@Been trying to find the earliest mention/hype of the 808 for bass in a rap song and this is the earliest I think: 1986 T La Rock/Mantronik “Bass Machine”
YouTube
Crazy too that the “snare rush” you hear so much in modern trap was already around electronically as early as '86 in this song and even earlier in a more subtle analog form in James Brown/Funky Drummer 1970. Makes sense though that Mantronik is a prominent trap contributor.
James Brown - Funky Drummer (Full Version, 1970) - HQ
Tangentially, it's also very cool to see some people these days hand-crafting trap snares from scratch using software. Incidentally, it feels not too different from the FM + transient drum synth tools in the Digitone, but minus the high-fidelity display.
