The 80's had more of a define culture of styles. In the 90's there was no Breakdancing or people from England making cross-over hip hop hits in the States.
Was Hip Hop really better back in the day?
- Thread starter Jordan Diddy Buk
- Start date
The 80's had more of a define culture of styles. In the 90's there was no Breakdancing or people from England making cross-over hip hop hits in the States.
Lets be serious here. The mid to late 80's is when things really got going for rap. Run Dmc ran the 80's, but new cats started emerging on the scene, and taking it forward. Dudes like Ultramagnetic Mc's, Rakim, Krs-1, Big Daddy Kane, Stetsaonic, and EPMD brought in the new and improved era of rap. The 90's.
You mean they carried their 80's style into the early 90's but unfortunately it slowed down completly by the mid-90's due to the new 90's cats darkening and comercializing hip hop.
I think J stom is showing his age a bit...Not that there's anything wrong wit it...But the 90s wins this one playa.
Fuck the 90's and Southern Hip Hop.
Its because of the South Hip Hop is losing its respect.
If you are refering to Disco and Rock being better than Hip Hop then you must be over the hills and makes one wonder why you are posting here if you don't like Hip Hop.
I'll say this: in the 1980s, rappers needed gimmicky images and trends to propel their worth in rap. In the 1990s, rappers relied more than their belief systems.
LL Cool J (big word using, loud mouth, sex symbol rapper)
Big Daddy Kane (lyricist, performer, sex symbol, cool rapper)
Rakim (level headed, slow flow, lyricist, thought provoking rapper)
RUN DMC (high attitude, B-boy fundamentalist, dynamic duo rappers)
Black Sheep (Native Tongue bastard offspring)
Snoop Doggy Dog (Gangster G-funk artist, bitches ain't shit)
Tupac (thug life niggas)
DMX (rugged, God fearing, words of wisdom speaking(for real))
Redman (prankster, weed smoking, land of grand theft auto funkster)
Wu Tang (movement based on the 36 Chambers, revamped Juice Crew ideology)
LL Cool J (big word using, loud mouth, sex symbol rapper)
Big Daddy Kane (lyricist, performer, sex symbol, cool rapper)
Rakim (level headed, slow flow, lyricist, thought provoking rapper)
RUN DMC (high attitude, B-boy fundamentalist, dynamic duo rappers)
Black Sheep (Native Tongue bastard offspring)
Snoop Doggy Dog (Gangster G-funk artist, bitches ain't shit)
Tupac (thug life niggas)
DMX (rugged, God fearing, words of wisdom speaking(for real))
Redman (prankster, weed smoking, land of grand theft auto funkster)
Wu Tang (movement based on the 36 Chambers, revamped Juice Crew ideology)
yeah, In the early 90s, Def Jam near lost respect and nearly its business due to hiring bogus rappers. Son of Bazerk, Bitches with Problems. Boss was seriously slept on.
In the 80's there were just a few shows
Just by reading some of the responses on here you can tell which ones were born and raised in the rural south in the 1980's based on their lack of knowledge of 1980's Hip Hop....
new york had a bigger support on the airwaves for rap. but it wasn't like that everywhere. I had power 99 on friday night, wbls on saturday night and WHAT AM on sunday morning. that was it is the early to late 80's in philly.
You had to be there...
Everybody is going to have their own opinion. I still love hip hop. It ain't the same though. Back in the day if you were wack, niggas told you, "Yo shit is wacked!" Nowadays the corniest shit gets the most play, and m-fuckas be liking that shit. Call it wacked and guess what, You're the hater. Like what Joell Ortiz said about hip hop in that freestyle, "I was a fan. I used to love this shit. But now yall getting away with murder, like the glove don't fit."
Everybody is going to have their own opinion. I still love hip hop. It ain't the same though. Back in the day if you were wack, niggas told you, "Yo shit is wacked!" Nowadays the corniest shit gets the most play, and m-fuckas be liking that shit. Call it wacked and guess what, You're the hater. Like what Joell Ortiz said about hip hop in that freestyle, "I was a fan. I used to love this shit. But now yall getting away with murder, like the glove don't fit."
I say no need to say the 90's was better or the 80's was better because both eras crush this one imo.
It's fast food music.
You got legends like Scarface hanging it up out of frustration.
LL is a bit more diplomatic with his frustrations, but he pretty much sums it up nicely in this interview.
You got rappers running around basically doing Milli Vanilli with this auto tune stuff. Yes, it was used in the 90's too, but like this........
NOT WHOLE DAMN ALBUMS(Kanye I'm looking at you and Kanye really didn't have to go there either as he actually is talented more than a lot of the guys today).
Then you got Rick Ross type guys running around making money, while someone like Vanilla Ice got chin checked and scapegoated for exploiting the art. Ross was still able to do music with talented rappers because it was about money.
That leads to collabos. I may be naive on this one, but I tend to believe back then people did tracks with people they actually felt. Right now it's just quick cash no matter how wack the shit may turn out.
