The Best of 80’s Hip Hop Music

Looking for a blast from the past? Check out our list of the best 80’s hip hop tracks! You’ll be sure to get your groove on with these classics.

Introduction

The 1980s was a golden era for hip hop music. Iconic artists like Run DMC, Public Enemy, and N.W.A. changed the sound and the face of the genre forever. If you’re a fan of 80’s hip hop, then this list is for you. We’ve compiled the best tracks from the decade, so put on your headphones and get ready to trip down memory lane.

Defining Hip Hop

Hip hop music first gained popularity in the late 1970s. It is a style of music that includes rap, DJing, and graffiti. Hip hop music is often associated with African American culture. The term “hip hop” is sometimes used to refer to the culture as a whole, which includes the music, the fashion, the dance, and the art.

The Elements of Hip Hop

Hip hop is a style of music that emerged in the 1970s from the inner-city African American community in New York City. It is characterized by four elements: MCing, DJing, graffiti writing, and break dancing. MCing, or rapping, is the rhythmic delivery of rhymes over a beat. DJing is the art of playing records using turntables and mixers to create seamless transitions between tracks. Graffiti writing is the stylized drawing or painting of letters on surfaces such as walls. Break dancing is a style of dance that includes acrobatic moves performed to hip hop music.

The History of Hip Hop

Though often used interchangeably, hip hop is not the same as rap. Rap is one element of hip hop, which also includes DJing and graffiti. Hip hop originated in the 1970s in the Bronx, New York City, when DJs began playing funk and disco records at block parties. MCs (rappers) would rhyme over the instrumental tracks, often using predatory or ‘pimp’ lyrics. As hip hop developed, other elements were added, including break dancing and graffiti art.

Hip hop became popular in the 1980s with mainstream artists like Run-DMC, the Beastie Boys, and Public Enemy. Hip hop continued to evolve in the 1990s and 2000s with genres like gangsta rap and alternative hip hop. Today, hip hop is a global phenomenon with artists like Jay-Z, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and Nicki Minaj topping music charts around the world.

The Golden Age of Hip Hop

The 1980’s was a time of great change in the music industry, and hip hop was on the rise. This was the golden age of hip hop, where artists were able to express themselves through their music and compete in the mainstream market. This decade saw the release of some of the most iconic hip hop albums of all time.

The Birth of Hip Hop

In the late 1970s, a new musical genre called hip hop emerged in the South Bronx section of New York City. Hip hop is a form of music that often combines rhyming lyrics with a strong rhythm or beat. It can also include elements of rap, DJing, and graffiti art.

Hip hop developed out of two earlier African American music genres: funk and disco. Funk is a type of music that often has a strong rhythm or beat, while disco is a type of dance music that became popular in the 1970s. Hip hop artists combined elements of both genres to create their own unique sound.

One of the earliest pioneers of hip hop was DJ Kool Herc, who is credited with helping to create the musical style. Herc would play long sections of funk or disco records, which he called “breaks,” at parties and clubs in the Bronx. He would often extend these breaks by using two turntables to extend the length of the break. Over time, other DJs began to adopt Herc’s style, and hip hop began to develop as a genre.

In addition to DJing, early hip hop artists also began to rap, or recite rhyming lyrics, over the beats that DJs played. Rappers would often add their own personal stories and observations to these lyrics, which helped to further establish hip hop as its own distinct genre.

The Early Days of Hip Hop

The early days of hip hop were characterized by a freestyle approach to songwriting and a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) ethic. artists would often write songs based on their experiences and the things they saw happening around them, without worrying too much about rhyme or meter. This led to a lot of innovative and creative lyrics, as well as some very catchy hooks. The DIY ethic also meant that many artists were self-produced, relying on their own ingenuity and resourcefulness to get their music out there.

The Rise of Hip Hop

The exact origins of the term “hip hop” are disputed, but it is generally agreed that the term emerged from African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in the 1970s. AAVE is a dialect of English that is spoken by many black Americans. The term “hip hop” was first used to describe a style of music in the early 1970s. It is likely that the term was originally used to describe a type of party that was popular in New York City at the time.

The party scene in New York City in the 1970s was very different from what it is today. There were no commercial clubs or big venues where parties could be held. Instead, people would throw parties in small spaces like apartments, basements, and parks. These parties were usually organized by DJs who would play music for people to dance to.

The music played at these parties was mostly funk and soul, but it also included elements of disco and Latin music. As time went on, DJs began to experiment with different ways of mixing these records together. They would use techniques like scratching and sampling to create new sounds. This new style of music became known as hip hop.

In the early 1980s, hip hop began to gain popularity outside of New York City. The first hip hop song to become a mainstream hit was “Rapper’s Delight” by The Sugarhill Gang in 1979. This song introduced many people to the new style of music and helped to make hip hop more popular.

