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Subject: Not much mainstream Hip Hop in the 1980's
You know when I think back to the 80's, one thing that sticks out to me as really different from then and the 90's and now is the lack of the "Black/urban sound". At least in mainstream radio. There was a lot of new jack swing, funk and jazz, but there wasn't much in the hip hop and even R&B deparment.
or maybey my memory is failing me?
Rap was definately a presence in the 80's with the likes of Run DMC, Fresh Prince, Tone Loc, M.C. Hammer, and Young MC. But most of that was light hearted, goofball fluffy stuff that could be played at 6 year olds birthday party. Now there was some harder, more intense stuff in the Late 80's like NWA, Public Enemy and 2 Live Crew, but it wasn't like now. Not even close. Even the early 90's had a drastically different atmosphere in that department compared to any of the 80's.
What do you guys think of this? Like I said, even the early 1990's like 1991 was a serious change in the amount of mainstream hip hop compared to say even like 1987 or 1988.
Subject: Re: Not much mainstream Hip Hop in the 1980's
Quoting:
You know when I think back to the 80's, one thing that sticks out to me as really different from then and the 90's and now is the lack of the "Black/urban sound". At least in mainstream radio. There was a lot of new jack swing, funk and jazz, but there wasn't much in the hip hop and even R&B deparment.
or maybey my memory is failing me?
Rap was definately a presence in the 80's with the likes of Run DMC, Fresh Prince, Tone Loc, M.C. Hammer, and Young MC. But most of that was light hearted, goofball fluffy stuff that could be played at 6 year olds birthday party. Now there was some harder, more intense stuff in the Late 80's like NWA, Public Enemy and 2 Live Crew, but it wasn't like now. Not even close. Even the early 90's had a drastically different atmosphere in that department compared to any of the 80's.
End Quote
excuse my ignorance but did hip hop existed in the 80s?
i remember rap and break dance and it was just so cool.
Anyway , one essential group you forgot to add was
GRANDMASTER FLESH & THE FURIOUS FIVE. (kurtis blow too)
But according to allmusic.com they were pionners of hip-hop, som I'm pretty confused. And in my book they were pop and sort of mainstream. What do you think? opinions?
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll
Subject: Re: Not much mainstream Hip Hop in the 1980's
^It was presence in the 80's, but it wasn't like the 90's, or now. Breakdancing was popular, as was new jack swing, funk, and several motown artists....but eh, I don't consider that the same. Even Run DMC was very mainstreamized (is that a word?) for suburban White kids. 90 year old ladies were trying to breakdance and moonwalk in the 80's, so it's not the same. I dunno, I just noticed a real difference in that area when I think back to the 1980's. These days, you turn on any Top 40 radio station, and hip hop is a MAJOR player. I'm not a big fan of hip hop/rap or anything, but this is something that I just pondered.
Maybey I'm trying to read the subconcious minds of people a little too much, but often I think one reason some folks love the 80's so much was because there wasn't much hard rap or hip hop on the radio like there has been since the early 90's.
Subject: Re: Not much mainstream Hip Hop in the 1980's
I guess i know what you mean. I don't like the rap from the 90s and of nowadays. HipHop? i basically hate it and that's what is popular now.
Run DMC got very popular, that's true and once I saw a program about Aerosmith (a biography) and it said that they got their career back due that song with Run DMC, maybe because Run DMC was popular and that's a good reason, i think.
I know that breakdance was just deliver of rap and stuff, it wasn't really a music style in my book. Maybe it was even more pop than the music in itself, let's say either rap/hiphop etc. I really have no clue about this topic, LOL
Personally the 80s was the best era of music to me, yes in part of not existing hiphop in the lists, but not just because of that, mainly because what is pop today is peroxide blondies wearing hipster pants and shaking her butt, or the rap/hiphop videos that only has girls half-naked, pluss the music all sounds the same, everybody dress the same, i mean this talking about the top lists.
In the 80s if there wasn't made-up boys bands like today, with cheesy songs, guys that can't sing and arent even that pretty. There were musicians that were good looking and young (well Depeche mode, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet all had groupies but wrote and played their songs, that's a big difference from nowadays).
