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 Kurtis
Blow releases his best-selling album
The Breaks and is the first rapper
to appear on national TV, performing on Soul
Train.
 Hip-hop
meets art pop as the New York scene extends downtown
and rappers and b-boys mingle with the white club
scene. After meeting hip-hop scenester Fab 5 Freddy,
the new wave act Blondie records “Rapture,”
featuring singer Debbie Harry rapping and continuing
hip-hop’s journey into the mainstream. |
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Captain Rapp and Disco Daddy release “Gigolo Rap,” the first West Coast rap record.
The Rock Steady Crew and Dynamic Rockers battle—at Lincoln Center.
20/20 airs the first TV news feature story on “the rap phenomenon.” |
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 Grandmaster
Flash and the Furious Five release
their turntable masterpiece The Adventures
of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel,
which contains the popular and socially conscious
track “The Message.”
 Directed
by artist Charlie Ahearn and created by Fab
5 Freddy, Wild Style
marks the first Hollywood exploration of hip-hop
style and culture. The film showcases the work
of legendary hip-hop and graffiti artists such
as Lady Pink, Daze, Grandmaster Flash and the
Rock Steady Crew.
The first international hip-hop concert tour,
featuring Afrika Bambaataa, Fab 5 Freddy and the
Double Dutch Girls, goes to Europe, marking the
start of hip-hop’s worldwide reach. |
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 “Rockit,”
the first jazz and hip-hop track, is released
by Herbie Hancock and Grandmixer D. ST.
Ice-T releases some of the first West Coast gangsta raps, “Cold Winter Madness” and “Body Rock/Killers.”
Queens group Run-D.M.C. release their first single, “Sucker MCs/It’s Like That,” which gets major airplay on MTV and Top 40 radio. The song signals a new trend in hip-hop: harder rhymes over spare beats with a rock influence.
 Style
Wars, the first PBS documentary
on subway graffiti and hip-hop culture, airs. |
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KDAY
Los Angeles becomes the nation’s first
rap-only radio station.
 Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin establish Def
Jam records, operating the label out
of Rubin’s NYU dorm room.
U.T.F.O.’s “Roxanne, Roxanne” triggers a slew of answer recordings, including “The Real Roxanne” and 14-year-old Roxanne Shante’s classic “Roxanne’s Revenge.” |
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Beatboxer Doug E. Fresh releases The Show with Slick Rick and the Get Fresh Crew.
 An
aspiring rapper named Kris Parker, later to be
known as KRS-One, forms Boogie
Down Productions with social worker and DJ Scott
Sterling, a.k.a. Scott La Rock. |
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 Run-D.M.C.’s
hip-hop rendition of the Aerosmith classic “Walk
This Way” cements hip-hop’s
reach into mainstream media and MTV. Nominated
for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Run-D.M.C.
becomes the first rap group to be tapped for
a Grammy.
Eric B. and Rakim release Eric B. is President. Rakim’s skillful wordplay and articulate rhymes usher in a new era for hip-hop. |
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 Long
Island group Public Enemy releases its debut
album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show.
DJ Cameron Paul’s remix of Salt-N-Pepa’s
“Push It” reaches 19 on the pop
charts and receives a Grammy nomination.
Hip-hop receives national attention when violence
ensues following a Run-D.M.C. concert in L.A.
The group is forced to defend itself at a public
press conference as conservative pundits and politicians
accuse hip-hop of being morally corrupt. |
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Yo! MTV Raps goes on the air, further
ushering hip-hop to a national television audience.
 L.A.
group N.W.A. releases its first album, Straight
Outta Compton. Telling stories about
life on the mean streets of South Central, it
popularizes West Coast gangsta rap. The controversial
track “Fuck tha Police” earns the
group an F.B.I. warning.
MC Lyte releases her debut, Lyte as a Rock. She is one of the first female rappers to sign with a major record label.
DJ Scott La Rock of Boogie Down Productions is shot and killed. His partner KRS-One vows to continue creating more socially conscious music.
 Power,
Ice-T’s second album, is the first rap
record to be slapped with a Parental Advisory
warning label.
Afrika Bambaataa forms the Native Tongues Posse, part of a new movement towards positive, Afrocentric lyrics and “alternative” rap. Artists include Queen Latifah, a young New Jersey MC and the Jungle Brothers.
Public Enemy’s second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, is released to critical acclaim and consumer success. |
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Public Enemy releases its third album, Fear of a Black Planet. A media frenzy ensues over member Professor Griff’s anti-Semitic remarks, thrusting hip-hop into the political spotlight.
 Native
Tongues Posse members A Tribe Called Quest and
De La Soul release albums acclaimed
for their intelligent lyrics.
 Featuring
the hit single “U Can’t Touch This,”
MC Hammer’s Please Hammer,
Don’t Hurt ‘Em is
scorned by critics but sells more than ten million
copies and becomes an MTV staple. Despite backlash
among hip-hop purists, MC Hammer goes on to
reap massive commercial success.
Rap receives its own Grammy category, but the presentation is not aired on television. Many popular artists, including award winners DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, instead attend an MTV boycott of the Grammys party.
White rap trio the Beastie Boys release Paul’s Boutique, their long-awaited second album.
New York City’s Transit Authority retires all subway cars with graffiti. |
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1990s: From Conscious Rap to Gangsta Rap » |
