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

[Flyng]

another question. did producers mainly work with their own people or is it like now where rappers would get different producers beats on their albums? and were producers as well known as they are now or were they mostly in the background?

Yea most producers worked with they own crew. It started to loosen up in the early 90's but illmatic was really the first album of note to feature several mega producers, that also added to the allure.

don't know if you like my answer but it would be the west coast..down south fucked with everything...but to keep it one hunnid...the south and west coast back in the 90's were like cousins..the south in the mid 90's had a sound greatly influenced by the west coast until the late 90's especially the rap scene not so much the dance/bounce/booty scene that's southern shit..and a lot of the 1st generation southern rappers (ugk/8ball &mjg,scarface/geto boys,etc) would say like too short was one of their main influences in fact they worked with west coast artist way before new york artist back then

You know what that is?

1st. New York City is very unique. It's the only city with Major mass transit with Chicago probably being a distant 2nd. So a lot of music was made for headphones because more people walked in NYC than the rest of the country.

2nd and probably even more important is that like 25%-to probably 40% of NYC Black population is from the West Indies. In fact Hip Hop was created by West indians(by way of Jamaica) and a lot of the stars especially early on were of West Indian decent. Even though you had tons of kids who went down south for the summer(mostly the Carolina's, some VA), you also had tons of people who had no connection with the south at all. Almost all the Black people in LA and the rest of the country have family in the south and most likely visit or had fam from the south visit them. Easier to connect and even think about.

 

[704Hustla]

hold up...my real niggaz remember about tryin to stay up to watch this shit

[video=youtube;8-WFNbMohTQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-WFNbMohTQ[/video]

[video=youtube;2jQzSk38dTU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jQzSk38dTU[/video]

th

fuck all tha shit tho i had to post this all the real niggaz know this...im tellin yall ice cube was that nigga in the early 90's yall don't know..i used to rap this shit over and over man damn i wish this ice cube could come back for 5 minutes rappin like tis..i had the single to this album.

[video=youtube;DKJsSPATDLY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKJsSPATDLY&feature=relmfu[/video]

 

[704Hustla]

Yea most producers worked with they own crew. It started to loosen up in the early 90's but illmatic was really the first album of note to feature several mega producers, that also added to the allure.

You know what that is?

1st. New York City is very unique. It's the only city with Major mass transit with Chicago probably being a distant 2nd. So a lot of music was made for headphones because more people walked in NYC than the rest of the country.

2nd and probably even more important is that like 25%-to probably 40% of NYC Black population is from the West Indies. In fact Hip Hop was created by West indians(by way of Jamaica) and a lot of the stars especially early on were of West Indian decent. Even though you had tons of kids who went down south for the summer(mostly the Carolina's, some VA), you also had tons of people who had no connection with the south at all. Almost all the Black people in LA and the rest of the country have family in the south and most likely visit or had fam from the south visit them. Easier to connect and even think about.

@ 1st quote..and people respected that that but in them days cali's lifestyle was unique too..the whole neighborhood thang and flossin/ridin in cars with the base boomin was some shit we could relate to down here cause our hoods were spread out and required a car to to get around the city and this was in the 80's..lol

@ 2nd qoute..that's cool i see what you sayin that probley why the east and the south had no real connection

 

[king hassan]

I'm glad you brought this up. That is my problem with alot of todays new so called "DJ's". You got cats out today calling themselves Dj's and can't even mix 2 records together or even scratch. The shit is sad. Dj's get absolutly no shine today and that is not right because its one of the original elements of hip-hop. Hassan i'm younger than you but i remember a time when artists were approachable. I remember going to the park jams and it was nothing to see Biz, Marley, Shan, De LA, LONS and many others be there among the people and it was all love. Rakim would actually show up at the annual Wyandanch Day and park his benz in the park and chill. You could walk up to him and dap him up and it was all love. For the most part artists where just regular cats with the gift of being able to MC. It was easy to relate to them because they were alot like you. These days every rapper claims they are already rich and superstar before they ever stepped foot in the booth.

Good thread BTW. I hope to contribute a little more.

Yeah I've had mad NY cats tell me they were more approachable. I have a good friend that lives here in Chicago and she's from Harlem and 48, she tells me how them cats were all mad cool. They were just regular cats, hell I've even seen Common around the Chi, rapped with that nigga and everything, not as much now because he not in the hoods anymore. I remember bumping into Kid and Play in the mall down in the Sip and them niggas was riding up the escalator and I was going down. Play gave me the head nod and everything, and seen De La in the same mall a few minutes later in "The Oak Tree", them niggas was cool as shit and funny. No entourage or non of that shit, just chilling. And my homie had a pops that lived in front of the radio station that was down the street from Jackson State University and Luke came through and shut Lynch St down with chicks jumping out the limo shaking that ass. The radio station is gone now and they moved it somewhere else. Also saw Too Short on campus @ JSU and they nigga took a pull off our joint lol. Good times!

