From the Fresh Prince and Young MC to Public Enemy and NWA, 80s hip-hop ran a gamut of stylistic shifts. Join host Lyndsey Parker (Yahoo Entertainment Music Editor/SiriusXM Volume Host) and her special guest, A&R rep Darone Bowers as they remember rap's impact on the music of the 80s.
ON THE SENSATIONAL ARTISTS BEHIND NOVELTY (AKA FAMILY-FRIENDLY) RAP:
PARKER: "Everybody loved the fresh Prince. When 'Parents Just Don't Understand' came out, which was pretty much about a suburban experience. I mean, it was about two things: shopping for back-to-school clothes at the mall with your clueless mom and stealing your parents' car, which happens to be a Porsche and joyriding it around your neighborhood and then getting mildly in trouble for it."
"Like this was a very light, they were jokey and they were cute and the video was very cute and of course, Will Smith, then known as the Fresh Prince, was incredibly charismatic. You can see him laying down the acting career in the video. So I think about him."
"I think about Biz Markie and 'Just A Friend.' I think about Tone Loc. I think about Young MC who had, you know, 'Bust A Move,' but also 'Principal's Office,' that was about, you know, goofing off in school. Like, it seemed like there was this era, Delicious Vinyl was a big part of it in the late eighties. It was very mainstream and it was very like lighthearted."
BOWERS: "It was very safe."
ON THE RISE OF MC HAMMER:
BOWERS: "And the thing that was so awesome about MC Hammer that a lot of people don't know, MC Hammer is what we like to call a grown man. He was a grown man. He was not a kid like the rest of them. Yes, MC Hammer was in his late 20s if I'm not mistaken, when 'Let's Get It Started' came out and he brought the James Brown, Michael Jackson theme to his videos."
"And it all starts with videos. He was dancing his butt off with background dancers. That was some of the streets. And party records with the samples he did, what everyone else was doing. But again, in a very West coast, California way. And it went through and then it was this monster of a record called Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em." That was like the, to this day, the only rap album to sell 10 million copies in one week."
HUGHES: "People like to forget that first record, the actual re-release of his first record, 'Turn This Mutha Out.' I mean, he had some credibility. He wasn't seen as a joke."
PARKER: I kind of feel like - correct me if I'm wrong - one of the reasons why he started to have less credibility was it was this era where people were not necessarily...it was a murky legal area when it came to sampling. And because 'You Can't Touch This' was so heavily, heavily based on the 'Super Freak' sample, it's a similar thing to Vanilla Ice and Queen, you know, and 'Under Pressure' where like, it was very built on a sample.
:And if I'm not mistaken, the samples - Queen and Rick James were not given co-writing credit initially. Or even just like given credit-credit like that. I think that turned off going back to what we're saying about rock purists in particular to, you know, sample Rick James or queen and not like, you know, make them a co-writer on the side.
"That's what I remember. I remember when people were turning on MC Hammer, they were like, this is a rip off of 'Super Freak.' He basically is just rapping over 'Super Freak.' And that turned a lot of people off. I could be. That's how I remember it."
Listen to the rest of the podcast here.
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