Hip Hop History Part 2: 1983 to 1988
Part 1 can be found here.
Sucker M.C.’s (Krush-Groove 1) by Run-DMC (1983). It is hard to overestimate the impact of this trio from Queens on the genre. We’ll talk about how they formed, and we’ll hear more from them later as they played a key part (for better or worse) in hip hop’s crossover success. This song is often seen as the start of “New School” (or the end of the “Old School”). Such delineations are always a bit sloppy and disputable.
White Lines (Don’t Do It) by Grandmaster Melle Mel (1983). Much like the historical relationship between drugs and hip hop, it’s complicated. The bass line is a note-for-note copy (rip-off? Outright theft?) of Cavern by Liquid Liquid, and, to enhance commercial appeal, the song was marketed as being by “Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel,” even though Flash had left Sugar Hill records about a year prior. Written by Melle Mel and Sylvia Robinson, White Lines was originally designed as a celebration of cocaine-fueled partying, later (and only somewhat convincingly) transformed by the insertion of “Don’t do it.”
Rockit by Herbie Hancock (1983). Another song that marks the transition out of the “Old School” moment: Hancock’s embrace of hip hop from his position as a dominant force in jazz further legitimized the music as an art form, and specifically as part of the larger tradition of African-American art forms. A visionary video and a memorable performance on Saturday Night Live helped as well.
La Di Da Di by Slick Rick & Doug E. Fresh. La Di Da Di was released with The Show on its flipside, and choosing between these monstrously influential cuts was quite difficult. Despite its problematic lyrics, especially at the end, La Di Da Di won out due to it being the first record with an MC (Slick Rick) backed entirely by a beatboxer for the full duration of the song. A British artist born in Barbados, Doug E. Fresh is generally accepted as the original beatboxer–he was not, in fact, the first, but he was the most influential of the first generation.
Walk This Way by Run-DMC & Aerosmith (1986). The quintessential crossover hit, the song that shattered the perception that hip hop was limited in its commercial potential, and the song responsible for the revival of the fortunes of a once-influential 1970s rock n’ roll group (although this last was decidedly not the narrative at the time). This song is also important as a mark of Rick Rubin‘s influence: neither Run nor DMC wanted to do the song (Jam Master Jay was, at best, neutral), and it was only through Rubin’s persuasion that it got made at all.
South Bronx by Boogie Down Productions (1987). If Walk This Way symbolizes the commercialization of hip hop (and all that leads to), BDP’s 1987 debut album, Criminal Minded introduced the world to the bombastic, political force of KRS-ONE. We’ll talk about Kris Parker, for sure. This track is the second salvo in the beef between BDP and The Juice Crew, led by MC Shan and Marley Marl, known as “The Bridge Wars.”
If there is a record that deserves to be an exception to the “one cut per album” rule, it is Public Enemy‘s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1987). This is one of those moments that is almost impossible to recreate: the force of Chuck D‘s vocals, the strident, siren-driven beats, the over-the-top posturing of Flava Flav, all wrapped in an uncompromising political stance. These two songs, Rebel Without A Pause and Bring the Noise were simply inescapable. This is, most likely, the single most influential album in hip hop history, when looked at in terms of the impact on the music and the culture and their future development.
No Sleep Till Brooklyn by Beastie Boys (1987). The members of the Beastie Boys had been hanging around the hip hop scene since the very beginning, and while their first album, Licensed to Ill, could be seen more of a novelty act by a trio of white punks; their later albums sealed their place in the history of the music. But it began here, with a disposable party anthem that set the stage for their sound.
Push It by Salt-N-Pepa (1987). There had been other female MCs or groups, but Push It marked the beginning of the lineage of dominant female artists, from Salt-N-Pepa through Queen Latifah and MC Lyte (more from them later) and on. Importantly, Salt, Pepa, and DJ Spinderella were so good as to dispel any notion that they were gimmicks.
