I started DJing, breakdancing and MCing in the ’70s and I got my record deal in 1979 with ’Christmas Rap.’

Kurtis Blow is situating his career inside the formative years of hip-hop, emphasizing that he participated in its core elements—DJing, breakdancing, and MCing—before rap became a mainstream recording industry category. By pointing to a 1979 record deal tied to “Christmas Rap,” he underscores how early commercial rap recordings were often novelty-leaning or seasonal, yet still pivotal in translating a local, party-based culture into the marketplace. The statement functions as a brief autobiography and a claim to pioneering status: he was present at the culture’s birth, and he entered the recording business at the moment hip-hop began to be documented and monetized.