 

[king hassan]

@ 1st quote..and people respected that that but in them days cali's lifestyle was unique too..the whole neighborhood thang and flossin/ridin in cars with the base boomin was some shit we could relate to down here cause our hoods were spread out and required a car to to get around the city and this was in the 80's..lol

@ 2nd qoute..that's cool i see what you sayin that probley why the east and the south had no real connection

Well when hip hop came out it was mostly the east so the south bumped a whole lot of NY shit when hip hop kicked off. Only later in the late 80's did it spread but still the east was running it. And a lot of artists were going east to produce their records, a lot of west coast cats were rapping like the east at first. Then they got they on thing going later but the south played a whole bunch of east coast shit. And a lot of cats parents in the east was from the south and the kids would go down south with the hip hop, and they were bringing tapes and cats was loving it. So the south and east always had a connection.

 

[black caesar]

I feel old as hell now. I'm 33. I saw rap pop in the 80's and 90's.

78-86=Humble beginnings.

87-96=Golden age Rakim, KRS-1, Big Daddy Kane, and Kool G Rap set up what lyricism was all about. West coast was popping too. Too many good acts to mention. The bar was set high back then to get in the game. Of course there were some wack rappers then, but they were better than the wack rappers now. Regions also had a unique sound. NYC had the boom-bap, the west coast had them tight melody beats, and the south had that bounce.

97=Jiggy era. This was a bad year for rap. Ma$e is credited for putting the fun in Hip-Hop instead of being street. Almost everybody tried to copy Pac and Big's formula to sell records, but we got some garbage, and very few gems that year. Even Jay-Z regrets In My Lifetime Vol 1. (Came out in 97.)

98=Got good again. DMX is credited for helping it be a good year.

99-present. Started declining, but still a hip-hop head until I die. There are still some good rappers, and a bunch of wack ones now.

 

[black caesar]

Also for the record Biggie did bring the East Back. NaS and Wu did get the ball rolling but quality wasn't the issue for New York. The Fact is between LL's "Mamma said knock you out" which was released in 90, no New York solo emcee went Platinum. New York was in a serious sales drought after all the success from the 80's. Beastie Boys, Tribe, Onyx and Black Sheep saw success as groups but none of them were able to stop Dre and Snoop's as well as Death Row's takeover. It wasn't until "Ready To Die" dropped that all changed. Not only was it the most success solo album for a New York Rapper, it literally shifted the sound of Hip Hop at that time and open the door for other New York Emcees to flourish. So "36 chambers and ILLmatic" started the camp fire, Biggie threw gasoline on it.

Agreed but remember Nas, Black Moon, and Wu-Tang also helped bring the east back. In fact Black Moon and Wu-Tang dropped before Big's first album.

My high school years:

9th grade: 92-93
10th grade: 93-94
11th grade: 94-95
12th grade: 95-96

 

[black caesar]

Dope thread....

How Big was Pac in 96???

thank god tommy didnt post in here it wouldve been some bullshit he made up.

Pac was the man in 96, but what put him in as contender for one of the greats was his Me against the world album which was either 94 or 95

Biggie was the man too. Biggie had been putting it down when he was signed to Uptown records. The first time the world heard him was on Supacat's "My Dolly baby"

 

[black caesar]

Cam'ron

describe how ny may have really felt bout him b4 and after Dipset really took off

Cam'ron's S.D.E. was his best work. Hasn't topped it since.

 

[Plop Star]

a lot of crackas in here..............some of yall didnt start listening to rap until yall was 12 and shit lol

i was born in 89 but of course i heard hip hop growing up as it was the only thing played in my black household and black neighborhood

and i cant lie i remember when pac and big fied but i LOVED cash money coming up

i got memories of being in elementary singin i need a hot girl and shit lol

 

[Flyng]

@ 1st quote..and people respected that that but in them days cali's lifestyle was unique too..the whole neighborhood thang and flossin/ridin in cars with the base boomin was some shit we could relate to down here cause our hoods were spread out and required a car to to get around the city and this was in the 80's..lol

@ 2nd qoute..that's cool i see what you sayin that probley why the east and the south had no real connection

-That's my point, Cali is more relatable. Whatever city can relate to taking the subway, going to the Garden and after a whole world right outside of it instead of driving home like every other area in the country, stores on every corner in the hood, etc. NYC have cars to of course but niggas(hustlas) in NY was buying Benz, Mercedes, Lexus, Infiniti, Saab's, etc Caddies was old man cars while in LA and the south you guys tricked them shits out and your lives resolved around driving. NY had the first hydraulic cars but it wasn't huge. I do remember neon lights in the 90's but that NY was represented too much on tv.

-VA, North and South Carolina related and transplants in FL.

 

[myles@thisisfif]

a lot of crackas in here..............some of yall didnt start listening to rap until yall was 12 and shit lol

i was born in 89 but of course i heard hip hop growing up as it was the only thing played in my black household and black neighborhood

and i cant lie i remember when pac and big fied but i LOVED cash money coming up

i got memories of being in elementary singin i need a hot girl and shit lol

i was born in 88 and listend to the charts, so obviously the best songs were the hiphop/rab tunes, but your true im a cracker and i had no real favourites till i was 10 years old

and that my friend was the moment hi my name is dropped out of nowhere on the radio

 

[ustreet_monsta]

Great thread.

