The *real* pope of hip hope

Being a 70s and 80s kid in Boston was fun -- on Sunday mornings, we'd listen to crummy Top 40 songs, lying on a carpet for hours without bathroom breaks.

After moving to India at a ripe young age, the lack of English music drove us to desperation -- we even appreciated the miserable "Big in Japan" and the pithy "You're the inspiration" (Peter Cetera.)

Inspiration elder bro needed -- perhaps fed up of dad's terrible Hindi music vocals, the dude set Bombay on fire -- he bought English tapes from US visits, his friends, studios, anywhere.

Yep, he had his bad moments -- like the Cetera tape, but he made up with the "Club Nouveau" (yes?) tape, and the tape with "St. Elmo's fire" single.

The Falco tape Mom hated. "Aa Falco-Valco falanu diknoo chhe," she shouted Gujju style (Falco-Valco is the most gargantuanistic piece of trash I've ever heard) and "Pope music band karo," (shut down the gerbil crap pope music, it's dhokla khichdi time). Songs like "Vienna Calling," "Rock Me Amadeus," "Jeannie" and "Urban Tropical" hardwired themselves into my memory.

Falco apparently is the father of rap music -- his smash "Rock Me Amadeus" was the first rap song to become a big hit. After listening to the song closely, that argument may have merit. Move aside, Run DMC.

This blast from the past came after spotting Falco's greatest-hits record scouring the racks of Amoeba, a record store a few blocks from home in San Francisco. Picking it up was a no-brainer.

And elder bro? He's rapping freestyle like ragamuffin rastamans.