It's Bigger Than Hip Hop: The Rise of the Post-Hip-Hop Generation

by M. K. Asante Jr

  Hundreds of students and protesters in the Black township of Soweto lead a rally against the imposition of the Dutch language Afrikaans in their schools and are killed by the South African apartheid government. African-American rap artists including Melle Mel, RUN-D.M.C., and Kurtis Blow would later condemn the racist system of apartheid in their music.

  1977

  I’m black like Steve Biko, raised in the ghetto by the people

  Fuck the police, you know how we do.

  — DEAD PREZ, “I’M A AFRICAN,” LET’S GET FREE

  Steve Biko, a nonviolent, antiapartheid activist famous for proclaiming that “The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed,” and “Black is beautiful,” is brutally beaten to death by South African police. His death sparks international awareness about the brutal regime of apartheid.

  Grandmaster Flash and Grand Wizard Theodore create scratching, a turntable-based technique and instrumental advancement in DJing where scratches are produced by moving a vinyl record back and forth while it plays on the turntable. Flash describes scratching as “nothing but the back-cueing that you hear in your ear before you push it [the recorded sound] out to the crowd.”

  On February 3, ABC airs the final episode of the miniseries Roots, based on Alex Haley’s genealogical novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family. The final episode of Roots achieves the highest-ever ratings for a single program. Roots, which stars Maya Angelou, LeVar Burton, O. J. Simpson, and Louis Gossett Jr., would go on to win nine Emmys, a Golden Globe, and a Peabody Award.

  1978

  But I know y’all wanted that 808

  Can you feel that b-a-s-s, bass

  But I know y’all wanted that 808

  Can you feel that b-a-s-s, bass.

  — OUTKAST, “THE WAY YOU MOVE,”

  SPEAKERBOXXX/THE LOVE BELOW

  The Roland Corporation introduces the Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, one of the first programmable drum machines. Because of the 808’s kick drum sound and deep sub-bass, it provides the basis for the majority of the early baselines in rap and is still widely utilized today.

  Disco Fever, a small nightclub in the Bronx, crosses over to a hip-hop club and becomes the first club to play rap music exclusively. Among the performers at Disco Fever are Grandmaster Flash, Lovebug Starski, DJ Hollywood, Eddie Cheba, DJ Junebug, Brucie Bee, Sweet Gee, and Reggie Wells.

  1979

  “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugar Hill Gang is the first hip-hop hit single and is released on Sugar Hill Records, a label formed in New Jersey by former R & B singer Sylvia Robinson. “Rapper’s Delight” goes gold and hits number 36 on the U.S. pop charts, number 4 on the U.S. R & B charts, and number 3 on the U.K. singles chart.

  Tanya “Sweet Tee” Winley, the first hip-hop female vocalist to record on vinyl, releases “Vicious Rap” on her father’s label, Paul Winley Records.

  She untangled the chains and escaped the pain

  How she broke out of prison I could never explain.

  — COMMON, “SONG FOR ASSATA,” LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE

  Assata Shakur, the aunt of Tupac Shakur and a political prisoner, aided by Tupac’s stepfather, Dr. Mutulu Shakur, escapes Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey. No one is injured during the escape; however, Dr. Shakur and Silvia Baraldini would be charged in aiding Assata in her escape.

  Kurtis Blow, the first mainstream solo rapper, releases the single “Christmas Rappin’,” which goes gold and allows him to start recording the self-titled album Kurtis Blow for Mercury Records.

  The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York City introduces Buffen, a machine used to remove the increasing amount of graffiti appearing on subway cars. To the MTA’s frustration, the machine ends up further damaging the trains and is quickly discontinued.

  The disco group Chic releases “Good Times” on their album Risqué. Despite the song’s success on Billboard’s Hot 100, “Good Times” is the last disco hit record. Months later, DJ Steve Dahl blows up thousands of disco records at an anti-disco party in Chicago, marking the symbolic death of the disco era.

  1980

  Look what the 80s did

  To us Bebe’s kids.

