1988: The Year Rap Broke. If you caught last week’s installment, you already know what an important year 1988 was for hip-hop, and not just because Yo! MTV Raps saw its debut. The Golden Era brought us classic after classic, and videos were no exception. With so many heaters, I’ve been hard-pressed to select the best. I couldn’t fit ‘em all in last week, so here’s a few more showstoppers from 1988. Check ‘em on out. And watch the video up top while you’re at it. Highlights include the always “foine” Darlene the Syndicate Queen; Ice-T’s classic Raiders script cap (if you didn’t rock this style of hat back in the day, and/or the blocky-letter Starter joints, what the fuck were you wearing? A Kangol?); a snippet of one of the older Yo! theme songs, which includes the classic “Yeeeeeah Boyeee!!” over a beat that just isn’t that tight; and Ice-T describing a summer tour line-up that will make your Walkman weep. Peep it.

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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devoured these gems when they dropped, but by 1988 their depiction of the culture (both visually and musically) was out of date.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.

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Wait a minute, now. Didn’t Yo! MTV Raps start in 1988? Why would they go back in time to play videos from 1987? Well, there weren’t as many rap videos back then as you might think. But, more than that, 1987 had some songs so large, they’re still livin’ today. In the year of Yo’s inception, here’s a couple of oldies but goodies you might have seen on that 13″ screen. I know I did.

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When I was a young youth growing up in the video age, Yo! MTV Raps was the most important two hours of my week. Sure, there was Pump It Up, Rap City, The Box, whatever…but all that came later. Yo! was the truth, the first and foremost, and it changed my life (and yours) forever. I remember it like it was yesterday. The year was 1988…

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Say hey, people. The subject of today’s discussion is a phenomenon I like to call the Canibus Syndrome (sometimes referred to as the Ras Kass Disease)–the reason for which will be clear in a moment. So what is the Canibus Syndrome? Well, when a rapper’s first verse, the one that really brought them notoriety, is so good that every verse thereafter is compared (unfavorably) to that one perfect, shining moment of lyrical glory…that’s the Canibus Syndrome (the same phenomenon, with respect to debut LP’s, might be termed “The Illmatic Syndrome”).

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Say hey, people people. Time for another round of dusty digging as we return once again to the wonderful world of cassingles. Submitted for your approval: two quality cassettes spanning a decade I like to call the 90’s. It was a good one. And if you were tape-copping back in those dulcet days, maybe you’ve still got these in that shoebox under your bed. So without further ado, let’s break out the beats.

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Welcome, gentle reader, to part three of our further foray into low fidelity, as we delve ever deeper into the hallowed, hissy halls of cassingle history. Today we’ll keep it short and sweet with a couple of loose gemstones from once upon a time. So let’s put on our seat belts, don our protective headgear, and set the dial on the way-back machine for 1995. All strapped in? Then press the big red button, and we’re off! Wait, not that big red button!! Noooooooo!!!! (more…)

More heat from the vaults! Welcome to the second installment of Back in the Day: Cassingles. For more background on the cassette-single era, check part one of this fabulous blog. For those in the know, onward and upward!

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The Easy like Sunday Morning sample is the heat

I had to get up on this. I’m well aware of Grand Grandito’s epic cassingle collection and I wanted to share a couple gems that I had laying around as well.. while I no longer have my Ini Kamozi “Hot Stepper” cassingle, or my Coca-Cola Sampler Tape that featured such artists as Dana Dane and 3rd Bass, I do have these few from the end of the cassingle era… first up…

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