager. Ford, Moore, Smith, and Russell Simmons co-produced Blow's followup song, " The Breaks", which became the first hip-hop single to be

certified gold Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. In the late 1980s, Ford became vice president of

Rush Communications Rush Communications is the company owned and founded by the hip-hop pioneer Russell Simmons. It is one of the largest African American owned media firms in the United States. Rush continues to draw on its roots in hip hop, targeting young consume ...

. He later founded his own management company that helped launch R&B group

Hi-Five Hi-Five is an American R&B quintet from Waco, Texas. Hi-Five had a No. 1 hit on ''Billboards Hot 100 in 1991 with " I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)". The band was originally formed in 1989 as a trio: childhood friends Tony Thompson, Rus ...

Personal life

Ford married Linda Medley in 1998. Ford had a son, sportscaster Robert Ford III, in 1979 and a daughter, the artist Raque Ford, in 1986.

Death and legacy

Ford died in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

on May 19, 2020. He received obituaries in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'', and ''Billboard'', with the latter publishing multiple retrospectives on his reporting.'''' Blow said about Ford: "He taught me how to be a man. I was very shy; he brought me out of that and turned me into this incredible performer"; Russell Simmons said that Ford "taught imthe value of selling the truth".

Selected production discography

* '' Deuce'' (1981) –

* '' Rappin' Rodney'' (1983) –

* '' Ego Trip'' (1984) – Kurtis Blow * ''

'' (1985) –

* '' Full Force Get Busy 1 Time!'' (1986) – Full Force

References

External links

*
B-Beats Bombarding Bronx
*
Jive Talking N.Y. DJs Rapping Away in Black Discos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford Jr., Robert 1949 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American journalists Billboard (magazine) Andrew Jackson High School (Queens) alumni African-American journalists Journalists from New York City American music journalists Record producers from New York (state) African-American record producers American hip-hop record producers People from Harlem 20th-century American songwriters African-American male songwriters