Public Enemy "Fear of a Black Planet" (1990). It was the first hip hop album I really got into. It was so in your face, the production, the lyrics... everything. It was rap 'n' roll. I loved it. I never became a big hip hop fan but I like sporadic albums.
Replied to your thread! Great suggestions over there, and I'm sure all will be mentioned here as we make our way to 1989 and beyond.
Nobody has mentioned these guys yet... Their debut album 2 Live Crew Is What We Are came out in '86. The only tracks I'm familiar with on this one are "Throw The D" and "We Want Some ." "Throw The D" is not only recognized as one of the earliest Miami Bass tracks, but it's also often cited as one of the best in the sub-genre.
It's still a little early to talk about the album on which this track was later featured, but "Live At Union Square (November 1986)" is one of my favorite "DJ tracks" of all time. This performance features a 17-year-old Will Smith hyping the crowd and some unbelievable turntablism by DJ Jazzy Jeff. When I first heard Jazzy scratch on this track, my mind was blown. There are very few DJs who have ever been on his level, and most would never come close to being as skilled as he is on this 1986 recording. He makes Grandmaster Flash look like an amateur. For real. If you only have time to listen to a little of the track, skip to 2:30 where the turntable tricks begin.
A more recent performance, but here's Jazzy Jeff cutting up two 1986 classics: "Rock The Bells" and "Peter Piper." He's just so damn quick and accurate on the tables!
Before we move onto 1987, an important record that hasn't been discussed yet is MC Shan's "The Bridge" (produced by Marley Marl). It was the B-side of a track called "Beat Biter," but became Shan's most famous song. In addition to starting "the bridge wars" with Boogie Down Productions & KRS-One, it's also notable for a couple other things: 1. It's possibly the earliest hip-hop song (at least that I can think of) that samples The Honey Drippers "Impeach The President." After Marley Marl used it on this record, it became the most sampled drum break (along with James Brown's "Funky Drummer") in history. The opening drums of "Impeach The President" have been sampled on hundreds of recordings, and not just on hip-hop records. 2. It was one of the earliest examples of a producer sampling individual drums and making a new pattern using a sampler. Prior to this, most hip-hop DJs would just loop a particular drum break. Marley, however, discovered that he could sample each individual drum beat and rearrange them. There's a great interview with Marley Marl on NPR's website. It's worth a read if this stuff interests you: Marley Marl On The Bridge Wars, LL Cool J And Discovering Sampling This is only a small handful of songs that use "Impeach The President," but it gives you an idea of how widely used this beat has been over the past 30 years. One of the first, though, if not the first was MC Shan's "The Bridge." WARNING: NSFW (explicit language)
And here's the original song by The Honey Drippers, which is a great soul record from the mid-'70s. For as often as it's been sampled, it doesn't often show up on CD compilations.
Finally, MC Shan's "The Bridge." Notice how the sampled drums from "Impeach The President" have been re-sequenced, which is one of the earliest examples of this technique being used.
Actually, hiphop's golden age never ended! I think today's (2010s) hiphop is as good, if not better, than the 80s/90s stuff. If it were up to me, we continue this year-by-year thread all the way to 2017.
Whew! I just found this thread before you move to 1987. Aarion, I wish you would have started in 179 because that's when hip-hop/rap really got mainstream attention and the records started hitting the charts. I could have included some classic tracks. I must give a shout-out to: Rapper's Delight - Sugarhill Gang 1979 The Breaks - Kurtis Blow 1980 Rapture - Blondie 1981 It's Nasty - Grandmaster Flash & The Sugarhill Gang with GRandmaster Flash & The Furious Five 1982 White Lines - Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five The Lover In You - Sugarhill Gang 1982 The Message - Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five 1982 Friends - Whodini 1984 Basketball - Kurtis Blow 1984 Beat Street Breakdown - Grandmaster Flash 1985 Roxanne Roxanne - UTFO 1985 The Real Roxanne - UTFO with Roxanne Shante 1985 Rock Box - Run DMC 1985 King Of Rock - Run DMC 1986 There are quite a few more classics that i'm missing, to. Even Millie Jackson did a parody of rap on her 1981 album "Dhe Had To Say It".
