Hip Hop History Part 4: 1992 to 1993

Part 1 can be found here.
Part 2 can be found here.
Part 3 can be found here.

To paraphrase Posdnous of De La Soul,

F*ck being hard, hip hop history’s complicated.

–In the Woods (1993)

At this point, hip hop has become a legitimate commercial force, and while Billboard is still not quite sure how to track it (a reflection of a larger cultural argument about how different art forms are compartmentalized and what, exactly, “crossing over” means), the music is here to stay, even if its direction is both unknown and a subject of much debate.

There are a few different forces at work:

• The hunger for commercial success results in a very narrow range of hip hop being promoted and endlessly reproduced. This tends towards dramatic and often violent portrayals of African-American masculinity, less violent “party songs,” and a set of politics that is, upon examination, surprisingly conservative, stressing individual responsibility over social analysis.
• The vast possibilities of creative overlap between jazz and hip hop are explored more and more, resulting in both a return to a focus on live performance and the continued search for samples in the record crates of history. See the Digable Planets tracks below for one example, but also note that bassist Ron Carter plays live (with a DJ handling the beat duties) on A Tribe Called Quest‘s 1993 album The Low End Theory (see Expression on DeepCuts for an example), and check out Eric B. & Rakim‘s Don’t Sweat the Technique (also on DeepCuts), which uses jazz samples that certainly could be performed live.
• One sign of a maturing art form is self critique within the form itself, and this is clearly in full swing, from verses that decry “selling out” to entire songs that assert the need for “a return to what hip hop really means” to Common‘s 1994 masterpiece, I Used to Love H.E.R. (Yeah, it’s a year early, but go on, listen to it and pay much attention to the lyrics.)

The sheer volume of songs makes this a longer playlist, and one that only covers 2 years. More than anything else, this is an indication that we’ve moved out of the early days of the genre, and into its full development.

Nuthin’ But A “G” Thang by Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg (1992). N.W.A. may have opened the door for West Coast rap, but it was Dr. Dre’s first solo album after the breakup of N.W.A., and more specifically, his collaborations with a young rapper from Long Beach named Snoop Dogg that defined the sound that became instantly recognizable for decades. There was something about that mix that proved irresistible to both the now-emergent hip hop community and the wider commercial audience. {Note that Dr. Dre’s album The Chronic, from which this cut is taken, is not available on Spotify. Go hunt it down!}

They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.) by Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth (1992). We haven’t talked at all about Heavy D & The Boyz, whose biggest hit was 1991’s Now That We Found Love. One of “The Boyz,” Troy Dixon (known as Trouble T Roy) shared a hometown with Pete Rock. Dixon died in 1990, essentially horsing around after a show, and this song emerged from Rock’s mourning. It wasn’t much of a commercial success at first, but has has become a classic in the hip hop community.

Scenario by A Tribe Called Quest (1992). We haven’t really encountered a “posse cut” yet. The term refers to a song where verses are traded back and forth between 4 or more MCs. Scenario is the best of them, ever. Not only is Q-Tip at his smooth, precise best, but it introduced the world to a 19 year-old wunderkid in Busta Rhymes who explodes on the scene, yes, like a dungeon dragon.

Jump Around by House of Pain (1992) and Insane in the Brain by Cypress Hill (1993). Both of these songs were absolutely everywhere when they were released, to the point of annoyance and mockery. (Jump Around charted higher on the overall Billboard chart than the rap chart, and both were top 20 hits worldwide.) I include them here for several reasons. First, they present a way to view the differences between what is considered an “East Coast” sound and a “West Coast” sound when you listen to the use of the high pitched, siren like motif in each. Second, House of Pain broke up quickly, but their leader, Everlast, went on to produce 2 great albums that combined hip hop and blues guitar (and then another 3 or 4 albums recycling those 2). Third, Cypress Hill deserves a nod for both being the first massively successful American/Latinx hip hop group and for being part of the constant, pro-marijuana voice in hip hop.

People Everyday (Metamorphosis Mix) by Arrested Development (1992) and Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat) by Digable Planets (1993). Somewhere between these two bands, the movement that began with the Native Tongues reached its peak. Arrested Development was a quintet, but really a collective, that presented an Afrocentric, politically savvy, life-affirming stance in their performances; Digable Planets was a Brooklyn-based trio of three MCs (although none of them were from New York), equally savvy and very focused on the intersection of jazz and hip hop. Both groups broke up, and reunited, with Arrested Development having a successful career in Japan over the past decade and the founder of Digable Planets going on to success as Shabazz Palaces over the past few years.

U.N.I.T.Y. by Queen Latifah (1993). This was Latifah’s biggest hit on the American charts, and comes from her often underrated Black Reign album. Her willingness to directly confront everyday sexism remains a rare position in hip hop some fifteen years on.