As hip hop became more popular, more and more artists began to emerge from different cities across the United States. These artists brought their own unique styles and perspectives to the music, which helped to make hip hop even more diverse and interesting. Some of the most famous hip hop artists from this era include RUN-DMC, Public Enemy, NWA, Lil Kim, Snoop Dogg, and Tupac Shakur.

The Best of 80’s Hip Hop

Hip hop music in the 80’s was a time of creative exploration. Artists were pushing the boundaries of what was possible with their music. Some of the best hip hop songs of all time were released in the 80’s. In this article, we’ll be counting down the best of 80’s hip hop.

The Sugarhill Gang

The Sugarhill Gang is an American hip hop group, known mostly for their hit “Rapper’s Delight”, the first rap single to become a Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The song uses the familiar bassline from Chic’s “Good Times”. The group was assembled in Englewood, New Jersey, in 1979 by producer Sylvia Robinson. The three founding members were Michael Wright, Guy O’Brien and Henry Jackson, who all hailed from the same housing project. Robinson had recently started her own record label, Sugar Hill Records with her husband Joe. Despite no background in music herself, she was convinced that rap would be the next big thing. Robinson was determined to have a hit record with a rap song and recruited local teenagers to form a group she could record.

Wright and O’Brien were both local DJs who had been school friends since kindergarten, while Jackson worked at a local pizzeria. None of them had any experience as musicians or singers. They were given $350 and told to buy some studio time to record a demo track of “Rapper’s Delight”. Wright came up with the name of the group after hearing his mother complain about the rent being too high at their apartment complex, which was called Sugar Hill. Jackson later recalled: “We just went into the studio and tried to duplicate what we heard on the radio.”

Run-D.M.C.

Run-D.M.C. was an American hip hop group from Hollis, Queens, New York, founded in 1981 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jam Master Jay. The band is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential acts in the history of hip hop music and culture, helping to establish New York City as a center for hip hop music in the late 1970s and 1980s and popularizing the use of rap in mainstream pop music during the 1980s.

Public Enemy

Public Enemy is an American rap group from Long Island, New York, composed of Chuck D (lead vocalist, lyricist, and producer), Flavor Flav (co-lead vocalist, comedian, and hype man), Professor Griff (graffiti artist, vocalist, and manager), Khari Wynn (guitarist and musician), and DJ Lord (turntablist and producer). Formed in 1982 on the strength of their single “Public Enemy No. 1”, the group is known for their politically charged music and controversial beliefs, which they have expressed through their music videos, interviews, stage shows, and other public appearances. They are widely considered to be one of the most influential groups in the history of hip hop.

The group released its debut album Yo! Bum Rush the Show in February 1987 to critical acclaim; its follow-up album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988), was even more successful commercially and critically. It peaked at number 42 on the Billboard 200 chart and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In 1989, Public Enemy won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for “Fight the Power”. They also released an album entitled Fear of a Black Planet in 1990; it charted at number one on both the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and Billboard 200. Fear of a Black Planet featured themes of racism, poverty, social justice, and police brutality. The album’s artwork featured a blackflag with clenched fists rising from behind bars superimposed over photographs of police beating civil rights demonstrators during The Sixties.

By 1992 they had achieved commercial success with Apocalypse 91…The Enemy Strikes Black; this album debuted at number two on both Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. It produced three hit singles: “Can’t Truss It”, “Shut ‘Em Down”, and “Brothers Gonna Work It Out”.

N.W.A

N.W.A was an American hip hop group from Los Angeles, California. They were one of the earliest and most significant popularizers of the gangsta rap subgenre, and are widely considered one of the seminal groups in hip hop history. The group was formed in 1986, and was composed of Arabian Prince, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and DJ Yella. N.W.A’s debut studio album Straight Outta Compton was released on August 8, 1988. By the early 1990s, the group had become highly controversial due to their music’s explicit themes of drug use, profanity, and violence.

In Late 1991 Ice Cube left N.W.A over financial disagreements with management about compensation and creative control which would go on to form his own successful solo rap career releasing hits such as “It Was A Good Day” Eventually the group disbanded due to continued disagreements between band members although they have been cited as an influential rap group and have been mentioned in many songs by other artists.

Conclusion

It is difficult to overstate the importance of 80s hip hop music. Not only did it establishrap as a legitimate and popular art form, but it also gave rise to some of the most iconic and influential artists and groups in music history. From Run-DMC to Public Enemy, from N.W.A. to Beastie Boys, the 80s was a golden era for hip hop. If you’re looking for some great 80s hip hop to add to your collection, you can’t go wrong with any of the artists or albums on this list.