Okay, I guess I'll play along with the decade thing. The eighties are cheese, IMO. There's nothing artistically special about them, production turned digital, everything about the decade is just wrong. (Sorry ilov). But there is one thing that happened. Rap and hip hop and sampled or drum machine-based music hit the mainstream. From its origins as a block party/disco loop thing whereby people danced to DJ'd records in communal settings with a rudimentary emcee rocking the mic for block partiers to an entire commodified industry and art form, the eighties oversaw a hip hop arc unlike any art form that entered the decade. While other genres divided, imploded, and had their best artists operating in sub-genre or synthesis territory, a diverse set of artists comprised hip hop, ranging from everything from the overtly socio-politically conscious to the neo-hippie stylings of other acts, and hip hop, as a form, thrived toward the end of the decade rather than dying like most of the forms that entered the decade. 1987 would see Public Enemy's first album. 1989 would see De La Soul's. The form would continue to explode in the early nineties, and here we are with it.
Some of the first mainstream hip hop recordings that appealed to broad audiences but were also cutting edge in their presentation of hip hop and rap compared to lighter-hearted rap that had come before.
Run-D.M.C. - Run-D.M.C. (1984)
Rock Box
Sucker M.C.'s
It's Like That
The production is sparse, minimalist and would be a radical departure from the lusher disco and more angular post-punk samples that had been used prior in rap music. Russell Simmons and Larry Smith oversaw the beats, largely focusing on a drum machine to provide them. Jam Master Jay cuts the beats and provides the scratches on the album. Standouts include "Rock Box," one of the first, if not the first, rap video on MTV, "Sucker M.C.'s." and "It's Like That."
The songs might sound a touch dated compared to the extraordinary stuff D.J.'s would do just several years later, but the album is still incredibly strong due to the minimalist beats and the lyrical performances. It's worthy of any list, really.
Run-D.M.C. - Raising Hell (1986)
Peter Piper
It's Tricky
Walk This Way
Raising Hell was a lusher, more commercial affair, with production by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin together. Rubin and Simmons would go on to form Def Jam, but until then, the album was on Profile Records and featuring many hits, both on the charts, and for MTV. Underestimating its importance comes at the listener's peril. From the opening strains of "Peter Piper" on through the entire album, a group and crew at the top of their game from the emcee through to the producers take turns with excellence. Propelling rap and rap style to the forefront of popular consciousness,
Raising Hell could be considered
the important hip hop/rap record of all-time. A quick Wiki search shows Chuck D praising the album as his favorite and saying that's why he signed to Def Jam. It's that good. I'm totally ignoring exactly how much this album helped rap cross over to white audiences because you know the story. The thing behind that is that..."Walk This Way" is a great collaboration, a great remix, a fully realized song in retrospect. It was deserving of all the love. Anyway, that's the album. It's got way, way more than three good songs.
See chameleon...lying the there in the sun/all things to everyone
