And they don't stop: NJ's Sugarhill Gang to play NJPAC as hip-hop celebrates 50 years

Anyone passing by the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark on Thursday evening will hear these familiar lyrics:

I said-a hip, hop, the hippie, the hippie/To the hip hip hop-a you don't stop a rockin'/to the bang-bang the boogie, say up jump the boogie/To the rhythm of the boogie, the beat

It will not be blasting out of a car radio. It will be hitting your eardrums live from the group that made the words famous worldwide in their 1979 hit, "Rapper's Delight."

Yes, the Sugarhill Gang will be in town, in the first of a series of prominent gigs for the seminal North Jersey rap group to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip-hop.

NJPAC concert

The Sugarhill Gang, formed in Englewood by record producer Sylvia Robinson in the late 1970s, is scheduled to take the stage at Chambers Plaza, the public space outside NJPAC at 51 Park Place, around 7 p.m. The free concert is part of NJPAC's Horizon Sounds of the City Concert series, which starts at 6 p.m. with opening-act performances by alumni, faculty and students of the arts center's Hip Hop Arts & Culture program.

Fort Lee resident Henry Williams, aka "HenDogg," who joined the Sugarhill Gang in 1995, said they will perform a 90-minute set that will include not only "Rapper's Delight" but also some of their other classics, like "Apache (Jump On It)" and "8th Wonder," as well as new music. There will also be a tribute to entertainers who inspired them over the years, such as Prince.

The rest of the group's lineup includes two of its founding members, Michael "Wonder Mike" Wright and Guy "Master Gee" O'Brien, and newer members Tracy Temple, aka "DJ T-Dynasty" and Stoney Barshon Gibbs, aka "Ethiopian King." Original member Henry Lee Jackson aka "Big Bank Hank", died in 2014.

Founding mother: Englewood's Sylvia Robinson, pioneering record producer, inducted into Rock Hall of Fame

Williams expects a large, lively and devoted audience to show up for the group, although crowd size does not matter to them.

"We're expecting the people to enjoy the music and have a good time. That's about it. We got a strong fan base; our fans come out and support us. We're looking forward to a nice crowd," Williams said in a phone interview this week. "But we're the type of group that will give the same show whether it's 10 or 10,000."

Next up: Radio City, Yankee Stadium

After NJPAC, the Sugarhill Gang will be performing at upcoming concerts such as DJ Cassidy's Pass The Mic Live! Hip Hop 50th Anniversary Celebration on Friday at Radio City Music Hall (limited tickets were still available as of Thursday) and Hip Hop 50 Live at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 11 (tickets still available).

Williams, 65, who grew up in the Bronx during hip-hop's formative years, said the group is thrilled to be part of those concerts, where they'll share the stage with legends who helped build the art form such as DJ Kool Herc (Clive Campbell) and his sister Cindy. The back-to-school party they held in their Bronx apartment building Aug. 11, 1973, is cited as the birthplace of hip-hop.

More: And it goes on, on and on: The song that sparked the hip-hop industry turns 40

Marking the 50th anniversary also brought to mind for Williams one of the creative minds that he said helped grow the art form: Sylvia Robinson, the founder of Sugar Hill Records in Englewood.

Robinson produced not only the Sugarhill Gang but other influential rap artists like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and their groundbreaking song, "The Message" in 1982. She died in 2011.

"Sylvia Robinson does not get all the credit that she deserves. Don't get me wrong — Kool Herc and the Bronx, that's where it started. But no one had the nerve to put it on record to make it work," Williams said of Robinson's efforts to record "Rapper's Delight."

"All of the record labels laughed at her, told her that it would never work, this was just a fad in the streets," he continued. "'Here today, gone tomorrow. You're wasting your time.' But she defied them all. She put it out on her own, and look where it is today."

Ricardo Kaulessar covers race, immigration and culture for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: kaulessar@northjersey.com

Twitter: @ricardokaul

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Sugarhill Gang to play NJPAC for hip-hop 50th anniversary