Golden age hip hop is a name given to mainstream hip hop music created from the mid-1980s to early-mid 1990s, particularly by artists and musicians originating from the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...

. An outgrowth of the new school hip hop movement, it is characterized by its diversity, quality, innovation and influence on hip hop after the genre's emergence and establishment in the old-school era,Green, Tony, in Wang, Oliver (ed.) ''Classic Material'', Toronto: ECW Press, 2003. p. 132 and is associated with the development and eventual mainstream success of hip hop. There were various types of subject matter, while the music was experimental and the sampling from old records was eclectic. The artists most often associated with the period are

LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, along ...

, Slick Rick, Ultramagnetic MC's,Linhardt, Alex (June 10, 2004)
Album Reviews: Ultramagnetic MC's: Critical Beatdown
.

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

. Retrieved on December 24, 2014. the Jungle Brothers,

Run-D.M.C. Run-DMC (also spelled Run-D.M.C.) was an American hip hop group from Hollis, Queens, New York City, founded in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as one of the most influential acts in the history of ...

, Public Enemy,

Beastie Boys Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar, programming) ...

KRS-One Lawrence "Kris" Parker (born August 20, 1965), better known by his stage names KRS-One (; an abbreviation of "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone") and Teacha, is an American rapper from New York City. He rose to prominence as part of ...

, Eric B. & Rakim,

De La Soul De La Soul () is an American hip hop trio formed in 1988 in the Amityville area of Long Island, New York. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternati ...

Big Daddy Kane Antonio Hardy (born September 10, 1968), better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper who began his career in 1986 as a member of the Juice Crew. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and skilled MCs in ...

EPMD EPMD is an American hip hop duo from Brentwood, New York. The duo's name is a concatenation of the members' names "E" and "PMD" or an acronym for "Erick and Parrish Making Dollars", referring to its members: emcees Erick Sermon ("E" a.k.a. ...

, Biz Markie,

Salt-N-Pepa Salt-N-Pepa (also stylized as Salt 'N' Pepa or Salt 'N Pepa) is an American hip-hop group formed in New York City in 1985, that comprised Salt (Cheryl James), Pepa (Sandra Denton), and DJ Spinderella (Deidra Roper). Their debut album, '' Hot, ...

Queen Latifah Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress, and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album ''All Hail the Que ...

, Gang Starr, and

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip

. Releases by these acts co-existed in this period with, and were as commercially viable as, those of early

gangsta rap Gangsta rap or gangster rap, initially called reality rap, emerged in the mid- to late 1980s as a controversial hip-hop subgenre whose lyrics assert the culture and values typical of American street gangs and street hustlers. Many gangsta rappe ...

artists such as

Schoolly D Jesse Bonds Weaver Jr. (born June 22, 1962), better known by the stage name Schoolly D (sometimes spelled Schooly D), is an American rapper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Career Schoolly D teamed up with DJ Code Money in the mid-1980s. His ...

, Ice-T,

Geto Boys Geto Boys (originally spelled Ghetto Boys) was an American hip-hop group originally formed in Houston, Texas. The Geto Boys enjoyed success in the 1990s with the group's classic lineup consisting of Bushwick Bill, Scarface and Willie D, earni ...

N.W.A N.W.A (an abbreviation for Niggaz Wit Attitudes) was an American hip hop group whose members were among the earliest and most significant popularizers and controversial figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, and the group is widely considered ...

, the sex raps of 2 Live Crew and Too Short, and party-oriented music by acts such as the Fat Boys, DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, MC Hammer, and

Vanilla Ice Robert Matthew Van Winkle (born October 31, 1967), known professionally as Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, actor, and television host. Born in South Dallas, and raised in Texas and South Florida, Ice released his debut album, ''Hooked'', ...

.Bakari Kitwan
"The Cotton Club"
, ''Village Voice'', June 21, 2005.

Description

LL Cool J with arms raised at 2007 MyCoke Fest in Atlanta

The golden age is noted for its innovation – a time "when it seemed that every new single reinvented the genre," according to ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

''. Referring to "hip-hop in its golden age",Jake Coyle of Associated Press
"Spin magazine picks Radiohead CD as best"
, published in ''USA Today'', June 19, 2005. ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally ...

