35th Anniversary

Today In Hip Hop History: Too $hort Dropped His Fifth LP ‘Life Is …Too $hort’ 35 Years Ago

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On this day in 1989, Bay Area rap legend Too $hort released his second album Life Is …Too $hort on the legendary, but now defunct Jive/RCA imprint.

Not long after $hort retired from selling thousands of units from the trunk of his car, his fifth full-length studio release became his top-selling album to date. Even after dropping over twenty albums, Too $hort’s most successful LP was this ten-track gem laced with creative arrangements of curse words and a crash course on the pimp game. Tracks like “Pimp the Ho” and “Don’t Fight The Feelin’” were instructional tracks to those outside of Oakland unfamiliar with $hort, while songs like “Cusswords” and the title track gave off an “American hood” appeal that many around the country during the crack era could relate to.

Thanks to the Bay Area vet who put it down of Northern California when there wasn’t many well known rappers outside of New York to begin with. Salute for this piece of Hip Hop history!

The post Today In Hip Hop History: Too $hort Dropped His Fifth LP ‘Life Is …Too $hort’ 35 Years Ago first appeared on The Source.

The post Today In Hip Hop History: Too $hort Dropped His Fifth LP ‘Life Is …Too $hort’ 35 Years Ago appeared first on The Source.

Today In Hip Hop History: Tone Loc Dropped His Debut ‘Loc-ed After Dark’ LP 35 Years Ago

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On this date in 1989, West Coast rap giant Tone Loc released his debut album Loc-ed After Dark on Delicious Vinyl Records. It was a huge success, making it to #1 on the Billboard 200 the week of April 15 and #3 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop album charts. It featured three hit singles — “Wild Thing,” “Funky Cold Medina,” and “I Got It Goin’ On” — and was certified Double Platinum by the RIAA.

Lōc-ed After Dark’s album cover is based on Donald Byrd’s 1963 record, A New Perspective.

The post Today In Hip Hop History: Tone Loc Dropped His Debut ‘Loc-ed After Dark’ LP 35 Years Ago first appeared on The Source.

The post Today In Hip Hop History: Tone Loc Dropped His Debut ‘Loc-ed After Dark’ LP 35 Years Ago appeared first on The Source.

Today In Hip Hop History: Rob Base And DJ EZ Rock Dropped Their Premiere Single “It Takes Two” 35 Years Ago

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On this date in the summer of 1988, Harlem natives Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock released their monumental single “It Takes Two” on the Profile imprint. Produced by another Harlem native, Teddy Riley, who in unison with the Hip Hop duo created what is arguably the best Hip Hop song ever recorded.

Driven by the Lyn Collins “Think” sample, It Takes Two has appeared in several television shows and movies including Love And Basketball, Iron Man 2, The Proposal and Grand Theft Auto: SanAndreas video game just to name a few.

It Takes Two became a certified platinum hit from Rob Base and EZ Rock’s debut album of the same name which dropped about a week after the single. The video, set on Harlem’s 125th Street, features appearances from the legendary DJ Red Alert and the late Biz Markie.

Salute to Rob Base and EZ Rock(RIP) for this piece of Hip Hop history!

The post Today In Hip Hop History: Rob Base And DJ EZ Rock Dropped Their Premiere Single “It Takes Two” 35 Years Ago first appeared on The Source.

The post Today In Hip Hop History: Rob Base And DJ EZ Rock Dropped Their Premiere Single “It Takes Two” 35 Years Ago appeared first on The Source.

Today in Hip-Hop History: 2 Live Crew’s Debut Album ‘2 Live Crew Is What We Are’ Turns 35 Years Old!

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On this date in 1986, 305-based Hip Hop trio 2 Live Crew released their debut album 2 Live Crew Is What We Are on their independent imprint Luke Skyywalker Records.

This album serves as the main precursor to the legendary Miami bass sound as well as predicates almost all other modern, R-rated and X-rated Hip Hop music. Featuring lead MC Luther Campbell aka Luke Skyywalker, Brother Marquis and the late Fresh Kid Ice, the debut album from the nastiest group in the game had titles that made radio DJs cringe such as “Throw That D**k”, We Want Some P***y”, which both became popular anthems of Miami Hip Hop.