Yes, I guess so. In fact, as somebody who lived in Europe at the time, I can assure you it was only after Aerosmith's revival that they managed commercial success overseas. During the band's US 70s heyday they were met in Europe with lukewarm response, I don't think during that period they ever had a top 40 hit outside the US (or Canada).
I just love MC Shan! I have the cd Down By Law , I was lucky to get an original second hand cd during a vacation in Holland , The seller Was not aware that this is a rare cd. underrated classic. My favorite track from the cd is Living In The World Of Hip Hop , this track reminds me the glorious Eric B and Rakim track My Melody from Paid in Full , those Crispy Brilliant electronic sounds and the mesmerizing vocal flow/ MC Shan - Living In The World Of Hip Hop [[/QUOTE]
Nice list. Let me try mine: Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight (1979) Spoonie Gee - Spoonin' Rap (1979) Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - Super Rappin' No. 2 (1980) The Treacherous Three - The New Rap Language (1980) Kurtis Blow - The Breaks (1980) Brother D. - How We Gonna Make The Black Nation Rise? (1980) Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - Scorpio (1981) Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message (1982) Afrika Bambaataa - Planet Rock (1982) Malcolm McLaren - Buffalo Gals (1982) Run DMC - It's Like That (1983) Rammelzee & K-Rob - Beat Bop (1983) Whodini - Nasty Lady (1983) Fat Boys - Stick 'Em (1984) Shango - Shango Message (1984) Whodini - We Are Whodini (1984) Run DMC - King Of Rock (1985) Mantronix - Hardcore Hiphop (1985) Beastie Boys - Rock Hard (1985) LL Cool J - I Can't Live Without My Radio (1985) Doug E. Fresh - La-Di-Da-Di (1985) Some Electro classics (a style connected to hiphop and breakdancing): Cybotron - Alleys Of Your Mind (1981) Planet Patrol - Play At Your Own Risk (1982) Man Parrish - Heatstroke (1982) Jonzun Crew - We Are The Jonzun Crew (1983) Pac-Man - I'm The Pac-Man (1983) Newcleus - Jam On Revenge (1983) Jonzun Crew - Space Is The Place (1983) Cybotron - Clear (1983) Arthur Baker - Breaker's Revenge (1984) Cybotron - Techno City (1984) Newcleus - Auto-Man (1984) Model 500 - Night Drive (1985)
Much love to the Beasties, Run-DMC, LL Cool J and all the others, but ever since this thread popped up, all I can think about is digging my 'Paid in Full' cassette tape out of storage. Thinkin' of a master plan, 'Cause ain't nothin' but sweat inside my hand So I dig into my pocket, all my money is spent So I dig deeper, but still comin' up with lint So I start my mission, leave my residence Thinkin' how could I get some dead presidents, I need money
If we're going back in time... Skirting the boundaries here, but some of the other lists rightly include "Planet Rock," so I'll add this track from Strafe. Everywhere on the streets of NYC the summer of '84.
Hahaha! Love it. I liked the idea of doing a year-by-year chronological thread for hip-hop music, and I thought it might be good to pick a specific time period to discuss--namely the years that I thought most people here might be interested in discussing. Hip-hop really started to take off around 1986/87 with albums like Raising Hell and License To Ill. Question for everyone participating and/or just watching: If you had to pick 5 consecutive years that represent your favorite hip-hop music, which time span would it be? My favorite five year time span is 1989-1993, but, like all of us, I have many favorites that fall outside of those years.
That song is the jam! There are a lot of excellent tracks from '79 to '85. Should we pause to mention more of them before moving into '87?