Hip Hop was a lot more fun. Edgy rap back then was mostly just stuff that was sexually explicit like Salt N Pepa or Naughty by Nature or Too Short or Luke. Rappers were more focused on making party music and socially relevant music than convincing their fans that they were super thugs, pimps, and dealers. The few rappers out that were really about that Life were telling cautionary tales in their raps. They werent trying to build the most ignorant fan base possible and get them to be consumers.

The Source changed everything IMO. More than NWA and gangsta rap. 11/12 months of the year they were giving their cover to progressively more image based groups and rappers. It was still the Hip Hop bible and their writers did great interviews with up and coming talent. But at the same time they really helped build the current divide in fans who only want to hear one kind of rap. Now its gotten to the point where the only rappers that get covers are gangsta rap hip pop hybrids or being sponsored by someone with pop money.

 

[young_reezy]

est. 1981....

as I remember Hip Hop was more of an insider type thing. you had to be in the loop to know what was up, it wasn't all in ya face like it is today, even when they did give us hip hop on television back in the days it always felt like it was never enough, a 30 min show just wasn't enough. Hip Hop felt like it was more personal, you felt good knowing that everybody everywhere wasn't up on it like that.

 

[myles@thisisfif]

-That's my point, Cali is more relatable. Whatever city can relate to taking the subway, going to the Garden and after a whole world right outside of it instead of driving home like every other area in the country, stores on every corner in the hood, etc. NYC have cars to of course but niggas(hustlas) in NY was buying Benz, Mercedes, Lexus, Infiniti, Saab's, etc Caddies was old man cars while in LA and the south you guys tricked them shits out and your lives resolved around driving. NY had the first hydraulic cars but it wasn't huge. I do remember neon lights in the 90's but that NY was represented too much on tv.

-VA, North and South Carolina related and transplants in FL.

i pretty much get this "Paid in Full" image in my head

that movie was really well done surprisingly and Camron can actually act, im guessing it was inspired by the rakim album? PiF?

 

[Flyng]

a lot of crackas in here..............some of yall didnt start listening to rap until yall was 12 and shit lol

i was born in 89 but of course i heard hip hop growing up as it was the only thing played in my black household and black neighborhood

and i cant lie i remember when pac and big fied but i LOVED cash money coming up

i got memories of being in elementary singin i need a hot girl and shit lol

White people in NY were hip hop fans/future heads before hip hop even made it to FL.

 

[king hassan]

Hip hop was more socially conscience too. Cats were talking about the ills of society, not glorifying it. Evan NWA was doing that, also with that party vibe and just kicking it vibe. And they talked politics too, if shit was fucked up they said it on record, now cats don't care to know about what's going on in the world, they could give a shit.

 

[son of 1973]

Wish I had seen this thread earlier, a lot of great points made. I got into rap with RUN DMC first album and seen it evolve from there. It was definitely more experimental becuase things were being developed right on the spot. No sample clear laws. No rules on how to structure a song...you could rap for three minutes straight with no hooks if you wanted lol. You could sample noise, funk, jazz, country, breakbeats and it all became hip hop once you threw that boom bap on it. As many have siad KRS Kane Ra G Rap Slick Rick and LL are the blueprint for today's rhyming and they were all hiting back then. What people dont know is Ra and KRS elevated the game first from LL before Kane and G Rap really were heard about. 86-90 esp was crazy. In 4 years you had sampling being invented, refined and perfected, subject matter going from party music to hardcore, political, and battle themes, the south came into the game, the west came into the game, and it seemed like there was something new to be heard like everyday. With no internet you had to talk with your friends and listen to every mix show, listen to cars, listen to music coming out of people houses (thats how i first heard PE lol) to know what to run out and buy next. 1988 was great becuase its the onyl year I remember all types of rap coexisted equally together. pimp (Too Short) gangsta (NWA) south (Geto Boys/2 LIve Crew) hardcore (BDP/EPMD/Kane) political (PE) playful/alternative (De La/Tribe), pop (Rob Base/Kid and Play), 5% (Rakim), I dont know if it was becuase the fanbase was samller but if you was a rap head then you ate it all up. In Philly we were listening to all that, even MC Hammer in 88.

 

[GettinLo]

Hip-hop in the late 80's / early 90's in NYC was a beautiful thing. Musically, you had to have talent to get on. There were 2 media outlets WBLS and KISS and I distinctly remember listening to the radio on Friday and Saturdays nights waiting for new music to drop. There was nothing like hearing "the Symphony" for the 1st time.

 

[hnic1978]

I LOVE THIS THREAD!!! I love how instead of condemning you guys are curious about how it was. I am 33 also so i grew up on hip hop. From listening to Kool Moe Dee, Whodini, and a Young LLCoolJ. All i can tell u is growing up in the 90's if u were into buying music YOU STAYED BROKE!! There was so much variety in hip hop and everybody stayed true to where they were from. I can go on forever talkin bout from who was mainstream and who was underground. The MOST beautiful thing about then was that u had MORE Black people running these powerhouse labels and they gave rappers the freedom to do WHATEVER they wanted to do musically. Most of the labels back then pushed songs that wouldn't see the light of day on radio or video.