Cheryl the Pearl of Sequence on the Sugar Hill Rapper's Convention Tour, 1981
Associated name
Sequence
Datec. 1981
Mediumchromogenic color prints
DimensionsOverall (HWD): 3 5/8 × 2 3/8 in. (9.208 × 6.033 cm)
Credit LineMoPOP permanent collection, copyright Experience Music Project
Object number2001.400.7
Text EntriesThe Sequence is the first southern Hip-Hop group—from Columbia, South Carolina—and the first Hip-Hop trio signed to pioneering Hip-Hop label Sugarhill Records, in the late 1970s. The Sequence included high school friends, Cheryl The Pearl (Cheryl Cook, b. unknown), Blondie (Gwendolyn Chisolm, b. unknown), Angie B (Angie Brown Stone, b. 1961). Their most notable song “Funk You Up,” has been sampled by artists like Dr. Dre, Erykah Badu, and En Vogue. Though never officially certified, “Funk You Up” was a nationwide hit, serving as the first Rap hit performed by women, and only the third Rap song to chart in the Top 50 of Billboard’s Hot Soul Singles. In a 70s landscape where the few Rap records that existed were chorus-free rhyme marathons, the Sequence seamlessly mixed singing and rapping and set the standard for women who could sing and rap during the emerging era of early Hip-Hop.
Colored photo of Cheryl the Pearl at the Rappers Conventions.
CopyrightThis work is issued under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) License. For more information, go to https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
On View
Not on view
Sequence
Date: c. 1981
Medium: chromogenic color prints
Object number: 2001.400.2
Sugar Hill Gang
Date: 1981
Medium: ink; paper (fiber product)
Object number: 2000.665.7
Symbolic Three
Date: c. 1984
Medium: chromogenic color prints
Object number: 1999.733.130
Disco Fever
Date: c. 1981
Medium: chromogenic color prints
Object number: 2001.400.4
DJ Breakout
Date: c. 1980
Medium: chromogenic color prints
Object number: 2001.400.5
Funky 4+1
Date: c.1981
Medium: chromogenic color prints
Object number: 2001.400.6
The Choice MCs
Date: c. 1985
Medium: chromogenic color prints
Object number: 1999.733.12
Sweet Slick and Sly Crew
Date: c. 1980
Medium: chromogenic color prints
Object number: 1999.733.13
Crash Crew
Date: c.1977
Medium: chromogenic color prints
Object number: 1999.733.14
Treacherous Three
Date: c. 1978
Medium: chromogenic color prints
Object number: 1999.733.15
