Rap/Hip-Hop

St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture, Jan 29, 2002 by Kembrew McLeod

Some Hip-Hop artists from its early days--like Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Kurtis Blow, Kool Moe Dee, and Doug E. Fresh--found themselves becoming minor stars while others such as Busy Bee, Spoonie Gee, Debbie Dee, Cold Crush Brothers, and Funky Four Plus One achieved little commercial success. One of the characteristics of what became known as the "old school" of Hip-Hop artists was an avoidance of using DJs and a reliance on live funk bands laying down instrumentals over which the MCs rapped. Also, Hip-Hop artists like Kurtis Blow and Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five wore flashy outfits that in no way reflected the styles worn by Hip-Hop fans on the street.

By the early 1980s, Hip-Hop music went through its first major stylistic change, ushered in by Run-DMC, which practically invented the "new school." Eschewing the showbizzy outfits and more lightweight backing instrumentals of old school acts, Run-DMC wore the same clothes worn by urban youths on the street. Further, they stripped the music down to raw basic beats and rhymes, which was more true to Hip-Hop's sound as it was originally heard in Bronx block parties and nightclubs. Run-DMC's influence was enormous, paving the way for the success of more hardcore-sounding Hip-Hop artists like Public Enemy, LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys, and other Def Jam recording acts.

Soon to be a major player in the Hip-Hop music industry, Def Jam Records was co-founded in 1984 by Russell Simmons, the brother of Run from Run-DMC. By 1985, Simmons' label had released a string of seven 12-inch singles that sold over 250,000 each (an unprecedented number at the time), launching the careers of LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys. Simmons' business partner, Rick Rubin, produced their debut albums as well as that of Public Enemy, and also had a hand in producing Run-DMC's Raising Hell (the first Hip-Hop album to go platinum). After starting the company with a $5,000 investment, Simmons and Rubin signed a $1 million distribution deal in 1985 with the corporate record label CBS.

While Run-DMC was considered the first Hip-Hop group to attract a predominantly white rock audience (with its cover of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way"), the Beastie Boys, the first white Hip-Hop group, were the first rappers to top the Billboard Pop Album charts, a sign that Hip-Hop had finally infiltrated the white suburbs of America. This was another watershed moment in the evolution of Hip-Hop and a wake-up call to major record labels that Hip-Hop was becoming a very profitable genre. These major labels, which had access to large amounts of capital, moved quickly to sign new artists, and began to absorb many of the small independent labels either through distribution deals (such as CBS's relationship with Def Jam Records or RCA's relationship with Jive Records) or by purchasing the independents outright (like Warner Brothers did with the small but profitable Tommy Boy and Sleeping Bag labels).

During the genre's first major commercial explosion (following a number of minor explosions), Hip-Hop entered what is considered to be its golden age during the late 1980s. It was a period of exciting creativity and diversity, with Boogie Down Productions and Public Enemy introducing the Hip-Hop world to overtly political messages with their albums By All Means Necessary and It Takes a Nation of Millions. . ., respectively. Rakim radically advanced the art of rhyming on Eric B. & Rakim's Paid in Full and Follow the Leader, and the likes of Schoolly D, Ice T, and Niggaz with Attitude introduced the harsh, reality-based street rhymes of what would become known as "gangsta rap." Afrocentric groups such as the Jungle Brothers and X-Clan proliferated, and party records by Kid 'n' Play and Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock were just as popular as Hip-Hop's clown prince Biz Markie and the longest lasting ladies of Hip-Hop, Salt 'n' Pepa.