The 80's

Hip-hop in the 1980s went from party records to an art form. In ten years it grew from a New York street culture into music that reached the whole world.

The story. Run-DMC traded disco breaks for hard drums and rock guitars, and Def Jam (founded in 1984 by Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons) launched LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys and Public Enemy. Rakim changed rapping itself with internal rhymes and a calm, controlled flow on Paid in Full (1987). KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick and Kool G Rap raised the lyrical bar, and women like Roxanne Shanté, MC Lyte, Salt-N-Pepa and Queen Latifah claimed their place. At the end of the decade N.W.A put the West Coast on the map and the Native Tongues brought color and playfulness. This is the start of the golden age.

The sound. Drum machines like the Roland TR-808, then samplers that made it possible to build beats from old records. Rhymes became longer, more complex and more personal.

Key albums

• Raising Hell, Run-DMC (1986)
• Paid in Full, Eric B. & Rakim (1987)
• Criminal Minded, Boogie Down Productions (1987)
• It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Public Enemy (1988)
• Straight Outta Compton, N.W.A (1988)
• 3 Feet High and Rising, De La Soul (1989)