C.R.E.A.M by Wu-Tang Clan (1993). This song (the title stands for Cash Rules Everything Around Me) is here both for the chorus at the end–which is probably familiar–and as the highest charting single from Wu-Tang’s debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Wu-Tang has a legitimate claim as the greatest rap group of all time–certainly they were among the most functional, avoiding the messy in-fighting that broke apart numerous other collaborations. Whether this was because of their ability to support both Wu-Tang releases and solo work by the members, or the particular mix of personalities in RZA, GZA, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God and Masta Killa, Wu-Tang would go on to release 6 more albums as a group and over 70 individually.

Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) by Us3 (1993). Formed in London, Us3 began by only including samples from the Blue Note catalog in their music. Somehow, when EMI (who owned the catalog) heard about this, instead of a lawsuit, a deal was struck allowing Us3 to continue their project. The result was Hand on the Torch, the first Blue note album to ever achieve Platinum status (over 1,000,000 sold), driven by the hit single, Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia). In addition to the jazzy samples, pay attention to the lyrics, which comment on, among other things, the state of hip hop itself.

Hip Hop Hooray by Naughty By Nature (1993). You could argue that 1991’s O.P.P. was the bigger hit, but Hip Hop Hooray was the party hit of the year, and one of those choruses that seems like it must have predated the song itself. .

Player’s Ball by Outkast (1993). There aren’t that many groups in hip hop that are consistently innovative and unique within the genre. Outkast is one of them, and this song is both the first and highest charting from their debut album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. While later releases would push the boundaries of hip hop, this introduction to André 3000 and Big Boi certainly served notice of a boom in southern hip hop, and the Atlanta music scene specifically.

It Was A Good Day by Ice Cube (1993). The highest-charting single of Ice Cube’s career (but not the best-selling–that would be the follow up, a collaboration with Das EFX, Check Yo Self). Included here as much to discuss what about this song made it such a crossover success as its own funky and laid-back merits.

I Get Around by 2Pac, Shock G & Money-B (1993). Yeah, Keep Ya Head Up would be the usual choice. But I Get Around makes explicit 2Pac’s connection with Digital Underground (Shock G and Money-B were, at this point, the core of DU), which makes me happy.

Shoop by Salt-N-Pepa (1993). Another example of trying to navigate the commercial success of the genre. This is not Salt-N-Pepa’s best song, by quite a bit. But it was a dominant, end of year hit in 1993, and that tension, between artistry and sales (Dollar dollar bill y’all …) would dominate the next few years. Think about it, though: in the war of art versus capitalism, what dominates?

The Spotify playlist is here: http://bit.ly/hiphophspva-4

DeepCuts

“Songs” appear in quotation marks, Albums in italics without quotations, and Artists in bold.

DeepCuts can be found at http://bit.ly/hiphophspva-deep

#The International Scene

Hip Hop continued to blossom internationally. In the UK, the Caribbean influence was more central than in America, with Daddy Freddy‘s “Haul & Pull” (1992) a solid example–but also see Super Cat‘s “Don Dada” from the same year. CJ Mackintosh & Einstein’s “The Tables are Turning” is a bit more representative of UK hip hop’s state of development at the time.

German hip hop, such as it is (more on this in our discussion), really started with Die Fantastischen Vier‘s “Die Da” (1992). De La Soul‘s “Long Island Wildin'” (1993) featured the trio Scha Dara Parr and the solo MC Takagi Kan, all from Japan and rapping in a mixture of English and Japanese.

Finally, Guru‘s collaboration with MC Solaar, “Le Bien, Le Mal” (1993) is worth noting both as further evidence of the impact of the French MC and of the debut of Guru’s multi-volume Jazzmatazz series.

#Notable Cuts: 1992

“They Want EFX“ by Das EFX; “So What’Cha Want” by Beastie Boys; “I Got A Man” by Positive K; “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-A-Lot; “Jump” by Kriss Kross.; “Poor Georgie” by MC Lyte; “Tennessee” by Arrested Development; “Don’t Sweat the Technique” by Eric B. & Rakim; “Socio-Genetic Experiment” by The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy marks the debut of Michael Franti, whose unrelenting political edge would be honed with Spearhead as the 1990s continue; “Don Dada” by Super Cat; “So You Want to be A Gangster” by Too $hort.

#Notable Cuts: 1993

“Just Another Day …” by Queen Latifah; “Protect Ya Neck“ by Wu-Tang Clan; “Where I’m From” and “Nickel Bags“ by Digable Planets; “Passin’ Me By” by The Pharcyde; “Keep Ya Head Up” by 2Pac; “Down with the King” by Run-DMC; “Ruffneck” by MC Lyte; “Award Tour” by A Tribe Called Quest, which was Tribe’s highest charting single, and features Trugoy of De La Soul on the chorus; “Dollly My Baby” by Super Cat, Puff Daddy & The Notorious B.I.G.; “Hiphop Vs. Rap” by KRS-One.

Continue on to Part V.