KLASSIC KUTS: “Bad Times:” Some Things Never Change
It was a dance floor scorcher and a wake-up call — and in 1983, Captain Rapp’s “Bad Times (I Can’t Stand It)” was exactly that. As one of the earliest West Coast responses to the socially conscious rap coming out of New York, this track didn’t just light up the dance floor — it forced listeners to look in the mirror.
Born Larry Earl Glenn in Los Angeles, Captain Rapp had already put his name on hip-hop history with the 1981 party jam “Gigolo Rapp” alongside Disco Daddy, often cited as one of the very first commercially released West Coast rap records. But with “Bad Times,” he turned the mic toward the gritty realities of life in the early ’80s — unemployment, homelessness, crime, disease, global conflict, you name it — all wrapped in a groove that brought the hips and the mind along for the ride.
The track was recorded for Saturn Records and produced with early contributions from Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis alongside synth wizard Rich Cason — long before Jam & Lewis became household names in R&B and pop. The beat is chunky, danceable, and unforgiving, pairing handclaps and synth-bass with Captain Rapp’s urgent delivery and a soulful vocal hook by Kimberly Ball that anchors the message with melodic gravity.
Lyrically, it’s a West Coast cousin to “The Message” — but with its own identity. Rapp zooms out from inner-city strife to world-scale unease, painting a broad picture of what it felt like to live in an era where “bad times” was not just a phrase, but a reality.
The track hit #23 on the Billboard Dance chart, an impressive feat for a record that doubled as a social commentary wrapped in electro-funk. To this day, DJs and collectors still dig the vinyl in crate stacks when they want that classic old school planet rock type beat feeling.
“Bad Times” may not have been a mainstream smash, but its legacy lives in every conscious MC who talks real life and every beat-maker who proves the dance floor can be both fun and thought-provoking.
I introduce to you a Klassic Kut – Captain Rapp – Bad Times (I Can’t Stand It). Check it out below. You’re Welcome.
Klassic Love,
Madd Hatta
