FOLLOW THE LEADERS…HIP-HOP in the 1980s

1980s Hip-Hop music can be defined as a culmination of originality, creativity, inspiration, and PURE HEART! The Hip-Hop scene in New York was at the top of the food chain with various rappers, B-boys, and Graffiti artist originating from the area while the West Coast Hip-Hop scene was expressing their own take on Hip-Hop and starting to set the foundation for the “Gangsta Rap” era that would take over the rap game in the 1990s. Big corporations still were uncertain of where exactly Hip-Hop as whole was headed and still felt that it was just a FAD that would die off. Having no corporate financial backing rappers had to really come with some serious lyrical skills on the microphone in order to attract listeners and hopefully make a dollar or two off selling their tapes. But, of course, the mid 1980s produced the commercially successful record Licensed to Ill by The Beastie Boys and became the first rap album to become #1 on the Billboard Charts. This record along with earlier efforts by artists such as Afrika Bambaataa, Run D.M.C., LL Cool J, N.W.A., Eric B. & Rakim, and Public Enemy as well as MANY others helped to drive Hip-Hop into the mainstream and popularize Hip-Hop outside of the confines of America. To have been a witness to this “Golden Era” in Hip-Hop is the equivalent to witnessing the first Woodstock or watching Jimi Hendrix live in concert. It is a time that well never be reborn again and untouchable in the sense that such diversity and quality was being produced to form the framework of Hip-Hop that at the time no one truly knew what the outcome would be out of all this work. As a lover of Hip-Hop as a culture, form of music, and artistic expression all I can do is spread and share my genuine love/appreciation for this beautiful music with you all. I hope you all can learn and respect these various artist as I do, or at the very least take the time to listen and appreciate the art form that is Hip-Hop music. Bob your heads and enjoy.

Sugarhill Gang – Rapper’s Delight (1979/80)

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five – The Message (1982)

Afrika Bambaataa – Planet Rock (1982)

Run-D.M.C. – Rock Box (1984)

Eric B. & Rakim – Paid in Full (1987)

Boogie Down Productions – South Bronx (1987)

N.W.A. – Straight Outta Compton (1988)

Big Daddy Kane – Ain’t No Half Steppin (1989)

Biz Markie – Just A Friend (1989)

Gang Starr – Positivity (1989)

Public Enemy – Fight The Power (1989/90)