  — TUPAC SHAKUR FEATURING KASTRO,

  “BLACK COTTON,” LOYAL TO THE GAME

  Race rebellions, beginning on May 17, erupt in Miami after the acquittal of four white former police officers on charges that they beat Arthur McDuffie, an unarmed Black businessman, to death. The rebellions end with seventeen deaths and are the bloodiest since Watts and Detroit in 1965.

  Mr. Magic (aka Sir Juice) introduces Rap Attack, the first radio show devoted to hip hop. Mr. Magic ends each show, which air on WHBI from 2:00 to 5:00 A.M., with “Get on it, doggone it. ’Cause any fool can learn from his own mistakes, but it takes a wise man, a wise guy like you to learn from the mistakes made by others. Be yourself, ’cause you might find yourself by yourself, and that’s no fun.”

  Dealing with alcoholism and Afrocentricity

  A complex man drawn off of simplicity.

  — COMMON, “THE 6TH SENSE,” LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE

  Dr. Molefi K. Asante, a professor at Temple University, articulates the theory of Afrocentricity, an idea that challenges Eurocentric notions and urges people of African descent to “see the world through African eyes.” Rappers KRS-One, Public Enemy, Dead Prez, and Common would embrace this worldview, infusing Afrocentric themes, images, and ideas into their rhymes.

  1981

  Instead of a war on poverty they got a war on drugs

  So the police can bother me.

  —TUPAC SHAKUR, “CHANGES,” GREATEST HITS

  Ronald Reagan, a former Hollywood actor and spokesman for General Electric, becomes the fortieth president of the United States. His policies, mainly Reaganomics and the War on Drugs, which many would call a “War on Blacks,” would have a particularly devastating effect on Black people.

  ABC’s 20/20 newsmagazine airs the first national TV story on hip hop titled “Rappin’ to the Beat.” Later in the year, ABC News would air snippets of a Rock Steady Crew performance at Lincoln Center. Both television events would help to popularize hip-hop culture with many Americans who were unfamiliar with it.

  Historically speakin’, ’cause people be dissin’

  The first graffiti artists in the world were the Egyptians.

  — KRS-ONE, “OUT FOR FAME,” KRS-ONE

  New York City mayor Ed Koch declares a “war on graffiti,” allotting over $22 million to build double fences with razor edges in eighteen subway yards and employ guard dogs. Despite his efforts, graffiti writers, rather than be deterred, would grow more motivated to tag and intensified their efforts.

  Tommy Boy Records is founded in New York City by Tom Silverman. Four years after its inception, Warner Bros. Records would buy 50 percent of the label, which Silverman would later buy back in 1995. Tommy Boy would sign such artists as Queen Latifah, De La Soul, and Naughty by Nature.

  1982

  I don’t want no computer chip in my arm

  I don’t want die by a nuclear bomb.

  — DEAD PREZ, “PROPAGANDA,” LET’S GET FREE

  Close to one million activists and concerned citizens rally in New York City’s Central Park calling for nuclear disarmament as President Reagan, undeterred by the protests, prepares to unveil Star Wars, a strategic defense initiative to use ground-based and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by nuclear ballistic missiles.

  Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five release “The Message,” one of the first rap songs to address the desolate conditions and hardships of the ghetto. The song’s chorus—“Don’t push me ‘cuz I’m close to the edge”—resonates through the inner cities of America and becomes one of the most cited and well-known choruses in hip hop.

  The United States, under President Reagan, floods the inner cities with crack cocaine in an effort to fund the Honduran contras to overthrow t
he Sandinista government of Nicaragua.

  Who can be so cruel

  We all ignorant to AIDS till it happens to you.