Girl bands actually played and wrote their songs (Go Go's, Bangles) and they actually had to sing decently. They dressed different, they looked different and sounded different. Heck even madonna in the beginning wrote her songs. Today you have _tons_ of girls band that just went to contests, have no clue how to play instruments and can't either sing. Oh and let's not even talk about the really mainstream solo female artists, they are so depressing.
Oh dear, now we are off topic, sorry!
Quoting:
^It was presence in the 80's, but it wasn't like the 90's, or now. Breakdancing was popular, as was new jack swing, funk, and several motown artists....but eh, I don't consider that the same. Even Run DMC was very mainstreamized (is that a word?) for suburban White kids. 90 year old ladies were trying to breakdance and moonwalk in the 80's, so it's not the same. I dunno, I just noticed a real difference in that area when I think back to the 1980's. These days, you turn on any Top 40 radio station, and hip hop is a MAJOR player. I'm not a big fan of hip hop/rap or anything, but this is something that I just pondered.
Maybey I'm trying to read the subconcious minds of people a little too much, but often I think one reason some folks love the 80's so much was because there wasn't much hard rap or hip hop on the radio like there has been since the early 90's.
End Quote
Subject: Re: Not much mainstream Hip Hop in the 1980's
Eric B and Rakim, Boogie Down Productions both broke out pretty early, and have (i think) the sound you mentioned.
Subject: Re: Not much mainstream Hip Hop in the 1980's
Check out Lou Reed for some early poetic rap.
Subject: Re: Not much mainstream Hip Hop in the 1980's
Quoting:
You know when I think back to the 80's, one thing that sticks out to me as really different from then and the 90's and now is the lack of the "Black/urban sound". End Quote
Yeah, we got off really lucky back then. ;)
Subject: Re: Not much mainstream Hip Hop in the 1980's
Quoting:
GRANDMASTER FLESH...kurtis blowEnd Quote
So tell us what's really on your mind? :D
Sorry, couldn't resist, lol! ;)
Subject: Re: Not much mainstream Hip Hop in the 1980's
What about Doug Lazy and Rob Base?
Subject: Re: Not much mainstream Hip Hop in the 1980's
I heard Gil Scott Herron was the Father of rap, with his soft jazz poetry from way back when.
Subject: Re: Not much mainstream Hip Hop in the 1980's
One thing to note is that as bad as r&b was in the 90's, it was much, much worse in the 80's. I'm not much of a fan of Mary J. Blige, but I will acknowledge the talent. Sure beats a decade of black music led by Lionel Richie and Bobby Brown. gaCK.
Subject: Re: Not much mainstream Hip Hop in the 1980's
does any one remember kango kid..or shante roxanne( lyrics... iwas walkin down the street one afternoon i gave you a smile so you assumed that if you said hello iwould be flattered but i kept walking and your ego was shattered..i'm roxanne the lady devistater..i make you feel hotter than it is in granada the r-o-x-a-n-n-e..roxanne is who i be...roxanne roxanne i wanna be your man..) and who could forget 2 live crew and digital underground..i had to sneek and listen to it..hey iwas like 11.
Subject: Re: Not much mainstream Hip Hop in the 1980's
Quoting:
One thing to note is that as bad as r&b was in the 90's, it was much, much worse in the 80's...Sure beats a decade of black music led by Lionel Richie and Bobby Brown. gaCK.
End Quote
Those statements are so far off, it's almost unfathomable! Couldn't disagree more. And BTW, the top 10 soul/r&b acts of the '80s actually were:
01) Prince
02) Stevie Wonder
03) Michael Jackson
04) Luther Vandross
05) The Gap Band
06) Kool & the Gang
07) Cameo
08 )Aretha Franklin
09) Stephanie Mills
10) New Edition
Lionel Richie ranked #15...
Bobby Brown as a solo artist ranked somewhere around #50, since his success was fairly evenly split between the '80s and '90s...
So you're implying that Prince, Stevie Wonder, and Aretha Franklin have no talent (or at least less than your '90s faves)? ???