'''s editor-in-chief Sia Michel said, "there were so many important, groundbreaking albums coming out right about that time", and

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's Sway Calloway added: "The thing that made that era so great is that nothing was contrived. Everything was still being discovered and everything was still innovative and new".Scott Mervis
"From Kool Herc to 50 Cent, the story of rap – so far"
, ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', February 15, 2004. Writer William Jelani Cobb said, "what made the era they inaugurated worthy of the term golden was the sheer number of stylistic innovations that came into existence... in these golden years, a critical mass of mic prodigies were literally creating themselves and their art form at the same time".Cobb, Jelani William, 2007, ''To the Break of Dawn'', NYU Press, p. 47. The term "Golden age hip hop" frames the late 1980s in mainstream hip hop, said to be characterized by its diversity, quality, innovation and influence, and associated with Public Enemy,

and his Boogie Down Productions, Eric B. & Rakim, Ultramagnetic MCs,

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip

, and the Jungle Brothers due to their themes of Afrocentricity and political militancy, their experimental music, and their eclectic sampling. This same period is sometimes referred to as "mid-school" or a "middle school" in hip hop, the phrase covering acts such as Gang Starr, the UMC's,

Main Source Main Source was an East Coast hip hop group based in New York City/ Toronto, composed of Toronto-born DJs and producers, K-Cut and Sir Scratch, and Queens MC and producer Large Professor. Later, another Queens MC, Mikey D (Michael Deering), re ...

Lord Finesse Lord Finesse (born Robert Hall Jr., February 19, 1970) is an American rapper and hip-hop record producer from The Bronx, New York best known as the leader of the D.I.T.C. crew. About.com ranked him number 29 on its list of the Top-50 Hip-Hop ...

, Just Ice, Stetsasonic, True Mathematics, and Mantronix. Adidas Run DMC shoe

The innovations of Run-D.M.C., LL Cool J, and new school producers such as Larry Smith, and Rick Rubin of Def Jam Recordings, were quickly advanced on by the

, Marley Marl and his Juice Crew MCs, Boogie Down Productions, Public Enemy, and Eric B. & Rakim. Hip hop production became denser, rhymes and beats faster, as the drum machine was augmented with the sampler technology. Rakim took lyrics about the art of rapping to new heights, while KRS-One and

Chuck D Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960), known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D helped creat ...

pushed "message rap" towards black activism.

Native Tongues The Native Tongues were a collective of late 1980s and early 1990s hip-hop artists known for their positive-minded, good-natured Afrocentric lyrics, and for pioneering the use of eclectic sampling and jazz-influenced beats. Its principal mem ...

artists' inclusive, sample-crowded music accompanied their positivity, Afrocentricity and playful energy. During the golden age of hip hop, samples were heavily used. The ability to sample different beats, riffs and patterns from a wide variety of sources gave birth to a new breed of producers and DJs who did not necessarily need formal musical training or instruments, just a good ear for sound collages. These samples were derived from a number of genres, ranging from

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...

and

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm ...

. For example, '' Paul's Boutique'', the

' second studio album, drew from over 200 individual samples, 24 of which were featured on the last track of the album. Samples and sound bites were not limited to just music. RZA of the

Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop group formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its original members include RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa. Close aff ...

, a hip hop collective formed in the 1990s, sampled sound clips from his own collection of 1970s kung-fu films to bolster and frame the group's gritty lyrical content. Many of the sample-laden albums released during this time would not be able to receive legal clearance today. The era also provided some of the greatest advances in

rapping Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

technique. Kool G Rap, referring to the golden age in the book '' How to Rap'' said, "that era bred rappers like a

, a

, a Rakim, a

... their rapping capability and ability – these dudes were phenomenal". Many of hip hop's biggest artists were also at their creative peak.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

said the golden age "witnessed the best recordings from some of the biggest rappers in the genre's history... overwhelmingly based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, golden age rap is characterized by skeletal beats, samples cribbed from

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest ha ...

or soul tracks, and tough dis raps... rhymers like PE's

, Rakim, and

basically invented the complex wordplay and lyrical kung-fu of later hip-hop". In addition to lyrical self-glorification, hip hop was also used as a form of social protest. Lyrical content from the era often drew attention to a variety of social issues including Afrocentric living, drug use, crime and violence, religion, culture, the state of the American economy, and the modern man's struggle.

