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

[young law]

Corporations..........................

rofl

folks stay tryna let the companies take the blame while self dont have to look out for self

these corporations didnt jus release albums from imaginary rappers

there was artits sittin back,not sayin shit

 

[son of 1973]

I still got a Ron G mixtape somewhere in the crib and a Silver Surfa. I miss those old mixtapes

Oh man silva surfer, dj juice, kosmic kev, kid capri, i miss all those tapes. i miss the philly djs too our regular radio was like a sick mixtape lol.

 

[Paul Hate.]

Lyrical competition back then was the name of the game for most MC's,originality like I said.depending what you was rapping about street cred also factored.Nuggas wasnt checking the sales chart to see who moved what amount of units,that conversation came about after the source became a household name and of course the internet.

Your love in the streets did however always determine how popular you were though tbh with you for most rappers. even a guy like LL had to have some type of street level appeal.Its always been like that,like I said everybody else was considered to be "on some other shit".

Things really changed(for the worst IMO) with NWA.Then "Gangster Rap" came...

 

[young_reezy]

OTHER STUFF:

Elitism and Rap snobs were different.

Like I said,you would wave off party rappers and pop rappers but at the same time we wanted diversity.That shit would have been absurd if after Paid In Full everyone rocked benz logo peices and had gucci print suits even though for alot of people that was the style.

Not every rapper was trynna to sound like Rakim,what did happen though is everybody get their fucking pens out and said "oh,shit just got real"..

Then came Kane,G Rap,EPMD,feel me..It was low key competition quality wise not sales wise...of course im sure they wanted to get paid and I said this before peopel were rhyming about the good life waaaay before the 90's but it was about who was the dopest MC and street cred.

THE NOTION OF STREET CREDITABILITY WAS DIFFERENT COMPARED TO TODAY AS WELL.:

Depended on what you was saying?Heavy D aint have to have stripes cuz he wasnt on no street rap shit,dig?

If it came out G Rap was a bitch who aint do nooone of the shit he was doing,then it would have been game over.He aint had to actually go out and beef with italians to prove he who was though...Not like today,MCs gotta live the shit word for word for certain cats to be happy..Rozay for example though...even 10 years ago..would have been R...I...P..in hip hop..

I totally agree bro... but the cold part about it is, even most of the regular emcee's from back in the days had more street credibility than most of these new niggaz (heavy d. from money earning mount vernon was getting it in before rap decided to change his life around and make music, m.c. hammer also is from a rough part of oakland and ran with the high street boys back in the days) they didn't even have to continue to brag about that life they just made music.

 

[lamontbdc]

the good old days of just arguing about how had better music. where you could hear 5 different answers and get 5 credible reasons. Niggas didn't care about who produced what, niggas had no clue about album sales. all you knew was what everybody was bumping around your hood. Some things have changed for the better and some for the worse

 

[Paul Hate.]

and if the old guard had such a good grip on hip hop and moved in more unity

HOW IN THE FUCK DID THEY LET IT GET TO WHERE IT IS NOW???

the gatekeepers stopped guarding the damn gate

most the things people are proud of back in the day,dont even apply today.

Rappers were getting jerked even worse back then so if the label told em to make a pop record they had to do it.Check Jaz-O.

What really changed everything in my opinion was NWA,you could be on some murder kill shit and people gobbled it up.People saw that and enterted that lane(Gangster Rap) and everybody shifted towards that cuz it was platinum and gold with every release.

Even though rap always been primarly street-orientated shit became coonery and the labels imposed their wills.NWA fucked up the game and you could say 2pac as well..

 

[son of 1973]

and if the old guard had such a good grip on hip hop and moved in more unity

HOW IN THE FUCK DID THEY LET IT GET TO WHERE IT IS NOW???

the gatekeepers stopped guarding the damn gate

most the things people are proud of back in the day,dont even apply today.

the old guard couldnt stop the fanbase from changing. first, rap started catering more to females. that changed a lot of things, becuase females were open to more things that males didnt like then (r&b influence, pop oriented influence). also, the rise of the chronic changed what a lot of the fanbase wanted. people started to want to hear formulas (melodic music, hot 16 about guns/girls/chronic, catchy hooks) vs organic music more and more after chronic dropped. then big came out and that was pretty much it for the old ways of thinking, fans ate big's non political/b-boy stance up and it changed what the standards were for "real" rap. "real" in the old way it was thought of kinda stopped existing after big, although he could be "real" in some of his music. it became "yo we gettin money it dont matter". and if the fans go along with it, aint nothing a artist can do but either be a rebel and not sell as much or go along with the program.