By comparison, the top 10 soul/r&b acts of the '90s were:
01) R. Kelly
02) Mariah Carey
03) Janet Jackson
04) Whitney Houston
05) Mary J. Blige
06) Boyz II Men
07) Keith Sweat
08 )Tevin Campbell
09) Prince
10) En Vogue
Sorry, but I'll take The Gap Band and Kool & the Gang over R. Kelly or Mary J. Blige any day!!! :D
Subject: Re: Not much mainstream Hip Hop in the 1980's
Quoting:
Sorry, but I'll take The Gap Band and Kool & the Gang over R. Kelly or Mary J. Blige any day!!! :D
End Quote
I'll take 'em over Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston too.. Whitney's stuff in the 90s makes her 80s stuff look like high art.. and Mariah Carey? ugh.. don't even get me started..
Subject: Re: Not much mainstream Hip Hop in the 1980's
Rap was more of a force in the eighties. It dealt with real urban themes without charicaturing itself. Grandmaster Flash, Beastie Boys, Run DMC were great.
It seems to me that rap these days is glorifying what it initially denounced. No offence here to people who like rap, that is your choice but people at my place of work seem to wait for the next four letter word to pop up. I'm no puritan either.
I also like to hear what these people say. Rappers these days rap so fast (which is a skill of some description). It puts me off.
I loved the urban break-dancing scene even though I wasn't a part of it (anyone remember the 'Rocksteady Crew'?). That seemed more real to me than anything dished up on the radio these days.
As for soul, love it! Eighties Michael Jackson, Prince, Kool and the gang ("Get down on it!"), Lionel Ritchie and Cameo. I just felt the whole thing was fresh - a-ha! Kool and the gang pun alert! ;D
Subject: Re: Not much mainstream Hip Hop in the 1980's
Quoting:
In the 80s if there wasn't made-up boys bands like today, with cheesy songs, guys that can't sing and arent even that pretty. There were musicians that were good looking and young (well Depeche mode, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet all had groupies but wrote and played their songs, that's a big difference from nowadays).End Quote
'Manufactured' bands have been going long before the eighties, Digitales. Sugar, Sugar by The Archies was a hit by an almost none existent band in the 60s. In the seventies, I believe Boney M were thrown together by a guy called Fabian (don't know his surname) and he even did the old Milli Vanilli trick of voicing over the male lead! He mimed the lot.
In the eighties, Goombay Dance band and Caramba were manufactured. Stock,Aitken and Waterman (PWL) manufactured bands. One I know of was 'Big Fun'. SAW brought 'manufactured' bands into the limelight. Pete Waterman was involved with 'manufactured' Steps and has since gone on to do British Pop Idol. Mike Stock has since produced an awful, but successful, 'manufactured' band called 'Fast Food Rockers' (don't ask).
That's not to say that all 'manufactured' bands are awful. They need chemistry, personality and some sort of hook to make the whole thing palatable to the masses. It's not happening at the moment. S Club 7 and Steps have come close (but no cigar). Bands like 'Girl's aloud','Blazin' squad','One True Voice' and Pop Idol's first 'winners'. 'Hearsay' are a joke.
There you are, Digitales. I'm done. ;D
Subject: Re: Not much mainstream Hip Hop in the 1980's
Quoting:
'Manufactured' bands have been going long before the eighties, Digitales. Sugar, Sugar by The Archies was a hit by an almost none existent band in the 60s. In the seventies, I believe Boney M were thrown together by a guy called Fabian (don't know his surname) and he even did the old Milli Vanilli trick of voicing over the male lead! He mimed the lot.
End Quote
Actually, he was responsible for Milli Vanilli too. He didn't actually do the miming. He was the songwriter and producer, recorded session musicians and singers doing the songs, then got dancers and actors to pretend they were the actual recording artists in promotional clips.
Subject: Re: Not much mainstream Hip Hop in the 1980's
Quoting:
Actually, he was responsible for Milli Vanilli too. He didn't actually do the miming. He was the songwriter and producer, recorded session musicians and singers doing the songs, then got dancers and actors to pretend they were the actual recording artists in promotional clips.
End Quote
You beat me to it, Goreripper. Correct. And his name is Frank Farian, BTW...