Remember the first rap song you heard? Some of your favorite rappers and DJs certainly do.

While hip-hop celebrates 50 years of life, The Associated Press asked some of the genre’s most popular artists to recall their first memory of hearing rap and how the moment resonated with them.

Many hip-hop legends cited the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” as the first rap song they heard. For others, the rap song that hooked them was the work of Run D.M.C., Tupac Shakur or the performance of a close family member.

Here are the stories of how these hip-hop legends and young stars initially got hooked on rap. — Jonathan Landrum Jr. and Gary Gerard Hamilton, Associated Press

Editor’s note: This story is part of a series celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop that explores the genre’s growth into one of the world’s most influential cultural forces.Chuck D

As a sophomore at Adelphi University, Chuck D was about to hit the stage to perform over the melody of Chic’s “Good Times” at a party in October 1979.

At least, that’s what he thought.

When he stepped behind the microphone, Chuck D heard a different version of the song. It kept going and going for — 15 minutes straight.

“I get on the mic to rock the house. Then all of a sudden, I hear words behind me as I’m rockin’. I lip-sync. The words keep going. (Expletive) are rockin’ for like 20 minutes,” said Chuck D, a member of the rap group Public Enemy.

“After it’s all over, cats are giving me high pounds like ‘You went on and on to the break of dawn dawg,’ ” he continued. “Back then, it’s about how long you can rap. I went and turned to the DJ and looked at the red label that said, ‘Sugarhill Gang “Rapper’s Delight.” ’I was like ‘Oh, they finally did it.’ They were talking all summer long that rap records were going to happen.

“He was stunned: I was, like, ‘It’s inconceivable. How could a rap be a record?’ I couldn’t see it. Nobody could see it. And then when it happened, boom.”Queen Latifah

For Queen Latifah, “Rapper’s Delight” was the first rap song she and a lot of others heard and memorized where she grew up in Newark, New Jersey. But the biggest record in her world as a kid was Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force’s 1982 song “Planet Rock.”

Many forget the Oscar-nominated actor’s roots as a rapper, with hits like “U.N.I.T.Y.” and “Just Another Day.”

“It changed the sound,” she said. “It’s more of a synthesized, 808s, hi-hats. The whole sound of it was different. Some of hip-hop in the original days was live music. It was live bands playing break records. Like ‘Good Times’ was the beat to ‘Rapper’s Delight.’ Some of those records took actual disco records, played the music and rhymed to them.”E-40

While heading to school as a seventh grader in 1979, E-40 heard a new rap tune on a local radio station that normally played R&B and soul music in Northern California.

It was “Rapper’s Delight,” which interpolated Chic’s hit “Good Times.” That’s when he knew hip-hop was going to be a part of his life forever.

“I was like ‘Ohh, this is hard. I’m hooked,’ ” said E-40.

“From then on, I loved rap. In 1979, when I first heard The Sugarhill Gang, I wanted to be a rapper. I would play around with it. … We grew up on New York rap. All of us did. We wanted to be hip-hop. We wanted to break dance. We did it all.

“But that changed everything after we heard Sugarhill Gang. Next thing you know, you’re hearing Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Kurtis Blow and Roxanne, Roxanne.”Lil Jon

“Rapper’s Delight” was probably the first hip-hop song Lil Jon heard. But he became a “super fan” of the genre as a middle schooler in Atlanta after seeing rap groups the Fat Boys and Whodini. It was his first time seeing professional rappers onstage.

“I might have been a fan of rap before, but I had never been to a rap concert. I’ve never seen rappers in person,” he said. “Maybe just in the magazines. That turned me into like. … a super fan of hip-hop.”Roxanne Shante

Roxanne Shante’s first rap experience didn’t come in song form. She was introduced to hip-hop through the late comedian-poet Nipsey Russell.

“He had the ability to rhyme at any time,” said Shante.

Shante said “Rapper’s Delight” was the record most parents brought into their home as the “party song.” But in her mind, Russell had just as much of an impact.

“That would be my first encounter with loving what would become hip-hop,” she continued. “This way of having a certain cadence, this way of being able to do these certain rhymes was just incredible to me. … He was able to freestyle all day, every day. And that’s who I am. That’s what I still do today.”Too Short

It’s 1979. Too Short was around 13 years old. He normally listened to a variety of funk songs ranging from the Ohio Players’ “Love Rollercoaster” and Funkadelic’s “Knee Deep.” Then one day at his father’s house, he heard “Rapper’s Delight” blaring through a stereo system.

“I was on my funk stuff, then this ‘Rapper’s Delight’ record came out, and it was like 15 minutes long,” he recalled. “I’d be at my pop’s house just bumping the loud stereo.”

As “Rapper’s Delight” gained momentum in 1980, Too Short gravitated more toward beatboxing. That led him to hit up the local record store where he would buy the latest hip-hop album then blasted it on his radio for anyone to hear in Oakland.DJ Kid Capri

DJ Kid Capri grew up on soul music. His father was a soul singer. His grandfather played the trumpet. And his uncle, Bill Curtis, was the leader of the Fatback Band — which he says made the first hip-hop single “King Tim III (Personality Jock)” before “Rapper’s Delight” was released a few months later in 1979.

Capri’s uncle gave him the opportunity to hear a rap song for the first time.

“I was right there,” Capri said about the Fatback Band, a funk and disco ensemble who became known for its R&B hits including “(Do the) Spanish Hustle,” “I Like Girls” and “I Found Lovin’.” But it was “King Tim III” that had a strong influence on him — especially since it came from family.

“The world thinks ‘Rapper’s Delight’ was the first rap record, but it was ‘Personality Jock,’ ” he said. “My uncle, he’s my family. He’s the one that did it. So, I’ve always been around it. That’s what made me be so infectious in it, because I’ve seen every level to where I’m at right now. I took all those things important to me on stage right now. When you see me onstage, you can see all those things wrapped up in me.”