 

[Paul Hate.]

I totally agree bro... but the cold part about it is, even most of the regular emcee's from back in the days had more street credibility than most of these new niggaz (heavy d. from money earning mount vernon was getting it in before rap decided to change his life around and make music, m.c. hammer also is from a rough part of oakland and ran with the high street boys back in the days) they didn't even have to continue to brag about that life they just made music.

yeah cuz rap was still oozing with the "have fun" mentality from the disco days.So alot of the rappers just wanted to have fun,make dance songs,music for the "flygirls"..etc...But most MC's even back then were street not gangsta,but they were def street..Im not one of these guys that say everybody was on some save the world shit back then ,thats not true.

They was on some" im tough not to be fucked with and cold as fuck on the mic" type mcing you feel me..?Not on some "I flipped such and such amount of bricks,now im washing it dry in this here rap game,shaaawty.."..lol...with ak's and blounts lit on youtube..Knowing they aint never done none of that shit and probably never even held guns before they got on..

 

[cubaroid]

how big BCC was back when they were comin out?

 

[son of 1973]

yeah cuz rap was still oozing with the "have fun" mentality from the disco days.So alot of the rappers just wanted to have fun,make dance songs,music for the "flygirls"..etc...But most MC's even back then were street not gangsta,but they were def street..Im not one of these guys that say everybody was on some save the world shit back then ,thats not true.

They was on some" im tough not to be fucked with and cold as fuck on the mic" type mcing you feel me..?Not on some "I flipped such and such amount of bricks,now im washing it dry in this here rap game,shaaawty.."..lol...with ak's and blounts lit on youtube..Knowing they aint never done none of that shit and probably never even held guns before they got on..

Very true...

 

[king hassan]

Oh man silva surfer, dj juice, kosmic kev, kid capri, i miss all those tapes. i miss the philly djs too our regular radio was like a sick mixtape lol.

I was stationed in Philly in 1991 so I know. That nigga Cool C used to come up to the base and hoop. Funk Flex had some dope mix tapes too, I even got a DJ Priemer mix tape that came out around 97. And yeah the Philly Dj's was killing the game, Tat Money, DJ Miz, Jazzy Jeff, Cash Money, what them cats were doing on the 1's and 2's was sick!

 

[king hassan]

the good old days of just arguing about how had better music. where you could hear 5 different answers and get 5 credible reasons. Niggas didn't care about who produced what, niggas had no clue about album sales. all you knew was what everybody was bumping around your hood. Some things have changed for the better and some for the worse

That shit did'nt even matter right there!!!!!! If the shit was dope that's all we cared about!

 

[son of 1973]

how big BCC was back when they were comin out?

they were like an underground group but they had a following, esp in ny nj philly. smif and wessun were quite popular though, you heard them on every mix show and they record sold well (300,000 or so). Black moon was popular too as an underground group. they were kinda like how little brother was in the 2000's, known and respected but not huge.

 

[Paul Hate.]

They was more socially aware but I wouldnt say most rappers were conscious,positive rappers at one point they were mostly on some party rap shit(70's to early 80s),then battlling/braggadacio street level raps (the rest of the 80's and very early 90s)then came the murderous gangsta shit with the westcoast and the east responded with mafia talk(evern more ridicolous )...Big balanced things a bit but since NWA we been hearing feirce coonery...

 

[Kwan Dai]

and if the old guard had such a good grip on hip hop and moved in more unity

HOW IN THE FUCK DID THEY LET IT GET TO WHERE IT IS NOW???

the gatekeepers stopped guarding the damn gate

most the things people are proud of back in the day,dont even apply today.