  — TUPAC SHAKUR, “THE GOOD DIE YOUNG,” STILL I RISE

  The term “AIDS” (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is coined by the CDC. The disease claims the lives of 853 U.S. citizens. Thirteen years later, N.W.A. rapper Eazy-E would die of AIDS at just thirty-one years old. From his deathbed, he released the following statement:

  I’m not religious, but wrong or right, that’s me. I’m not saying this because I’m looking for a soft cushion wherever I’m heading, I just feel that I’ve got thousands and thousands of young fans that have to learn about what’s real when it comes to AIDS. Like the others before me, I would like to turn my own problem into something good that will reach out to all my homeboys and their kin. Because I want to save their asses before it’s too late.

  Wild Style, the first feature film about hip-hop culture, hits theaters. The film spawns a Wild Style tour with artists such as Fab 5 Freddy, Cold Crush Brothers, and Rock Steady Crew performing throughout the United States and Europe, making Wild Style the first international hip-hop tour.

  Shatter, we on the front lines prepare

  I want Mumia out the cage the time for action is here

  — THE ROOTS, “MUMIA 911,” MUMIA 911

  Political activist and journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, in a trial rife with injustice, is falsely convicted of the murder of a Philadelphia police officer. As a result, Mumia, a political prisoner, receives the death penalty. Mumia says: “At my trial I was denied the right to defend myself. I had no confidence in my court-appointed attorney, who never even asked me what happened the night I was shot and the police officer was killed; and I was excluded from at least half the trial. Since I was denied all my rights at my trial I did not testify. I would not be used to make it look like I had a fair trial.” His conviction ignites an international movement in his support.

  1983

  DJ Red Alert launches his hip-hop show on WRKS in New York, playing a mix of hip hop and dance hall. Red Alert’s show airs on Friday and Saturday nights, and becomes the first rap show on a commercial station. “That’s when I started learning the fundamentals of how to be in and out without playing certain records around the clock,” Red Alert told Billboard.

  Watchin’ for the beast ’cause many artists they shoot ’em

  And beat ’em in the yards, while doin’ a top to bottom

  —KRS-ONE, “OUT FOR FAME,” KRS-ONE

  On September 15, Michael Stewart, a twenty-five-year-old Black man, is arrested for writing graffiti on a subway platform in New York. While in handcuffs, Stewart is beaten to death by two white NYPD officers.

  The Fearless Four, whose members include The Great Peso, Devastating Tito, Mighty Mike C, Krazy Eddie, OC, and DLB, are signed to Elektra Records, making them the first rap group to sign to a major record label.

  President Ronald Reagan signs a bill establishing January 20 as a federal holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

  Guion “Guy” Bluford Jr., a NASA astronaut, becomes the first African-American in space as a member of the crew of the space shuttle Challenger on mission STS-8. Bluford, a mission specialist, would later be inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame.

  The Color Purple, a novel by Alice Walker, receives the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The novel, which addresses critical issues facing African-American women in the early twentieth century, would later be adapted into a film directed by Steven Spielberg, as well as a Broadway musical produced by Quincy Jones and Oprah Winfrey.

  1984

  L worth paper

  Ask Def Jam who put ’em up in that skyscraper.

  — LL COOL J, “10 MILLION STARS,” 10

  Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin found Def Jam Records with eight hundred dollars and release sixteen-year-old LL Cool J’s “I Need a Beat,” which would go on to sell more than 100,000 copies, establishing the label as a force and launching the careers of Simmons, Cool J, and Rubin.

  KDAY, the first rap-only radio station in Los Angeles, hits the airwaves. Dr. Dre, a well-known local DJ from Compton, mixes music on Saturday nights. Dre would go on to be instrumental in rap as a producer, rapper, and executive.

  Run-D.M.C., founded by Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons, Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels, and Jason “Jam-Master Jay” Mizell, releases the self-titled album Run-D.M.C., which goes gold, becoming the first hip-hop album to do so.

  In support of Jesse Jackson’s first presidential run, Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel release “Jesse,” an overtly political rap song in support of Jackson’s presidential campaign. Despite hard-hitting, promotional lyrics—“Brothers stand together and let the whole world see / Our brother Jesse Jackson go down in history”—Jesse Jackson did not use the song during his campaign.