Conscious Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

and

political hip hop Political hip hop is a subgenre of hip hop music that was developed in the 1980s as a way of turning hip hop into a call for political and/or social action and a form of social and/or political activism. Inspired by 1970s political artists ...

tracks of the time were a response to the effects of American capitalism and former President Reagan's conservative political economy. According to Rose Tricia, "In rap, relationships between black cultural practice, social and economic conditions, technology, sexual and racial politics, and the institution policing of the popular terrain are complex and in constant motion. Even though hip hop was used as a mechanism for different social issues it was still very complex with issues within the movement itself. There was also often an emphasis on black nationalism. Hip hop scholar Michael Eric Dyson stated, "during the golden age of hip hop, from 1987 to 1993, Afrocentric and black nationalist rap were prominent", and critic Scott Thill described the time as "the golden age of hip hop, the late '80s and early '90s when the form most capably fused the militancy of its

Black Panther A black panther is the melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical rosettes are also present. They have been ...

and Watts Prophets forebears with the wide-open cultural experimentalism of

and others". Stylistic variety was also prominent;

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

said that in the golden age, "rappers had an individual sound that was dictated by their region and their communities, not by a marketing strategist," the ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

'' referred to the golden age's "eclecticism",Mosi Reeves
"Easy-Chair Rap"
, ''Village Voice'', January 29th 2002. and Ben Duinker and Denis Martin of ''Empirical Musicology Review'' wrote that "The constant flow of new, boundary-pushing Golden Age album releases exemplifies this era's unprecedented stylistic fluidity."

Time period

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

writes, "Hip-hop's golden age is bookended by the commercial breakthrough of

in 1986 and the explosion of gangsta rap with NWA in the late 80s and Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg in 1993." However, the specific time period that the golden age covers varies among different sources. The ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' also defines hip-hop's golden age as the "late 1980s and early 90s". Ed Simons of

the Chemical Brothers The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons in Manchester in 1989. They were pioneers (along with the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, the Crystal Method, and other acts) in bringing the big beat gen ...

said, "there was that golden age of hip-hop in the early 90s when the Jungle Brothers made '' Straight Out the Jungle'' and

made '' Three Feet High and Rising''" (though these records were in fact made in 1988 and 1989 respectively).

called the 1980s the "Golden Age" of hip-hop music.

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

states, "The golden age of hip-hop, from 1986 to 1993, gave the world an amazing number of great records," and also describes the period in November 1993, when

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip

and

released albums, as "The Next Golden age." The golden age is described by scholar Mickey Hess as "circa 1986-1994."Hess, Mickey., 2007, ''Icons of Hip Hop wo Volumes volumes An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture (Greenwood Icons)'', Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 341. Carl Stoffers of ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ...

'' describes the golden age as "spanning from approximately 1986 to 1997." Brad Callas of Medium.com writes that "Hip-Hop's Golden Age is loosely bookended by the genre's commercial breakthrough in the late 1980s and the back-to-back deaths of 2Pac and Biggie in the late 1990s." In their article "In Search of the Golden Age Hip-Hop Sound", music theorists Ben Duinker and Denis Martin of ''Empirical Musicology Review'' use "the 11 years between and including 1986 and 1996 as chronological boundaries" to define the golden age, bookended by the releases of ''Raising Hell'' and ''License to Ill'' and the deaths of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. Will Lavin of uDiscover Music states "It's generally accepted that the Golden Age occurred from the mid '80s and mid '90s; it was then that all the elements of the culture – breaking, graffiti art and DJing – broke cover to enter the mainstream." Music critic Tony Green, in the book ''Classic Material'', refers to the two-year period 1993–1994 as "a second Golden Age" that saw influential, high-quality albums using elements of past classicism – drum machines (

Roland TR-808 The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, commonly known as the 808, is a drum machine manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1980 and 1983. It was one of the first drum machines to allow users to program rhythms instead of using preset patte ...

