Oh, absolutely! I'm looking forward to the late 80s and early 90s when gangsta and x-rated rap came up. That's what I call rap's golden era. This forum's demographics is gradually changing so that more types of music are welcome. That's probably why most of the cronies don't post much anymore. And, I think people are less likely to crap on a thread started by a forum respected, younger mastering engineer. I also hope this thread is just a temporary diversion from the Jackson thread. Now, I like the big stuff, but there are no doubt some guys who seriously get into underground rap, trip-hop, and other types of rap. But, let's not jump the gun. We'll get there! Lots more up ahead!
Can't leave 1986 without posting this... Rap's Greatest Hits (Priority) To this day, it's one of my favorite hip-hop compilations. I had a dub of the cassette in 1986, and I finally got it on CD years later. This is the only CD on which I've heard "Pee Wee's Dance" from tape source. Also included are the single edits of "King Of Rock," "Fat Boys," and "Friends." Not sure, but the single edits of those might not be on any other CDs. As far as the sound quality goes, it's nowhere near audiophile, but it's not terrible. Aside from the Joeski Love track, the other songs have appeared on other CDs with better sound quality. The main reason for having this particular disc is purely nostalgia. Who else rocked this one back in the day???
1987 Growing up in a very rural area of Michigan, my exposure to hip-hop (and R&B for that matter) was pretty limited in '87. We had MTV, but Yo! wouldn't arrive for another year. My record collection still had very few hip-hop releases at this point, but here are the records I added to my collection that year. "Wipeout" by the Fat Boys (my favorite 45 sleeve from 1987, for obvious reasons) M/A/R/R/S "Pump Up The Volume" (easily one of my favorite songs from '87) DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Rock The House (the cassette pressing with the original version of "Girls Ain't Nothin' But Trouble)
I have to go back to 1985 for a moment. I have always loved Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde's Freshest Rhymes in the World. I first heard it on a K-Tel compilation. K-Tel issued many well-sequenced cassettes back in the 1980s filled with Rap singles. As for 1986, this answer record to Doug E. Fresh's The Show is a forgotten hip-hop classic. It's No Show by the Symbolic Three. They tear up Slick Rick and the Get Fresh crew on this track. "No Show" Symbolic Three featuring D.J. Dr. Shock
The first one I thought about was Run DMC. They came out with the "Tougher Than Leather" album. It wasn't as good as the earlier albums, IMO, but I felt at the time that they were becoming a bit too mainstream to remain popular. They were starting to get a backlash from the "real" rap fans and rappers. That's because those other soon to be major styles of rap music, porn rap and gangsta rap, and even militant rap, were just bubbling under the surface. There were already albums from major labels in that group. The Beastie Boys had started out two years earlier with a 12" single on Rick Rubin's new Def Jam records. They were closer to metal than rap, but they had the hip-hop spirit. In November of 1986, they issued "Licensed To Ill". I know people regard it as a 1986 album, but their success didn't really come until 1987, when most of the singles from the album were released. I don't consider the Beaties rap, but they are still lumped in that genre. I just remembered LL Cool J. He is significant because it's the first time I ever noticed females taking a real interest in rap. He was a clean-cut, more suburban, good looking guy, and he had a hit called "I Need Love" that year, and the females loved that. It was a break from the usual braggiado and partying type of rap. But, I didn't really listen to him. It has to also be said that suburban whites really started to git into rap music at this point, and LL Cool J was a "safe" alternative to what was starting to appear. Again, for me, I didn't really hear , or get into a lot of rap in 1987. That would change the next year, so i'll wait until we do 1988. 1989 will be the beginning of the golden age. There will be lots to discuss!
+1 Despite it being a budget-line compilation label, K-Tel was the $h!t when it came to rap compilations. I have a BUNCH of K-Tel rap CDs in my collection, simply because it was an easy and cheap way to find a lot of single mixes and rare versions. (I've always preferred the clean single mixes and radio edits for most hip-hop tracks, mainly because those were the versions I became used to hearing regularly on Yo! MTV Raps.)
Whoever was putting those comps together had excellent tastes. They'd included obscure regional hits and novelty songs as well as the better known stuff, but it would invariably be a solid listening experience.
