

A short-lived reunion that resulted in their 1988 sophomore album, On the Strength, hinted at more releases, but the negative reception put an end to the group for good. Along with The Message, the track White Lines (Don’t Do It) was a hit, but after just five years and one album, the group was done. Unfortunately, division amongst the group and squabbles over money meant Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five’s career was short-lived. The driving force behind the six was DJ Grand Master Flash and lyricist Melle Mel. The song blew up and turned the group into megastars. No song accurately described how hard and frightening life was for African Americans living in the housing projects of New York. The Message was a social anthem detailing what life was really like in the ghetto. This South Bronx collective was responsible for one of the biggest hip hop tracks of the 80s. To celebrate these trailblazers, here is a deep dive into 15 of the best 80s rappers. New York was no longer the epicenter of rap, with gangster rap coming out of the West Coast and Southern rap starting to take shape.ĭuring the early years of 80s hip hop, some of the best rappers ever to hold a mic emerged. The mid-80s saw what is commonly known as the golden age of hip hop take off. Artists such as Grand Master Flash and The Sugarhill Gang kick-started rap before the likes of Run-DMC and LL Cool J pioneered the New York sound. Old school hip hop heads point to the 80s as the period where the genre of rap transitioned from block parties to the Billboard charts. I listened to surreal first-hand stories about a time in the very early ’80s when the fledgling hip-hop culture of the South Bronx merged with the art world and punk-rock scene of downtown. It was pioneered by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubins. More and more rappers emerged during this period, with these 80s rappers ushering in a new musical movement. It featured Boom Bap production and became the primary sound of Hardcore Rap during the rest of the 1980s.

At first, these master of ceremonies (MC) were there to hype the crowd, but their raps soon became as popular as the music the DJs spun. That hip-hop transcended its early roots as a source of urban entertainment to become a powerful voice for a disenfranchised. What began as DJs playing two records simultaneously to extend the breaks at block parties in the 70s soon incorporated people speaking or rapping over the beats. The veteran Bronx MC showed promise as early as the mid-’80s. Particularly for African Americans, the creators of this new style. Quickly embraced by the youth looking for something new and different, rap music became a cultural phenomenon. During the decade of decadence, this new genre of music came to the fore.