), drum samplers ( Akai MPC60,

E-mu SP-1200 The E-mu SP-1200 is a sampler created by Dave Rossum that was released in August 1987 by E-mu Systems. Like the product it was meant to replace, the SP-12, the SP-1200's intended use was as a drum machine and sequencer for dance music produc ...

), turntable scratches, references to old school hip hop hits, and "tongue-twisting triplet verbalisms" – while making clear that new directions were being taken. Green lists as examples the Wu-Tang Clan's '' Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)'', Nas's '' Illmatic'', De La Soul's 1993 release '' Buhloone Mindstate'', Snoop Doggy Dogg's '' Doggystyle'', A Tribe Called Quest's third album ''

Midnight Marauders ''Midnight Marauders'' is the third studio album by American hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, released on November 9, 1993, by Jive Records. Recording sessions for the album occurred at Battery Studios, Platinum Island Studios and Scorcerer Sou ...

'' and the Outkast debut '' Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik''. Dart Adams of ''Festival Peak'' described this "2nd Golden Era" as spanning 1992 to 1996, and cites the release of

Puff Daddy Puff may refer to: Science and technology * Puff, a small quantity of gas or smoke in the air ** Puff, a light gust of wind ** Exhalation ** Inhalation * Puff model, volcanic ash tracking model developed at the University of Alaska Fairbanks * ...

and Mase's " Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" in 1997 as being the start of mainstream rap's "Jiggy Era". According to copyright, music, and pop culture scholars Kembrew Mcleod and Peter DiCola, the golden age of hip-hop sampling spans from 1987 to 1992. Artists and record labels were not yet aware of the permanence of hip-hop culture in mainstream media, and did not yet accept it as a legitimate institution. They believe the ruling made in '' Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records Inc.'' marked the end of the golden age of hip hop and its sampling practices.DiCola, Peter & Mcleod, Kembrew. ''Creative License: The Law & Culture of Digital Sampling''. Duke University Press. 2011.

Juice Crew

Notable hip hop producer and innovator, Marley Marl, formed the Juice Crew hip hop collective. Marl also founded Cold Chillin' Records and assembled various hip hop acts, including MC Shan,

, Biz Markie,

Roxanne Shanté Lolita Shante Gooden (born March 8, 1970), better known by her stage name Roxanne Shante, is an American rapper. Born and raised in the Queensbridge Projects of Queens, New York City, Shante first gained attention through the Roxanne Wars and ...

, Kool G Rap & DJ Polo, and

Masta Ace Duval Clear (born December 4, 1966), known better by his stage name Masta Ace, is an American rapper and record producer from New York City. He appeared on the classic 1988 Juice Crew posse cut " The Symphony". He is noted for his distinct voice ...

. His Juice Crew collective was an important force in ushering the "golden age" era of hip hop, with advances in lyrical technique, distinctive personalities of emerging artists like Biz Markie and Big Daddy Kane, and attaining

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

commercial success for hip hop music. Marley Marl's first production was an "answer record" to "Sucker MCs" in 1983 entitled "Sucker DJs" by Dimples D. Soon after came 14-year-old Roxanne Shanté's answer to

UTFO UTFO (an abbreviation for Untouchable Force Organization) was an American old-school hip hop group from Brooklyn, New York City. The group consisted of Kangol Kid (born Shaun Shiller Fequiere; August 10, 1966 – December 18, 2021), Educate ...

's "Roxanne Roxanne", "Roxanne's Revenge" (1985), sparking off the huge wave of answer records known as the

Roxanne Wars The Roxanne Wars is a well-known series of hip hop rivalries during the mid-1980s, yielding perhaps the most answer records in history. The dispute arose over a failed appearance at a radio promotional show. There were two Roxannes in question, ...

. More disses (insults intended to show disrespect) from Shanté followed: "Bite This" (1985), "Queen of Rox" (1985), introducing Biz Markie on "Def Fresh Crew" (1986), "Payback" (1987), and "Have a Nice Day" (1987).