The old guard's grip gave way when the Culture and Music moved from the parks, and parties to the radio, and Wax. The grip was totally lost once the larger record labels bought out the Sleeping Bags, Priorities, and Tommy Boys that existed. The artists before that time were able to make whatever they felt was hot because, there were no A&R's, Demographic analysis and Record Sales in which to measure the music. Once the Music and the money it made became measurable there was no reason for record labels to experiment. A record label could just force or buy an artists that sounds like the current artists that's hot. This is where we are now and all genre's have been affected by this not just Hip Hop.

 

[king hassan]

The old guard's grip gave way when the Culture and Music moved from the parks, and parties to the radio, and Wax. The grip was totally lost once the larger record labels bought out the Sleeping Bags, Priorities, and Tommy Boys that existed. The artists before that time were able to make whatever they felt was hot because, there were no A&R's, Demographic analysis and Record Sales in which to measure the music. Once the Music and the money it made became measurable there was no reason for record labels to experiment. A record label could just force or buy an artists that sounds like the current artists that's hot. This is where we are now and all genre's have been affected by this not just Hip Hop.

Man you went back with that one, EPMD was on that label and I got a t-shirt that I ordered from the back of the catalog on the tape. lol

 

[Kwan Dai]

Considering that most of the old guard were from rough neighborhoods to begin with there was nothing to prove.

 

[spc4mack]

the old guard couldnt stop the fanbase from changing. first, rap started catering more to females. that changed a lot of things, becuase females were open to more things that males didnt like then (r&b influence, pop oriented influence). also, the rise of the chronic changed what a lot of the fanbase wanted. people started to want to hear formulas (melodic music, hot 16 about guns/girls/chronic, catchy hooks) vs organic music more and more after chronic dropped. then big came out and that was pretty much it for the old ways of thinking, fans ate big's non political/b-boy stance up and it changed what the standards were for "real" rap. "real" in the old way it was thought of kinda stopped existing after big, although he could be "real" in some of his music. it became "yo we gettin money it dont matter". and if the fans go along with it, aint nothing a artist can do but either be a rebel and not sell as much or go along with the program.

I think you put it perfectly. its like the standards have changed.

i was listening to an old Funk Flex radio show where he was playing 90's joints for like 4 hours straight and he said something i thought kind of hit home. (I know yall hate him but this was good). He was talking about artists and he was saying there was no particular reason to release music and tracks. They were doing it just to do it. They made the music because they liked MCing and making music in general, and if there was a reason it would be that they put the music out there to maybe see the response from the people. I know there were some out there that did it for the money but they at least tried there best and brought something to the table. They really wasn't trying to blow up or be rich and famous. I guess what i'm trying to say is people seemed to love the culture more.

 

[Paul Hate.]

People always looked up to rappers though yea when they fucked up it was game over.But we always looked up to them.They influenced fashion and slang in the hood..It was always like that.

Remember the flat tops and cut up eye brows?Kane.Benz symobls and gucci print?Drug dealers but Rakim popularized it worldwide.Customized whips?Diddo that was rappers.

Jewlery?It was even WORSE back then with the ICE.I remember old people laughing at Slick Rick and Rakim and shit like that..lol..Remember Im Gonna get you sucka! making fun of rappers and their jewls.They always been clowning..

Some old timers be talking shit,it was waay better back then and less negative by way of less blatant coonery.

But some guys act we was on save the children type shit..lmao..Yea I remember P.E. and XClan but most rappers wasnt on that shit they wasnt on some Ice T shit either..

Perfect example for this thread...LL COOL J. He is the model MC for the 80's and early 90's m.c.Tough guy talk,not killer talk.Made clowning sons "Brenda gotta big ole but" "jinglan baby" he had the ice ,the jewls,the women,the champange wasnt on no ill murder you shit,but was on some "im the illest with this mic and pen and pad" type shit..

LL.

 

[Kwan Dai]

Man you went back with that one, EPMD was on that label and I got a t-shirt that I ordered from the back of the catalog on the tape. lol

Yeah, back then my crew had all of the labels written down that we wanted to send demos to. LMAO we never had enough paper to even complete a demo. But we had fun trying.