The year was 1990, I was in my 2nd year of high school, Round The Twist was my fave show on TV, Vanilla Ice's Ice Ice Baby was thee shit to me initially, and I loved FNM as much as N.W.A. Plz believe ya host was livin' that Hardcore Hip-Hop lifestyle, though: stealing Posca pens from Partners and tagging up provincial carparks, buying a pair of snow-camo trousers in a misguided attempt to dress like the S1Ws, paying a neighbour to record me Yo! MTV Raps off BSB, and accidentally making a Jehovah's Witness girl cry by playing Silver Bullet's 20 Seconds To Comply on our high school common room's tape-deck.
James Brown samples and Ultimate Breaks & Beats staples were starting to recede as new styles and sounds were beginning to fully blossom, but 1990 Rap was still funkier than Rab C. Nesbitt. And so, in no particular order, here's 30 Legit Jams™ from 30 years ago. Some were faves at the time, others I've discovered in the years since, all of them are absolute choonz.
Too $hort - The Ghetto
Eric B. & Rakim - In The Ghetto (LP mix)
Ice Cube ft. Lil' Russ - A Gangsta's Fairytale
N.W.A - Real N*ggaz
Above The Law - Murder Rap
Gang Starr - Just 2 Get A Rep
Compton's Most Wanted - Duck Sick
Lakim Shabazz - The Voice Of Power
King Tee ft. Ice Cube & Breeze - Played Like A Piano
Master Ace - Me And The Biz
Kool G. Rap & D.J Polo - Kool Is Back
Rated X - Be Cool To Your Girl
EPMD ft. LL Cool J - Rampage
Poor Righteous Teachers - Rock Dis Funky Joint
Digital Underground - Packet Man
Chubb Rock - Treat 'Em Right
X Clan - Funkin' Lesson
Public Enemy - 911 Is A Joke
Poison Clan - Bad Influence
KMD - Peachfuzz
M.C Pooh - F***in' With Dank
Lord Finesse & DJ Mike Smooth - Funky Technician
Ice-T - Mind Over Matter
LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out
C.O.D. - Clever Word
A Tribe Called Quest - Luck Of Lucien
Jungle Brothers ft. Native Tongues - Doin' Our Own Dang (Do It To The JBs mix)
Main Source - Looking At The Front Door
Mob Style - Gangster Shit
Bonus beats: can you believe 1980 was 40 years ago? Was gonna drop list of my favourite Rap songs from 1980 too, but it'd just be three Spoonie Gee tracks, Jimmy Spicer's Adventures Of Super Rhyme, Treacherous Three's Body Rock, and Kurtis Blow's Hard Times.
24 comments:
Luckily these three zippyshares are still alive.
Johnny Rap presents The Martorialists 80's Rap
https://www33.zippyshare.com/v/NFcwN4YD/file.html
https://www99.zippyshare.com/v/FrVpCGPV/file.html
https://www38.zippyshare.com/v/Yxt1iWEo/file.html
Blasts from the past!
Everybody wanted to do pirate radio after seeing Pump Up The Volume lol.
We tried doing some shows using my mate's dad's CB radio equipment.
https://www69.zippyshare.com/v/s8FCg7tF/file.html
1990 was a good year. You're not an Edutainment man? Love's Gonna Get'cha is my favorite BDP song
Shock G is such an underrated talent.
Hotbox, that woulda definitely been my 1990 choice of BDP song if I didn't find him so annoying that I can't listen to any of his classic shit anymore.
lovely stuff. I was 11-12 in 1990 and for a long time only had a lot of these songs on tapes recorded off the radio.
I remember going to Our Price with 2 of my mates - one bought the Brand Nubian LP and the other got Amerikkka's Most Wanted. I slept on the Nubian LP for a long time as a result. Most of it was probably a bit over my head at the time.
Our Price was mah spot!
The days when you had to strategise with your mates who was gonna cop what album and then dub them for each other because you were all on such tight budgets.
I'm afraid my hip hop pilgramage ain't even started in 1990, if we don't count Winnie the Pooh as the ultimate proto-rapper!
First Rap record I ever owned was by Roland Rat.
I don't trust the musical opinions of anybody whose first Rap song wasn't a novelty song from their youth.
Will Smith Boom Shake The Room was mine, not a novelty song but def not his shining moment either, its the first song of any genre i remember tryna perform
My Honda Civic Wagon and little brother were both born in 1990 (they're cusp bad millenials/good millenials). My first rap was the book I SAW YOU IN THE BATHTUB.
Everybody should have a pivotal Fresh Prince song in their early years of discovering Rap as a kid. Mine was Parents Just Don't Understand.
Still no Pump Up The Volume on blu-ray. Gutted!
"He plays Ice-T and talks about his dick."
At 14 "La Raza" by Kid Frost was THE shit. Also "Banned in the USA". First Rap song = "The Twist" by the Fat Boys & Chubby Checker. Not remembering the movie, though.
What’d you think of Digital Underground’s music?
^^^^ Love 'em. I think Same Song was a bigger hit in the U.K than in America.
BIG 1990 GUY
Isn't Blondie's Rapture technically also a 1980 song?
Good point. Yeah, definitely add that.
Came for the King Tee and Above The Law songs and I'm not disappointed.
A couple additions to the list:
Geto Boys - Read These Nikes
Schooly D - King Of New York
Paris - The Devil Made Me Do It
MC Pooh - The Hit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPshgvIQUrw
The whole EP "Life Of A Criminal2 is a must listen, funky early 90's Oakland rap entirely produced by Ant Banks.
And for the fun of it, I'll mention Lil Mac - You Days Are Over, aka Mac from No Limit first release, The Lyrical Midget. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgg4RmokNcs
Maybe not a best of 1990 entry, but still a fun song to mention.
I got MC Pooh in there.
Gotta disqualify Read These Nikes because it's 1989.
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