1988–The Year Rap Broke. Minor cultural milestones like the Village Voice’s “Hip-Hop Nation” cover story and the debut of Yo! MTV Raps were part of a creeping but widespread recognition on the part of the mainstream media that hip-hop was here to stay. And while it had begun to make its mark on many of us years earlier, they don’t call this the Golden Era for nothing. Even a cursory glance at the best-loved songs of 1988 reveals one masterpiece after another. In that age of pioneers, new styles were being invented every day–if you even had a style, it was a new one (unless you were rapping like Busy Bee), because none of it had been done yet. Originality was the watchword.

As musical artists pushed themselves to create a new sound, so too did their visual counterparts. The MTV Empire was in full effect, and it was clear that video ruled the day, but hip-hop was still creating the unique visual styles that came to define it. Until Yo! came out, most of the hip-hop material that had been available on the screen (big or little) was from the Old School. Beat Street, Breakin’, Wild Style, Krush Groove–hungry hip-hop shorties like myself devoured these gems when they dropped, but by 1988 their depiction of the culture (both visually and musically) was out of date. The new style of speak needed a new style of seeing to go with it. 1988 was the tipping point, and the styles it gave birth to are still being explored today.

It goes without saying that a lot of classic videos dropped in 1988. The following is just a small handful of hits (with more to come next week), and I hope you’ll watch them all, even if you saw ‘em a million times way back when. Actually, I don’t care what you do, but, especially if you’re an artist yourself, it can’t hurt to study the greats. I’m not going to comment on each song, but suffice it to say that Baby Grip thought every one of these was the truth, and I am inclined to agree. Yo! MTV Raps shaped the way I saw (and wanted to see) the world, and in some ways it still does.

(That last one is especially hot, as the beat for the Alkaholiks’ Hip-Hop Drunkies appears to be a loop from the intro)

Look, I could go on all day with these things. I’ll save a few more for next week, ‘cuz 1988 definitely deserves a “part 2″–but until then, I leave you all to ponder just how far we’ve come in 20 years…and whether we wouldn’t be better off if we had never left in the first place. Now crank that.

Back in the days I knew rap would never die,

Grip Grand