Boogie Down Productions

Shante's "Have a Nice Day" had aimed some barbs at the principal two members of a new group from the Bronx called Boogie Down Productions (BDP): "Now KRS-ONE you should go on vacation with that name soundin' like a wack radio station, and as for Scott La Rock, you should be ashamed, when

T La Rock Terrence "Terry" Ronnie Keaton known by the stage name T La Rock, (born September 16, 1961) is an American old-school emcee best known for his collaboration with Def Jam Recordings co-founder Rick Rubin and the 1984 single "It's Yours." Biog ...

said "It's Yours", he didn't mean his name". Boogie Down Productions had manufactured a disagreement with the Juice Crew's MC Shan, releasing "South Bronx" and "The Bridge is Over" in reply to his "The Bridge" and "Kill That Noise" respectively. KRS-One considered Run-D.M.C. the epitome of rap music in 1984 and had begun to rap following their lead. He has also said that BDP's approach reflected a feeling that the early innovators like Run-D.M.C. and LL Cool J were by 1986 tainted by commercial success and out of touch with the streets. Boogie Down's first album '' Criminal Minded'' (1987) admitted a

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

influence and had KRS-One imitating the Beatles' "Hey Jude" on the title track. It also contained two tales of grim street life, yet played for callous laughs: "The P Is Free", in which KRS speaks of throwing out his girl who wants

crack cocaine Crack cocaine, commonly known simply as crack, and also known as rock, is a free base form of the stimulant cocaine that can be smoked. Crack offers a short, intense high to smokers. The ''Manual of Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment'' calls ...

in exchange for sex, and "9mm Goes Bang", in which he shoots a drug dealer then cheerfully sings "la la la la la la". Songs like these presaged the rise of an underground that matched violent lyrics to the hardcore drum machine tracks of the new school. The cover of ''Criminal Minded'' was a further reflection of a move towards this sort of radical image, depicting the group in a half-light, holding firearms. The next album '' By All Means Necessary'' (1988) left that element behind for political radicalism following the murder of Scott La Rock, with its title and cover alluding to Malcolm X. KRS-One became involved with the Stop the Violence Movement at this time. Boogie Down Productions, along with Run-D.M.C. and Public Enemy, associated the new school as rap music with a strong message.Jackson, Derrick Z. "Welcome to the School of Rap Music It's in Session Now, And There Are Some Positive Lessons", ''Boston Globe'', August 13, 1989.

Eric B. and Rakim

Eric B. & Rakim appeared with the Marley Marl produced "Eric B. Is President" and "My Melody" on Zakia Records in 1986. Both tracks appeared on ''Paid in Full'' (1987). Just as Boogie Down Productions had, the pair reflected changes in street life on their debut's cover, which depicted the two wearing large gold chains and surrounded by money. Like ''Criminal Minded'', the sampling prevalent in the album cemented James Brown's status as a hip hop source, while Rakim's allusions showed the growing influence of mystic Islam-offshoot

The Nation of Gods and Earths The Five-Percent Nation, sometimes referred to as the Nation of Gods and Earths (NGE/NOGE) or the Five Percenters, is a Black nationalist movement influenced by Islam that was founded in 1964 in the Harlem section of the borough of Manhattan, ...

in hip-hop. The music was minimalist, austerely so, with many writers noting that coupled with Rakim's precise, logical style, the effect was almost one of scientific rigour. The group followed ''Paid in Full'' with ''Follow the Leader'' (1988) (on which they were open-minded enough to sample the Eagles), ''Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em'' (1990) and ''Don't Sweat the Technique'' (1992). Rakim is generally regarded as the most cutting-edge of the MCs of the new school era. Jess Harvell in ''Pitchfork'' in 2005 wrote that "Rakim's innovation was applying a patina of intellectual detachment to rap's most sacred cause: talking shit about how you're a better rapper than everyone else." Christgau in the ''Village Voice'' in 1990 wrote of Rakim's style as "calm, confident, clear. On their third album, as on their phase-shifting 1986 debut," he continues, "Eric B.'s samples truly are beats, designed to accentuate the natural music of an idealized black man's voice." Looking back at the late eighties in ''Rolling Stone'' in 1997, Ed Moralez describes Rakim as "the new-school MC of the moment, using a smooth baritone to become the jazz soloist of mystic Afrocentric rap."

