New-school hip-hop
Predominantly from Queens and Brooklyn, it was characterized by Drum Machine-led minimalism, often tinged with elements of Rock; rapped taunts, boasts, and socio-political commentary; and aggressive, self-assertive delivery.
These elements contrasted sharply with Funk and Disco, Novelty hits, live bands, synthesizers, and party rhymes of artists prevalent in the early 1980s.
Compared to their older hip hop counterparts, new school artists crafted more cohesive LPs and shorter songs more amenable to airplay.
& Rakim, Ultramagnetic MCs,[3][4] De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and the Jungle Brothers,[5] known for themes of Afrocentricity and political militancy, experimental music, and eclectic sampling.
[6] This period is sometimes referred to as "Mid-school" or "middle school"; associated acts included Gang Starr, The UMC's, Main Source, Lord Finesse, EPMD, Just Ice, Stetsasonic, True Mathematics, and Mantronix.
[7] The innovations of Run-D.M.C., MC Shan, and LL Cool J, and New School Producers such as Larry Smith and Rick Rubin of Def Jam, were quickly surpassed by Beastie Boys, Marley Marl and his Juice Crew MCs, Boogie Down Productions, Public Enemy, and Eric B.
[9][10] This part of the culture was initiated by DJ Kool Herc in 1973[11] using breaks from James Brown, The Incredible Bongo Band and English rock group Babe Ruth in his block parties.
[12] Brown's music—"extensive vamps" in which his voice was "a percussive instrument with frequent rhythmic grunts", and "with rhythm-section patterns ... [resembling] West African polyrhythms"—was a keynote of hip hop's early days.
It was the soft, futuristic funk closely tied to disco that ruled hip hop's early days on record, to the exclusion of the hard James Brown beats so beloved of the first b-boys.
[16] Something closer to his intentions can be heard on a portion of Death Mix, a low-quality bootleg of a Zulu Nation night at James Monroe High School in the Bronx, released without his permission on Winley Records in 1983.
[17] Likewise on the bootleg Live Convention '82 (Disco Wax, 1982), Grand Wizard Theodore cuts the first six bars of Rufus Thomas's "Do the Funky Penguin" together for five and a half minutes while an MC raps over the top.
[20] Kool Moe Dee's verbal personal attacks on Busy Bee Starski live at Harlem World in 1982 caused a popular sensation in hip hop circles.
[21][22] Apart from some social commentary like Melle Mel's one verse on "Superrappin'", Kurtis Blow's ruefully comedic "The Breaks" (Mercury, 1980) and a spurt of records following the success of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's "The Message" (Sugar Hill, 1982), the old school specialized lyrically in party rhymes.
Against this, Run-D.M.C., The Beastie Boys and the label Def Jam were "consciously hardcore", "a reaction against the populist trend in hip hop at the time", and "an explosive emergence of an underground alternative".
In the case of "Sucker MCs", there was a loud, Oberheim DMX drum machine, a few scratches and nothing else, while the rhymes harangued weak rappers and contrasted them to the group's success.
"It's like That" was an aggressively delivered message rap whose social commentary has been defined variously as "objective fatalism",[27] "frustrated and renunciatory",[28] and just plain "reportage".
This stood in sharp contrast to the popular artists of the time, who had variously bedecked themselves with feathers, suede boots, jerri curls, and red or even pink leather suits.
Raising Hell (Profile, 1986) was a landmark, containing quintessentially hip hop tracks like "Peter Piper", "Perfection" and "It's Tricky", and going platinum in the year of its release on the back of the huge crossover hit "Walk This Way".
From the laid back groove titled "Five Minutes of Funk" to "Friends", a cynical story of betrayal sampled everywhere from Nas' "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)" to 2Pac's "Troublesome '96", to harder edged singles "Freaks Come Out at Nite" and "Big Mouth".
[38] Simmons rose with Def Jam to become one of the biggest moguls in rap, while Rubin claimed credit for introducing radio-friendly brevity and song structure to hip hop.
This was followed by "I Can't Live Without My Radio" (Def Jam, 1985), a loud, defiant declaration of public loyalty to his boom box which the New York Times in 1987 called "quintessential rap in its directness, immediacy and assertion of self".
[40] Both were on his debut album for Def Jam, 1985's Radio (described as "Reduced by Rick Rubin" in its liner notes), which also contained the minimalist and rock-influenced track "Rock the Bells".
[45] More disses (insults intended to show disrespect) from Shanté followed: "Bite This" (1985), "Queen of Rox" (1985), introducing Biz Markie on "Def Fresh Crew" (1986), "Payback" (1987), and perhaps her greatest record, "Have a Nice Day" (1987).
[49] Boogie Down's first album Criminal Minded (B-Boy, 1987) admitted a reggae influence and had KRS-One imititating the Beatles' "Hey Jude" on the title track.
The cover of Criminal Minded was a further reflection of a move towards this sort of radical image, depicting the group in a half-light, holding firearms.
[50] The next album By All Means Necessary (B-Boy, 1988) left that element behind for political radicalism following the murder of Scott La Rock, with the title and cover alluding to Malcolm X. KRS-One became involved with the Stop the Violence Movement at this time.
had, the pair reflected changes in street life on their debut's cover, which depicted the two wearing huge gold chains and surrounded by money.
[52] Jess Harvell in Pitchfork in 2005 wrote that "Rakim's innovation was applying a patina of intellectual detachment to rap's most sacred cause: talking shit about how you're a better rapper than everyone else.
"[54] Looking back at the late eighties in Rolling Stone in 1997, Moralez describes Rakim as "the new-school MC of the moment, using a smooth baritone to become the jazz soloist of mystic Afrocentric rap.
[58] The West Coast, which became the home of gangsta rap, had Toddy Tee's influential Batteram mixtape in 1985,[59] and Ice-T's "Six in the Morning" in 1986[60] before N.W.A's first records, leading to the hugely successful Straight Outta Compton in 1988.
