I'd say 80s.  Their period was about 1988-91 but they were more an 80s phoenomeon and they didn't go far into the 90s.

BUMP!

Not sure I should comment since Rap is far from my area of expertise, but I'd give a lean toward 90's if one goes by sound and being an influence to other acts.

Now...if this sounds accurate or only proves part of my statement, that Rap is far from my area of expertise, I guess we'll see.  :)

80s. They came out in 1987.

Tanya

80s

80's

80s. They came out in 1987.

Tanya


Guess I wasn't going by when they came out, but by my own mental imression of the group, and who they influenced.  If you want to go by when they came out, there's a lot of bands that came out a good five or six years before their "era", and thus would technically be from a decade before the one they are assoicated with.  U2 formed in the 70's, yet would anyone call them a 70's band, for instance?

Guess I wasn't going by when they came out, but by my own mental imression of the group, and who they influenced.  If you want to go by when they came out, there's a lot of bands that came out a good five or six years before their "era", and thus would technically be from a decade before the one they are assoicated with.  U2 formed in the 70's, yet would anyone call them a 70's band, for instance?




I see what you're saying, but Public Enemy sound 80s to me.  Their sound, of course, could be heard and would be accepted in the 90s but you must remember Rap is a part of the 80s as well as a part of the 90s and Zero Decade.  Infact you could make a case for saying it was more popular in the 80s than it was in the 90s, although I don't think it was. 

Public Enemy are part of the Old School period, the first part of the Old School period being 1979-1990, which is MC Hammer/Run DMC kinda stuff, and the second half of Old School, which is the Gangsta Rap of 1991-1995/96. Of course there's overlap, but I deem Public Enemy an 80s band. Although early 90s as well.

I see what you're saying, but Public Enemy sound 80s to me.  Their sound, of course, could be heard and would be accepted in the 90s but you must remember Rap is a part of the 80s as well as a part of the 90s and Zero Decade.  Infact you could make a case for saying it was more popular in the 80s than it was in the 90s, although I don't think it was. 

Public Enemy are part of the Old School period, the first part of the Old School period being 1979-1990, which is MC Hammer/Run DMC kinda stuff, and the second half of Old School, which is the Gangsta Rap of 1991-1995/96. Of course there's overlap, but I deem Public Enemy an 80s band. Although early 90s as well.


Oh obviously I know that there was Rap in the 80's, the small amount of Rap I do occasionally listen to is very old school, the stuff from the early 80's in fact.  I guess I'll still think of them as 90's based on influence...again I don't know a lot about rap so maybe I'm just going to sound foolish, but I'd say that a lot of Gangsta Rap traces back to Public Enemy, and thus to me makes them more 90 ish.  IMO they don't sound all that Run DMC to me...and very much not like MC Hammer...even though he was performing much in the 90's.

Semi off topic, but Beastie Boys...80's or 90's?  Or do they get to claim both?

Public Enemy is 80s.  They were more groundbreaking in the late 80s then they were in the early 1990s.

"old school rap" is descriptive of a certain style of rap, not really a time period.  Just because you are so young that you can't remember anything before 1995 or 1997 doesn't mean that everything before '97 is "old school".   

Beastie Boys are 80s.  Who cares if they ran into the 90s, they are more identified with the 80s with that whole "You gotta fight....for your right....to PARTY!" song.  Same with New Kids on the Block and Paula Abdul.  They are all late 80s acts that ran into the 90s.  But first and foremost they are 80s, the 80s were when they had their biggest success.

Now Fresh Prince (Will Smith) is debatable.  Him and DJ Jazzy Jeff sorta sit on the fence and could be either 80s or 90s.

Public Enemy is 80s.  They were more groundbreaking in the late 80s then they were in the early 1990s.

"old school rap" is descriptive of a certain style of rap, not really a time period.  Just because you are so young that you can't remember anything before 1995 or 1997 doesn't mean that everything before '97 is "old school".   

Beastie Boys are 80s.  Who cares if they ran into the 90s, they are more identified with the 80s with that whole "You gotta fight....for your right....to PARTY!" song.  Same with New Kids on the Block and Paula Abdul.  They are all late 80s acts that ran into the 90s.  But first and foremost they are 80s, the 80s were when they had their biggest success.

Now Fresh Prince (Will Smith) is debatable.  Him and DJ Jazzy Jeff sorta sit on the fence and could be either 80s or 90s.





I'll concede Public Enemy as 80's using your arguement (and yes, I know old school isn't "1997 or older", believe me I'm not ancient, but I'm no kid...self portrait for an avatar icon.  :p  ), but I guess what I was trying to say is although they were groundbreaking, the ground they broke is mostly for 90's groups, IMO.  Maybe what I'm trying to say is perhaps their major hits and influence came from when they performed in the 80's, but from what little I've heard, their major "feel" is at least a prototype of the early to mid 90's groups.

I threw "Beastie Boys" out there just to do it.  ;)  Although IMO there is a difference between 80's Beasties & 90's Beasties...but then again, 80's U2, 90's U2 and current U2 are all different, almost every band evolves IMO...just some take it to a greater or lesser degree.

Have no problem with Paula Abdul being 80's, or New Kids, although I'd to a lesser degree apply my arguement with them...they were the prototype for the 90's teenybopper boy bands, and thus in a way were a more or less 80's group doing prototype 90's music for there genre.

Then again, not like New Kids were the first boy band either.  ;)

Public Enemy is 80s.  They were more groundbreaking in the late 80s then they were in the early 1990s.

"old school rap" is descriptive of a certain style of rap, not really a time period.  Just because you are so young that you can't remember anything before 1995 or 1997 doesn't mean that everything before '97 is "old school".   



No, I think Old School style went up to about 1995.  Not the early 80s, uber-old school stuff, but just the formula of simple beats and rhymes, and atmosphere painting.  Even Gangsta Rap is old school in its own sense (although I'm not a big fan of it). 

Take Dre and Snoop for instance.  Their (older) stuff sounds more like gangsta rap from 1987 than mainstream from 2003.  Their beats are pretty simple and not too pulsating, their rhymes, while new school lyrically, were fresh back then.  Basically put, most rap before 1995 had an old school stelo to it that ended with the Tupac and Biggie murders and rivalry around 1995-97. Then it became a commercial biatch that peaked around 2003 and is still going strong to this day.



Beastie Boys are 80s.  Who cares if they ran into the 90s, they are more identified with the 80s with that whole "You gotta fight....for your right....to PARTY!" song.  Same with New Kids on the Block and Paula Abdul.  They are all late 80s acts that ran into the 90s.  But first and foremost they are 80s, the 80s were when they had their biggest success.

Now Fresh Prince (Will Smith) is debatable.  Him and DJ Jazzy Jeff sorta sit on the fence and could be either 80s or 90s.





As for the Beastie Boys, I guess of anything they're more 80s, but don't be so quick to discount their 90s stuff as "80s holdovers" or "grunge-tweaked sellout material".  Their style changed but it wasn't like a reinvention.  It really isn't any worse than their old stuff either.  People who only know "Fight for your Right" and "Brass Monkey" aren't true fans anyways.  Remember too that "Sabotage" is a Beastie Boys staple. 

Yes, there was some more "new school" stuff, even as early as 1993, but it was outnumbered by old school acts until the middle to late 90s.