Can't talk about 87 without mentioning one of my favorites, "Criminal Minded" by Boogie Down Productions. Also, "Paid In Full" by Eric B. and Rakim "Yo! Bum Rush The Show" by Public Enemy "Bigger And Deffer" by LL Cool J All classic albums that I still listen to today.
Favorite albums 1987: 01. LL Cool J - Bigger And Deffer 02. Eric B. & Rakim - Paid In Full 03. Boogie Down Productions - Criminal Minded 04. Public Enemy - Yo! Bum Rush The Show Favorite tracks: 01. Public Enemy - Rebel Without A Pause 02. Public Enemy - Bring The Noise 03. LL Cool J - Going Back To Cali 04. Spoonie Gee - The Godfather 05. Fat Boys - Crushin' 06. JVC Force - Strong Island 07. Jungle Brothers - Because I Got It Like That 08. Eric B. & Rakim - Chinese Arithmatic 09. Boogie Down Productions - 9mm Goes Bang! 10. LL Cool J - I'm Bad 11. Salt-N-Pepa - Push It 12. Ultramagnetic MC's - Traveling At The Speed Of Thought 13. Public Enemy - You're Gonna Get Yours 14. Schoolly D. - Housing The Joint 15. Cookie Crew - Females
I was in high school at the time and it wasn’t Run DMC or the Beasties. I wasn’t ready for Run DMC and the Walk This Way video with Aerosmith, now I am sure it brought them a lot of attention but at the time it didn’t sit well with me as I felt it was forced. I would like to think if I had been exposed to them on their own terms I would have been more into them. Again this could be revisionist history as I was kid in the burbs who despite being in jazz band was at that time more of a rocker at heart. I thought the first Beastie’s was just obnoxious frat boy music, of course with Paul’s Boutique and Check Your Head to follow I would grow to love them. P.E wasn’t on my radar yet but boy would that change with Fear Of A Black Planet. However Paid In Full caught my attention, it took years to fully appreciated what a groundbreaking masterpiece it was but for my intro into hip hop being something really creative and fun it opened the doors to what would come the following year with 3 Feet High And Rising in 88.
Between "Paid In Full" (Seven Minutes Of Madness) and "Pump Up The Volume," (which coincidentally samples Rakim's vocal from "I Know You Got Soul"), the sampling floodgates flew wide open. Before that, a hip hop song might sample a song or two for any given track. But those two songs sampled dozens of tracks within their 7-minute run times. It was nice to see this get a CD Deluxe Edition, especially at a time when those were typically reserved for rock and R&B albums. I wish they had included the original version "Eric B Is President," though. The version they included on Paid In Full is too choppy and interrupts Rakim's verses. Don't know if it was a 12" remix or made just for the album, but I much prefer the original.
In '87 it was Fat Boys and Run DMC. And S n P's Push it of course. The girls in school loved that song.
Rhyme Pays of course has Ice-T's most popular and well-known song, 6 'N the Mornin'. The odd Compton compilation of stray Dre productions before N.W.A. officially came out, titled N.W.A. and the Posse, did come out in late 1987. The cover above is for the 1989 re-release because it contains an actual N.W.A. track that got substituted for one song. Besides Eazy's Boyz-n-the-Hood, what stands out are several songs from the Texas-based Fila Fresh Crew, early running mates of the D.O.C.
I want to add Cypress Hill "Black Sunday" (1993). It's psychedelic hip hop. Top three best rap albums ever in my opinion. Well, of those I've heard. I played it recently.
I recall working at a McDonalds in the city & 'I Need Love' was all over the top 40 pop station. It was one of those 'once an hour' tunes. I love 'Bigger & Deffer', it's got some really raw tracks, but always disliked 'I Need Love'. Actually, I always hated any of LL's ballads. 1987 was pretty much 'the brink' of when rap takes over. 1988 is when it blew up. Kool Moe Dee's feud with LL began around this time. I always thought LL destroyed him in those battles, but that was probably due to my preferring LL as a rapper. 1987's 'How Ya Like Me Now' is still a great track tho, in it's own right.
