Grasping Reality by Brad DeLong

Over at the WCEG Equitablog:

How Much of a Different Country than the U.S. Today Was Harlem in 1979?: Wednesday Focus (January 15, 2014):

The Sugarhill Gang: “Rapper’s Delight” (1979): Big Bank Hank:

Check it out:
I’m the C-A-S-A, the N-O-V-A, and the rest is F-L-Y.
You see I go by the code of the doctor of the mix, and these reasons I’ll tell you why.
You see I’m six foot one, and I’m tons of fun, when I dress to a T.
You see I got more clothes than Muhammad Ali, and I dress so viciously.

I got bodyguards, I got two big cars, that definitely ain’t the wack,
I got a Lincoln Con-tin-en-tal, and a sunroofed Cadillac.
So after school, I take a dip in the pool, which is really on the wall,
I gotta color TV, so I can see, the Knicks play basketball…