Paid In Full by Eric B. & Rakim (1987). Eric B. & Rakim were, in all likelihood, the most influential DJ/MC combination in old school hip hop. Technically, nobody matched their combination of creative and funky beats with Rakim’s near-perfect flow. Paid in Full was a success on its own; then it’s remix by UK dance act Coldcut expanded its impact to a worldwide audience.
My Philosophy by Boogie Down Productions (1988). Everything about By All Means Necessary, from the Malcolm X inspired album cover to the subject matter of the songs declared the presence of a major force in the world of hip hop. If South Bronx was an anthem, My Philosophy is a manifesto.
Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A. (1988). We end this segment with the iconic explosion of West Coast, “Gangsta Rap” with the debut of N.W.A. While they were not the first of the genre, and over half the group came from Alonzo Williams‘ World Class Wreckin’ Crew, they weren’t far off, and their raw skills combined with their notoriety ushered in a new era for hip hop.
The Spotify playlist is here: http://bit.ly/hiphophspva-2
Next time, we’ll navigate through what we’re going to focus on once hip hop takes off and becomes an unquestionable commercial force.
DeepCuts
The entire DeepCuts playlist can be found here: http://bit.ly/hiphophspva-deep . This playlist will be added to as each installment is published.
Things get deep, fast, from here on out. As such, some more information on some songs that are historically important, but don’t quite fit in our time limits. Listening to them is strongly encouraged!
Buffalo Gals by Malcolm McLaren (1983). British art impressarios (today, we would call them “influencers”) McLaren and Trevor Horn were, on a trip to New York City, invited by Afrika Bambaataa to a Zulu Nation block party; while there, McLaren especially was taken with the technique of scratching and, over the protests of his record label, released Buffalo Gals. Hip hop took quite some time to really grow roots in the UK, but some early attempts were there: see Give It A Rest by She Rockers (1988) for an example.
Roxanne, Roxanne by UTFO (1984). Untouchable Force Organization was a solid contributor to the early Brooklyn hip hop scene, but this song is included mostly for the small industry it generated: within a year of its release, somewhere between fifty and one hundred “response cuts” were released, the most famous being Roxanne’s Revenge by the then-14 year old Roxanne Shanté. This is generally seen as the original rap “beef,” predating even “The Bridge Wars.”
“Songs” appear in quotation marks, Albums in italics without quotations, and Artists in bold.
#Beats and Samples
“Tour de France” by Kraftwerk (Germany, 1983); “Beat Box” by The Art of Noise (UK, 1983); “Cavern” by Liquid Liquid (1983).
#Notable Cuts
“New York New York” by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five; “Rock Box (7″ version)” (1984) and “Peter Piper” (1986) by Run-DMC; “Beat Street Breakdown” by Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five (1984); “Jam On It” (1984) by Newcleus; “Jail House Rap” and “Human Beat Box (1984) by Fat Boys; “The Show” by Slick Rick & Doug E. Fresh (1985); “Slow and Low” by Beastie Boys (1986); “Yo! Bum Rush the Show,” “Rightstarter (Message to a Black Man),” and “Raise the Roof” by Public Enemy (1987); “Microphone Fiend” and “Follow the Leader” by Eric B. & Rakim (1988); “Children’s Story” by Slick Rick & Doug E. Fresh (1988); “Self Destruction” by Stop the Violence Movement (1988); “Part Time Suckers” by Boogie Down Productions (1988).
#Notable Cuts: West Coast Edition
“Body Rock” (1983) by Ice-T; “Surgery” and “Slice” by World Class Wreckin’ Crew (1985); “6 ‘n the Morning” by Ice-T (1986); Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A. (1987).
#The Bridge Wars
“The Bridge” by MC Shan (1985); “Kill That Noise” by The Juice Crew (1987); “The Bridge is Over” by Boogie Down Productions (1987).
#Film
Breakin’ (1964) and Beat Street (1984) were hugely influential in the spread of hip hop, both domestically and internationally. Wild Style (1983) and Krush Groove (1985), much less so. All will make you laugh at parts, and give some insight into the historical moment.
{Continue on to Part 3}