What was Hip Hop Like Back in the 80's and early 90's?

[moedays]

i was born in 96

I was bumping It Written, Hell on Earth, Makaveli, etc.

 

[king hassan]

LOL I was 17 in 1990^^^

 

[Siqnih Da Trapper]

goddamn yall old lol

 

[idoitforhiphop10]

I was 6 in 1996 lol.

 

[konceptjones]

LOL I was 17 in 1990^^^

Ha, I graduated in 1990.

 

[white715]

It was an exclusivity to it back then, you didn't see rap in commercials or in a lot of shows and movies and you certainly see pop singers rappin. It was like being in a exclusive club that no everybody can get into or even knew about it.

I miss the old mix shows on to back when 93.7 was still Power 94

 

[king hassan]

I can say this, and the old heads will agree. Remember you'd go to a party and you heard everything from coast to coast and at the end of the night, they had those last 3 slow jams playing and you got to slow drag with that cutie you'd been eyeing,lol do niggas do that @ parties anymore?

 

[moedays]

I can say this, and the old heads will agree. Remember you'd go to a party and you heard everything from coast to coast and at the end of the night, they had those last 3 slow jams playing and you got to slow drag with that cutie you'd been eyeing,lol do niggas do that @ parties anymore?

lol. I remember that. It was all hip hop, a couple of slow jams with a couple of house songs sandwiched in between.

 

[moedays]

On top of that, back then mufuckas would dance to anything. Rap music, house, whatever.

 

[lamontbdc]

I can say this, and the old heads will agree. Remember you'd go to a party and you heard everything from coast to coast and at the end of the night, they had those last 3 slow jams playing and you got to slow drag with that cutie you'd been eyeing,lol do niggas do that @ parties anymore?

good ole house party joe when bump and grind came on at the end of the night you new it was on

To me the biggest thing is just the commercialism. I mean when hip hop wasn't on tv everyday and it wasn't a nice neat product cor all consumers. When the music was made for the young black man in the city struggling trying to get somewhere. When you started seeing Barbie commercials with her rapping and wearing gold chains you new shit wAs going the other way.

 

[moedays]

Hip hop was ours in the 80s and 90s. We had more control over what got put out there, so the product was better. That's why the Public Enemies sold just as well as the LLs and NWAs. Any time you mass produce something, there is always a drop in quality. Hip hop is a mass produced product now and some of these defective products need to be recalled.

 

[king hassan]

Hip hop was ours in the 80s and 90s. We had more control over what got put out there, so the product was better. That's why the Public Enemies sold just as well as the LLs and NWAs. Any time you mass produce something, there is always a drop in quality. Hip hop is a mass produced product now and some of these defective products need to be recalled.

You just said a mouthfull, the market got over saturated. And also artists are oversaturating the market as well. In the 80's and 90's a artist would put out a record every 2 or 3 years, gave them time to perfect what they were doing, no they drop a album every month.

 

[lamontbdc]

Pretty much and along with it get saturated came all the vultures from other musical genres trying to figure out how to make a dollar off hip hop. Thus you started seeing more hip hop collabs with other genres to make it easier listening for a wider audience. You got execs and artists exploiting the shit and in it for the money. It happens in all music to a extent but we actually seen and lived it with hip hop. Once they realized you can get folks from teh burbs to love this music just as much as the inner city kids things shifted. Plus we have to admit that black folks have gradually increased there success in this country and ther are more of us in the burbs spreading the culture around. Like in teh 90's i could go weeks without ever seeing a white person. Now they jogging down the streets int eh morning. Alot of social changes have changed the message and anger in the music as well

 

[king hassan]

Pretty much and along with it get saturated came all the vultures from other musical genres trying to figure out how to make a dollar off hip hop. Thus you started seeing more hip hop collabs with other genres to make it easier listening for a wider audience. You got execs and artists exploiting the shit and in it for the money. It happens in all music to a extent but we actually seen and lived it with hip hop. Once they realized you can get folks from teh burbs to love this music just as much as the inner city kids things shifted. Plus we have to admit that black folks have gradually increased there success in this country and ther are more of us in the burbs spreading the culture around. Like in teh 90's i could go weeks without ever seeing a white person. Now they jogging down the streets int eh morning. Alot of social changes have changed the message and anger in the music as well

LOL yooooooo, people think I be bullshitting when I say that, the younger ones at least.

 

[konceptjones]

speaking of house... One thing that nearly every hip hop album had back in the late 80's, was a House or dance track or one of the singles had a house remix. Some of those tracks are regarded as club classics.

 

[moedays]

I remember MCs used to danced in their own videos.

Word to Kid n Play, Big Daddy Kane and Heavy D.

 

[MrLunatik1979]

I remember MCs used to danced in their own videos.

Word to Kid n Play, Big Daddy Kane and Heavy D.

what Hammer gets no love? lol

I will admit I got hooked to hip-hop when I copped the Above the Rim soundtrack, before that I listened to some (mostly the mainstream stuff like Hammer, Kris Kross... etc) but I was still listening to other genres, but once I heard Regulate it changed and it was all about hip-hop, I just did everything I could to gain more exposure to it.

Since I was in a city with little to no hip-hop exposure I had to order all my albums through those mail order CD clubs to get them and since it was a bitch to find hip-hop magazines here at the time I would pretty much order any rap album I found through there.

I ended up falling in love with certain songs and artists that still make me stop and listen when I hear them today. The other day I heard "Chief Rocka" by Lords of the Underground and just stopped in my tracks and enjoyed. It was like a great flashback.

 

[RawAce]

GOAT thread

 

[konceptjones]

I don't think it can be stated enough how diverse hip hop was back in the 80's and early-mid 90's. Cats weren't on some "I only listen to X type of rap", we listened to it all. There were artists from EVERYWHERE making noise and we were into all of it

2 Live Crew, MC ADE, Disco Rick and the Dogs, and Magic Mike from Florida

Shy-D, Tony MF Rock, and Kilo (Ali) from the ATL

Ghetto Boys, Fila Fresh Crew, and Raheem reppin Texas

Awesome Dre, Smiley, DMW, Kaos and Mystro, Esham, and A.W.O.L. reppin Detroit

MC Breed, Dayton Family, Jake the Flake, and Top Authority from Flint

Toddy Tee, The 7A3, Ice T, Kid Frost (Pre - "La Raza"), LA Dream Team, and Too $hort in Cali

Sir Mix A Lot, Kid Sensation, and Criminal Nation reppin Seattle, WA

Common, Mr Lee, and Tung Twista out there in Chicago

Steady B, Cash Money and Marvelous, 3 Times Dope, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, and Cool C reppin Philly

Derek B, Cookie Crew, and Monie Love reppin England

and, of course, all the cats coming out of NYC.

We listened to every form of hip hop, even the "alternative" acts like Stereo MC's, PM Dawn, and Shinehead. These days, you're either into commercial shit or underground with very few people into both.

 

[spc4mack]

I remember sneaking down to use my brothers equipment so i could tape all the mix shows on fri and sat night. I got caught out there one time cause i actually fell asleep while trying to tape a whole show. Moms didn't even get mad.