  1985

  Philadelphia’s first African-American mayor, Wilson Goode, orders the Philadelphia police to drop a bomb from a helicopter on the headquarters of MOVE, a Black nationalist, back-to-nature organization founded by John Africa. The bombing leaves eleven people dead, including five children. Two hundred and fifty people are made homeless and more than sixty-two homes on Osage Avenue in West Philadelphia are destroyed.

  Run-D.M.C. releases King of Rock, the first rap album to go platinum. The following year, their album Raising Hell would become the first multiplatinum rap album, thus turning hip hop into a mainstream commodity.

  Krush Groove, a feature film about the early days of Def Jam Recordings and Russell Simmons, directed by African-American film pioneer Michael Schultz, is released by Warner Bros. In addition to coproducing the film, Simmons makes a cameo as a club owner in the film.

  1986

  Run-D.M.C. releases “My Adidas” and, as a result, signs an endorsement deal with Adidas. Additionally, Kurtis Blow performs in a Sprite commercial. These events mark the first partnership between hip-hop artists and nonmusic corporations and set the stage for the corporate relationships that would become rampant in hip hop. KRS-One and Scott La Rock release the highly influential album Criminal Minded, which posits a sociopolitically conscious viewpoint and boasts samples from James Brown and AC/DC. The next year, Scott La Rock is shot and killed while trying to stop a gang fight in the Bronx.

  Now, now, now every January on the third Monday

  We pay homage to the man who paved the way.

  — KING DREAM CHORUS AND HOLIDAY CREW,

  “KING HOLIDAY,” KING HOLIDAY

  The first national celebration of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday takes place on January 20, eighteen years after it’s first introduced by U.S. Congressman John Conyers (D-MI).

  1987

  Human rights violations, we continue the saga

  El Salvador and the Contras in Nicaragua.

  — IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE, “THE 4TH BRANCH,”

  REVOLUTIONARY VOL. 2

  The Iran-Contra investigation reveals illegal and covert actions by the Reagan administration. Among the revelations are that the U.S. government allowed the inner cities of America to be saturated with crack cocaine in order to fund the Honduran contras to overthrow the Sandinista government of Nicaragua.

  The Beastie Boys, the first white rap group, releases Licensed to Ill and becomes the first rap group to reach number 1 on the pop charts.

  Eric B. and Rakim release Paid in Full on Zakia/4th & Broadway Records. Rakim’s use of elaborate metaphors, double puns, and paradoxes make it one of the most influential rap albums of all time.

  1988

  I think it’s too late

  Hip hop has never been the same since ‘88.

  — CANIBUS, “POET LAUREATE,” CANIBUS

  N.W.A. (Niggaz with Attitude), a West Coast group whose members include Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, DJ Yella, and MC Ren, releases their first album Straight Outta Compton, which goes gold and causes the media to dub their hardcore style “gangsta rap.”

  Yo! MTV Raps premieres o
n MTV with Fab 5 Freddy as host. The images, language, and styles featured on this show would help to nationalize Black youth culture.

  The Omnibus Anti-Drug Abuse Act, designed to make existing laws even harsher and more unjust, is passed. The racism apparent in these laws is blatant. For instance, although crack and powder cocaine are pharmacologically the same drug, possession of only five grams of crack cocaine (predominantly used by Blacks) yields a five-year mandatory minimum sentence; however, it takes five hundred grams of powder cocaine (predominantly used by whites) to prompt the same sentence.

  The Source magazine, founded as a newsletter in 1988 by college students David Mays and Jon Shecter, releases its first issue. The magazine will grow to become the premiere hip-hop magazine in the world.

  Jesse Jackson makes a second run at the U.S. presidency. Running on a campaign platform that includes reversing Reaganomics; declaring apartheid-era South Africa a rogue nation; issuing reparations to African-Americans; providing universal health care and free community college to all; and supporting the formation of a Palestinian state, Jackson, despite being briefly tagged a front-runner, would lose the Democratic nomination to Michael Dukakis.