Ladies and Gents, stone cold funky rappin from 1968! Dewey “Pigmeat” Markham was a routine comic and central figure in the traveling burlesque and vaudevillian entertainment circuits in the 1920s and 30s, but is best known for his Here Comes The Judge comedy routine and subsequent recordings with Chess Records in the 1960s. The catchphrase soon became a nationwide hit, inspiring recording acts from Shorty Long to Bull and the Matadors to release their own records with homage to the Judge, even Pigmeat himself tried to topple to phenomenon and recorded a few other versions of the Judge but none of them lasted as long as the original. Predating Blowfly by a good decade, Pigmeat recorded what is now considered to be one of the first raps in recorded history.

One of the first things to grab my attention on this particular 45 was the huuuge funky drums backing the Judge’s rapping order, and I took a closer gander at the record to see that Ralph Bass was behind the production of this particular 45. If you weren’t too familiar (it’s Ok, I wasn’t either) Ralph Bass had an enormous career in A&R and record production in R&B and soul music. His name tenders credits to everyone from T-Bone Walker to Hank Ballard and James Brown aka Mr. Dynamite himself (and is in fact partly responsible for breaking Please Please Please on the airwaves) to mostly all of the recording artists on Chess Records and later working with John Lee Hooker on ABC Records. I’ll keep today’s post a bit on the lighter side, but I hope you enjoy today’s funky slab of justice!


LISTEN/DOWNLOAD: Pigmeat Markham-Here Comes The Judge