throwing it down

[Wilson Gray]

On Apr 7, 2005 3:28 PM, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at rci.rutgers.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: throwing it down
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Thu, 7 Apr 2005 15:10:13 -0400, Benjamin Zimmer
> <bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU> wrote:
>
> >Plain "throw down" has early roots in rap -- the full version of the
> >Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" (1979) uses the phrase three times:
> >
> >-----
> >http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/rap_comp/sugrhill/rdelight.sug.txt
> >
> >Now I got a man comin' on right now
> >He's guaranteed to throw down
> >He goes by the name of Wonder Mike
> >Come on, Wonder Mike, do what you like!
> >...
> >Well like the Barkays singin' "Holy Ghost"
> >The sounds to throw down, they're played the most.
> >...
> >Like movin' your body so you don't know how
> >Right to the rhythm and throw down.
> >-----
>
> An early example of nominalized "throwdown" is the 1980 12-inch by Afrika
> Bambaata and the Cosmic Force: "Zulu Nation Throwdown Part 1".
>
> In hiphop usage "throw down"/"throwdown" refers to battling an opponent,
> either lyrically in a freestyle competition or using physical force.
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>

A distant relative of "throw down the gauntlet," perhaps.

-Wilson Gray