80's Hits

Hip-hop may have been born in South Bronx in the mid-1970s, but mainstream America's first taste came in the next decade. Hip-hop during the '70s was more of a culture than a musical form, but beginning in roughly 1979, groups such as Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five and Lady B began condensing what had been 20- minute jam sessions into short, concise pop songs. Early hits include Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks," Spoonie Gee and the Treacherous Three's "New Rap Language," Grandmaster Flash's "The Message" and Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock." It's a common misconception that early hip-hop was explicitly political. Aside from "The Message," these were all dance tracks, which was appropriate considering that hip-hop was very much a singles' medium at the time. The earliest form was party music and was generally played using synths or full bands. Modern sampling didn't appear until Marley Marl accidentally stumbled onto it in the early '80s, and hip-hop lyricism as we now define it didn't appear until 1982, more than a half decade after the genre's birth.

Though there had been scattered singles that made the urban charts, Run DMC were the first to prove that the genre could be commercially viable in 1983. Depending upon your perspective, this is either hip-hop's birth or its death knell. Truth be told, it was a little of both. After Run DMC, hip-hop finally became more of a musical force than a lifestyle, and it was accessible to consumers worldwide. (For a more detailed look at this period, we suggest that you read Jeff Chang's excellent Can't Stop, Won't Stop .)

After this transition, artists began popping up on the West Coast (early pioneers include LA's Ice T and the Bay Area's Too $hort) and the hip-hop offshoot of Miami Bass sprouted up in the South. Formidable poets such as Rakim, Kool Mo De and KRS-One became increasingly popular. (For additional analysis, see our "lyricist" genre.) And hip-hop producers began to broaden their funk template to include rock (Beastie Boys and Run DMC) and jazz (Marley Marl and later DJ Premier and Prince Paul). (See "producers corner" genre.) In the latter half of the '80s, hip-hop alternately became more political (Boogie Down Productions and Public Enemy) and more accessible for pop audiences (DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince and MC Hammer). In short, it was no longer the monochromatic culture that is was in the '70s and early '80s. And while some would argue that it lost its focus, it became increasingly popular, and by the end of the decade was poised to become a dominant youth culture.