Public Enemy

Public Enemy, having been reluctantly convinced to sign to a record label, released '' Yo! Bum Rush the Show'' on Def Jam in 1987.Coleman, p. 351 It debuted the Public Enemy logo, a circle of hatted b-boy in a sniper's cross-hairs, was replete with battle rhymes ("Miuzi Weighs a Ton", "Public Enemy #1"), social-political fare ("Rightstarter (Message to a Black Man)") and anti- crack messages ("Megablast"). The album was a critical and commercial success, particularly in Europe, unusually so for a hip hop album at that time.Coleman, p. 354 ''Bumrush the Show'' had been recorded on the heels of Run-D.M.C.'s ''Raising Hell'', but was held back by Def Jam in order for them to concentrate on releasing and promoting the Beastie Boys' ''License to Ill''. Chuck D of Public Enemy felt that by the time their first record was released, Boogie Down Productions and Rakim had already changed the landscape for how an MC could rap. Public Enemy were already recording their second album ''It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back'' (Def Jam, 1988) when ''Bumrush'' hit stores.

Gangsta rap

The underground sound, centered on urban violence, that was to become

, existed on the East Coast soon after Run-D.M.C. had inaugurated the new school of hip hop. Philadelphia's

self-released "Gangsta Boogie" in 1984, and "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?"/"Gucci Time" in 1985, leading to '' Saturday Night'' (Schoolly D, 1986, Jive, 1987). The West Coast, which became the home of gangsta rap, had Toddy Tee's influential ''Batteram'' mixtape in 1985, and Ice-T's "Six in the Morning" in 1986 before

's first records, leading to the hugely successful ''Straight Outta Compton'' in 1988.

Native Tongues

Developments in the New York new school continuum in this climate were represented by the

groups—

The Jungle Brothers Jungle Brothers are an American hip hop trio composed of Michael Small (Mike Gee), Nathaniel Hall (Afrika Baby Bam), and Sammy Burwell (DJ Sammy B). Known as the pioneers of the fusion of jazz, hip-hop, and house music, they were the first hip ...

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip

, Chi-Ali, and Monie Love—along with fellow travellers like Leaders of the New School,

KMD KMD ('' K.M.D.'', ''Kausing Much Damage'', or ''A Positive Kause in a Much Damaged Society'') was an American hip hop trio active in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The core of the group was composed of brothers Daniel "Zev Love X" Dumile an ...

and Brand Nubian.Shapiro, p. 210 They moved away from aggressive, macho posturing, towards ambiguity, fun and Afrocentricity. Their music was sample-crowded, more open and accessible than their new school predecessors. De La Soul's debut sampled everyone from the Turtles to

Steely Dan Steely Dan is an American rock band founded in 1971 in New York by Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals). Initially the band had a stable lineup, but in 1974, Becker and Fagen retired from liv ...

, while A Tribe Called Quest matched tough beats to mellow jazz samples and playful, thoughtful raps.

Legal cases

'' Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records Inc.''

This lawsuit was known for effectively ending the "Wild West" period for sampling during the golden age of hip hop.Passman, Donald. "Everything you need to know about the music business 8th Edition." Free Press. 2012. In 1991, Gilbert O'Sullivan's song publisher sued Warner Brothers Records over the use of the original in Biz Markie's song "Alone Again." No copyright case precedents were cited in the ruling of the final verdict, and the presiding judge's opinion was prefaced with the words "Thou Shalt not Steal."DiCola, Peter & Mcleod, Kembrew. ''Creative License: The Law & Culture of Digital Sampling'' p. 132. Duke University Press. 2011.

''The Turtles v. De La Soul''

The sixties pop band The Turtles filed a lawsuit in 1989 against hip hop group

for the uncleared use of a sampled element derived from their original 1968 track "You Showed Me." The lawsuit was settled out of court for a reported $1.7 million, though group members later claimed that the actual payout was significantly less.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Golden Age Hip Hop 1980s in music 1990s in music African-American culture African-American music hip hop Nostalgia in the United States History of hip hop American hip hop

Description

Time period

Juice Crew

Boogie Down Productions

Eric B. and Rakim

Public Enemy

Gangsta rap

Native Tongues

Legal cases

'' Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records Inc.''

''The Turtles v. De La Soul''

See also

References