People argue over this song’s place in the history of rap. Was it… the first rap song? The first commercial rap song? The first rap song to sell X number of copies / place X on the Billboard charts? The first rap song by a female to be one of the above?

The answer to all of the above is “not really,” but it admittedly depends on your definitions. And while “Rapper’s Delight” was released first, and was the first rap song to appear on the US Pop Chart, “Rapture” was the first #1 nationally-charting song of its nature. It was also a top 40 hit in several countries overseas.

Fab Five Freddy, who appears in the song’s music video, puts it this way:

For a lot of the white, mainstream public, it was the first time that they heard anybody rap, and it kinda paved the way, you could say, for what was about to come.

Read this conversation for more insight.