Then you got guys whose whole gig was beefing with other rappers to make money and that led beefs having no substance on actual rap battle skills. Before someone says I put a video with Pac who was known for doing the same thing at least he had a real rap career BEFORE that drama with Deathrow and had diverse songs on radio as mentioned already like Dear Mama and Keep Ya Head Up.
Remember Big Daddy with his dancers putting on a dance show along with rapping?
Now I like hip hop today and everything, but "swagg muzik" is worse than gangsta rap ever was imo. At least, there would be a balance on some of those albums for people. This slogan "I'm Not A Rapper, but a Hustler That Can Rap" said it all to excuse rappers with their wack music. What kind of message are you telling the hip hop fans? I don't kid myself saying this overall hip hop scene is better than a few years ago.
Andre 3000 saw the writing on the wall and came with that R and B album basically and has been in and out ever since(with people still claiming he could crush 99% of the rappers out).
I'll stop...............
It's fast food music.
You got legends like Scarface hanging it up out of frustration.
LL is a bit more diplomatic with his frustrations, but he pretty much sums it up nicely in this interview.
You got rappers running around basically doing Milli Vanilli with this auto tune stuff. Yes, it was used in the 90's too, but like this........
NOT WHOLE DAMN ALBUMS(Kanye I'm looking at you and Kanye really didn't have to go there either as he actually is talented more than a lot of the guys today).
Then you got Rick Ross type guys running around making money, while someone like Vanilla Ice got chin checked and scapegoated for exploiting the art. Ross was still able to do music with talented rappers because it was about money.
That leads to collabos. I may be naive on this one, but I tend to believe back then people did tracks with people they actually felt. Right now it's just quick cash no matter how wack the shit may turn out.
Then you got guys whose whole gig was beefing with other rappers to make money and that led beefs having no substance on actual rap battle skills. Before someone says I put a video with Pac who was known for doing the same thing at least he had a real rap career BEFORE that drama with Deathrow and had diverse songs on radio as mentioned already like Dear Mama and Keep Ya Head Up.
Remember Big Daddy with his dancers putting on a dance show along with rapping?
Now I like hip hop today and everything, but "swagg muzik" is worse than gangsta rap ever was imo. At least, there would be a balance on some of those albums for people. This slogan "I'm Not A Rapper, but a Hustler That Can Rap" said it all to excuse rappers with their wack music. What kind of message are you telling the hip hop fans? I don't kid myself saying this overall hip hop scene is better than a few years ago.
Andre 3000 saw the writing on the wall and came with that R and B album basically and has been in and out ever since(with people still claiming he could crush 99% of the rappers out).
I'll stop...............
Last edited:
Another fit reason is that hip hop is not marketed to men, their target is largely the women. They don't pay attention to the lyrics unless it's an r&b jam. Club jam rap non-stop?
And they actually buy the music outfront illegal like some folks online. 
And they actually buy the music outfront illegal like some folks online. 
Another fit reason is that hip hop is not marketed to men, their target is largely the women. They don't pay attention to the lyrics unless it's an r&b jam. Club jam rap non-stop?
"Rap for the bitches and the niggaz will follow" or something along those lines from Pac to Biggie. Also, the biggest consumers are cacs who want to live vicariously through the "hood".
Both men did that are arguably called the GOATS, so if they could mix it up why can't others if it's only marketed towards women? LL for example did the same thing although he really went towards the women market eventually.
Also, it's no surprise the 80's and 90's scene had some of the greatest samples from the music of the 60's and 70's where musicianship was in the music production.
Hip Hop was much better back in the day then it is now. More variety and you could actually understand the lyrics not the auto tune no rhyming crap that's out there now.
Food for Thought..................
[FLASH]http://videos.onsmash.com/e/3Zid6BBusVy1xjDy[/FLASH]
..........YAOWAA
[FLASH]http://videos.onsmash.com/e/3Zid6BBusVy1xjDy[/FLASH]
..........YAOWAA
U damn skippy...
Teach these youngsters hommie. they're the crack head babies of the eighties.
Not to mention, Grand Wizard Theodore & the Fantastic 5 MC's, Grandmaster Flash & the furious 5, The Cold Crush 4. DJ AJ, DJ Breakout, Kool Herc & the Herculoids. Park Jams in the summer. Jams at the T-CONNECTION, HARLEM WORLD, THE DISCO FEVER! The Savoy Manner, Cardinal Hayes HS dances with the Fly boricua chicks. The Skatin Palace over on Bruckner blvd, now the Cablevision HQ. Bonds International Disco, The StarDust ball room on Boston post rd. Kool Moe Dee vs Busy Bee Starski! All NYC old school heads know what I am talking about!
I never said the 80's didn't have variety. What I'm stating is the 90's had more variety. You had cats from the 80's rocking in the 90's, along side the new breed. That's why the 90's was better.
CD's started off in the Late 1980's somewhere around 1988-89...
They may have started off in those years but they weren't the dominate format. Most people didn't have, nor could they afford a CD player(car/home).