Golden Era Hip Hop

[nedthemumbler]

Just blasting Paid in Full, but made me realise that other than owning Tribe and De La Soul compilations as a teen, and liking random songs by the likes of Brand Nubians for example, I am generally woefully ignorant.  Help me rectify this please, what are the solid classics?

I used to be a stick u kid must be one of the most iconic, memorable bits of rap ever released, no?

[manticore]

I don't know if this is a bit obvious, but John Peel used to play this loads in 1985. I prefer to hear a female voice ranting at me and the beats are great. A few years before US hip hop stopped being interesting to me.

Roxanne Shanté - Queen Of Rox

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKQX-nuJ_bc

[Bazooka]

What is the golden age of hip hop though? It has developed so much through the decades, the foundations of course being rapping, scratching/mixing, break dancing, and later graffiti, which emerged in the late 70's/80's. It has developed  in the last decade to pure shit in the gutter mainstream hip hop, juxtaposed by incredible diverse underground material, where as in previous decades there was originality in what everyone was hearing.

Answer: 1867 was the best year.

[dex]

Pete Rock & CL Smooth's Mecca and the soul brother and the Main Ingredient

2 great albums.

[dex]

Gangstarr's back catelogue.

[WestHill]

Main Source -  Breaking Atoms

[Z]

What is the golden age of hip hop though?

A pretty simple separation point to me would be Gilbert O'Sullivan in 1991. Suddenly the whole field had all these rules they had to at least try to adhere to, what made a good producer became a hell of a lot more important , etc.

[jobotic]

Gangstarr's back catelogue.

Yessir

Black Sheep and of course, The Jungle Brothers

[nedthemumbler]

Gangstarr's back catelogue.

I actually put Work II by Big L feat Gangstarr as an example of the stuff I like, but edited it at the last minute as I had no idea if it would be considered relevant to Golden Era talk, didn't want to get embarrassed by those more knowledgeable.

Thankyou for the suggestions so far

[chveik]

Digable Planets - Reachin' and Blowout Comb

Souls of Mischief - 93 Til' Infinity

Big Pun - Capital Punishment

[manticore]

What is the golden age of hip hop though?

Yeah I'm out of touch, but there was a time from the early 80s to the early 90s when almost every time I listened to the Peel show there was an exciting and innovative rap record that was different to anything I'd heard before. Then it seemed to go stale, as music genres do.

[BeardFaceMan]

My golden era of hip hop is a 10 year period from about 1987 to 1997. Hip hop died in 1997 and I lost interest in it pretty quickly after that.

[Bazooka]

Scratching has definitely started to disappear from the scene, even in underground hip hop.

There is still incredible underground and alternative stuff out there, but mainstream hip hop is really trash right about now.

[Sebastian Cobb]

BDP are definitely in there somewhere.

But then so are the Funky 4 + 1

[WestHill]

For decent 'golden era' hiphop, I'd recommmend listening to early 90s episodes of the Stretch and Bobbito radio show.

Their film 'Radio That Changed Lives' is also a wonderful thing.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Some hiphop head sent me that Stretch and Bobito documentary but I've not yet watched it.

Will chuck it up somewhere if anyone wants it.

[Utter Shit]

Big Pun - Capital Punishment

Wouldn't say it was Golden Era but definitely one of the best hip-hop albums of all time. The Dream Shatterer is insanely good.

[up_the_hampipe]

My golden era of hip hop is a 10 year period from about 1987 to 1997. Hip hop died in 1997 and I lost interest in it pretty quickly after that.

Hip hop is alive and well, you old coot.

[phantom_power]

The first 3 Public Enemy Albums
The first 3 Jungle Brothers Albums
The first 4 De La Soul Albums
The first 2 Run DMC albums
The first 2 LL Cool J albums (plus Mama Said Knock You Out)
The first 2 or 3 Eric B and Rakim albums
Critical Beatdown by Ultramagnetic MCs
The first 2 or 3 Jurassic 5 albums
The first 2 Ugly Duckling Albums
Any Gang Starr album
Various tracks by Stetsasonic, EPMD, Brand Nubian

[doppelkorn]

Buy a copy of Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists and work your way through it. That will teach you everything you need to know about hip hop before 2000.

[Dr Syntax Head]

Do yourself a massive favour and listen to 3rd Bass. Better white rappers than the Beastie Boys and incredible production. So infuriatingly underrated.

[Dr Syntax Head]

Main Source -  Breaking Atoms

Not just one of the best hip hop albums ever made but one of the best albums ever made.

[Dr Syntax Head]

The Colors OST. Also gansta rap back then was mega cool. NWA obvs. Ghetto Boyz. Ice T. Ice Cube is in my opinion one of the best MCs of all time.
Oh yeah talking of the genius Gang Starr, try Guru's Jazzmatazz.
Pharcyde. Come on they were great.

[Mini]

Pharcyde. Come on they were great.

So great. Was just listening to Bizarre Ride this morning in fact. Flawless.

[Better Midlands]

The Colors OST.

Used to be all over that, my best friend rinsed it BITD.

[studpuppet]

What these days you'd call 'problematic' if you were being generous, I always had a soft spot for Funkboobiest's Brothas Doobie.

[Malcy]

So great. Was just listening to Bizarre Ride this morning in fact. Flawless.

They were(still are?) touring the album and it went right out of my head and I missed it.

[Malcy]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-44411057

[phantom_power]

Eminem, Tupac, even The Sugarhill Gang

[chveik]

Uzi Mc, the Blood-Rap movement