1984-87 was a bit of a gap for me, as no-one at U of T liked that music and there was no radio station playing it. At Notre Dame, MTV's Yo MTV Raps helped to fill in some of the gaps, and introduced me to the Native Tongues Family, most notably De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, whose erudite rhymes and adventurous sampling ushered in another new era for the genre.
In the period of 1990-95, I finally bought a cd player and began to put together a collection, a practice made easier by the appearance of lots of "old school" compilations. Hip Hop is a format dominated by singles and many of the now classic songs appear on hastily assembled bad albums. It was also the heyday of West Coast rap and the various feuds were played out on the Video Jukebox Network, a 900 number service that allowed you to select a video from their library and put into the station's queue for play on their cable channel. My collection was later enhanced by the magic of peer-to-peer file sharing and the Internet, and my knowledge was similarly augmented by the rise of podcasting.
All of this led me to put together a compilation for my 21 year-old niece as part of our Secret Santa exchange last Sunday. I tried to organize it roughly chronologically, along the following lines: Old School; Def Jam/New York; Native Tongues; Early 90s; Gangsta. There aren't too many deep cuts or obscure numbers, but if you wanted to introduce someone to the rise of rap and its cultural high points from the beginning up until 1995, this, I think, would do the job pretty decently:
Sugar Hill to Compton: The Ancient History of Hip Hop, According to Big D
The
Sugar Hill Gang,Rapper's Delight
The
Sugar Hill Gang, Apache
Afrika
Bambaataa And Soul Sonic Force, Renegades Of Funk
Afrika
Bambaataa, Zulu Nation Throwdown
Grandmaster
Flash & The Furious Five, Superappin
Grandmaster
Flash & The Furious Five, The Message
Grandmaster
Flash & The Furious Five, New York, New York
Kurtis
Blow, The Breaks
Kurtis
Blow, Christmas Rappin'
Kurtis
Blow. Basketball
Slick
Rick, Children's Story
Newcleus,
Jam on It
Egyptian
Lover. Egypt, Egypt--Egyptian Lover
King Tee,
Payback's A Mutha
U.T.F.O,
Roxanne Roxanne
Chubb
Rock, Treat 'Em Right
MC Breed,
Ain't No Future In Yo' Frontin'
Lady B, To
the beat y'all
Rock
Master Scott & The Dynamic Three, Request Line
Funky
Four Plus One, That's the Joint
Run-D.M.C.,
King Of Rock
Run-D.M.C.,
Sucker M.C.'s (Krush-Groove 1)
Run-D.M.C.,
It's Tricky
Fat Boys,
Fat Boys
The
Beastie Boys, No Sleep Till Brooklyn
The
Beastie Boys, Shake Your Rump
LL Cool
J, I Can't Live Without My Radio
LL Cool
J, Mama Said Knock You Out
3rd Bass,
Wordz Of Wizdom
Biz
Markie, Turn Tha Party Out
MC Lyte,
Cold Rock A Party (Bad Boy Remix)
Eric B.
& Rakim, Paid In Full
EPMD, I`m
Housing
Rob Base,
It Takes Two
Roxaanne
Shante, Have A Nice Day
Pete
Rock & CL Smooth, They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y)
Big
Daddy Kane, Warm It Up, Kane
Heavy D
& The Boyz, Don't Curse
Kid 'N
Play, Ain't Gonna Hurt Nobody
De La
Soul, Eye Know
De La
Soul, Me Myself And I
De La
Soul, A Roller Skating Jam Named ''Saturdays''
Jungle
Brothers, Feelin' Alright
Jungle
Brothers, Doin' Our Own Dang
A Tribe
Called Quest, Check The Rhime
A Tribe
Called Quest, Electric Relaxation
A Tribe
Called Quest, Can I Kick It?
Brand
Nubian, All For One
Black
Sheep, The Choice Is Yours (Revisited)
Black
Sheep, Flavor Of The Month
Monie
Love, Monie In The Middle
Del tha
Funkee Homosapien, Dr. Bombay
Digital
Underground, Doowutchyalike
KMD, Nitty
Gritty (Remix)
The
Pharcyde, Ya Mama
Arrested
Development, People Everyday
Stetsasonic,
Talkin' All That Jazz
Guru, Loungin'
The
Fugees, Nappy Head
Naughty
By Nature, O.P.P.
Queen
Latifah, Latifah's Had It Up To Here
Public
Enemy, Fight The Power
95 South,
Whoot, There It Is
Duice, Dazzey
Duks
The
Beastie Boys, Root Down
Coolio, Fantastic
Voyage
Us3, Cantaloop
(Flip Fantasia)
Wreckx-N-Effect,
Rump Shaker
Tag Team,
Whoomp There It Is
Young MC,
Bust A Move
Outkast,
Rosa Parks
Das EFX,
They Want EFX
Patra, Queen
Of The Pack
Salt-n-Pepa,
Shoop
M.C.
Luscious, Boom! I Got Your Boyfriend
Digable
Planets, Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat)
Naughty
By Nature, Hang Out And Hustle
George
Clinton, Bop Gun (One Nation)
N.W.A., Straight
Outta Compton
N.W.A.,
Fuck Tha Police
N.W.A., Express
Yourself
Dr. Dre,
Nuthin' But A "G" Thang
Eazy-E, Real
Muthaphuckkin G's
Eazy-E, We
Want Eazy
Snoop
Dogg, Gin And Juice
Cypress
Hill, Insane In The Brain
Too
$hort, Money In The Ghetto
Ice-T, New
Jack Hustler
The
Notorious B.I.G., Big Poppa
The
Notorious B.I.G., Juicy
2Pac, California
Love
2Pac, Changes
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