Salute to the iconic 2 Live Crew for their unprecedented contribution to Hip Hop music on this album and all those that followed. RIP to Chris Wong Won aka Fresh Kid Ice, who passed away earlier this month at age 53. The Crew is forever etched in their place in Hip-Hop history!

The post Today in Hip-Hop History: 2 Live Crew’s Debut Album ‘2 Live Crew Is What We Are’ Turns 35 Years Old! first appeared on The Source.

The post Today in Hip-Hop History: 2 Live Crew’s Debut Album ‘2 Live Crew Is What We Are’ Turns 35 Years Old! appeared first on The Source.

Today In Hip Hop History: Public Enemy’s ‘It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back’ Turns 35 Years Old!

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On this date in 1988, Public Enemy released their second LP It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back following up their debut album, which was released just a little over a year earlier.

The album, which was released by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin’s Def Jam Recordings, was recorded primarily in the legendary Chung King Studios, while other sessions included Greene St. and Sabella Studios in NYC. Production was done exclusively by Hank Shocklee and The Bomb Squad. By August of 1999, the album went platinum and ranks among the top 500 albums of all time, according to Rolling Stone magazine.

Public Enemy, which includes frontman Chuck D., Flavor Flav, Terminator X, Professor Griff and the S1Ws, were pioneers of the revolutionary rap sound, making songs like “Rebel Without A Pause”, “Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos”, and “Rebel Without A Pause” prototype tracks for the conscious movement in Hip Hop.

Salute to Chuck D., Flav, Professor Griff, and the rest of the crew for bringing Hip Hop fans this classic that will forever hold a place in the illustrious history of this culture.

Check out the video below that was in heavy rotation during the album’s apex. It even features a special guest appearance from MC Lyte as an investigative reporter. Check it out!

The post Today In Hip Hop History: Public Enemy’s ‘It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back’ Turns 35 Years Old! appeared first on The Source.

Today In Hip Hop History: Big Daddy Kane’s Debut Album ‘Long Live The Kane’ Turns 35 Years Old!

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On this day in Hip Hop history, Big Daddy Kane released his debut LP Long Live The Kane. Released by Cold Chillin’ Records and produced by Marley Marl, this album is one of Hip Hop’s earliest successes. Through this project, Big Daddy Kane was able to craft one of the most desirable brand in Hip Hop of the time. His ability to touch on a plethora of subjects ranging from sex to Afrocentrism made him universally appealing and easily marketable.

This album can be credited as one of the most influential LPs of the golden age of Hip Hop. Nas, Pete Rock, AZ, Gang Starr, RZA, Biggie Smalls and MF DOOM are among some of the acclaimed artists who have made directed references to either this album or Big Daddy Kane in general throughout their music. In 1998, The Source Magazine ranked this project as one of the 1000 Greatest Albums in Hip Hop. The album was certified gold in the year of its release and serves as one of the two projects from Big Daddy Kane that has sold over 500,000 copies.

The post Today In Hip Hop History: Big Daddy Kane’s Debut Album ‘Long Live The Kane’ Turns 35 Years Old! appeared first on The Source.

Today In Hip Hop History: Boogie Down Productions Released Their Second LP ‘By All Means Necessary’ 35 Years Ago

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On this day in 1988, Boogie Down Productions dropped one of the best and most influential albums of all time. It was widely seen as one of, if not the first, politically conscious efforts in Hip Hop.

KRS-One was initially popular for fueling the Juice Crew vs. BDP beef on wax and expanding intellectual Hip Hop music through 1987, with the release of Criminal Minded. However, when BDP’s DJ Scott La Rock was shot and killed in the South Bronx, it profoundly affected the Brooklyn native, which resulted in a drastic rethinking of his on-record persona. The “Blastmaster” began to talk about many of the issues plaguing the black community, like police brutality, government corruption, and institutionalized racism. Later on, he gave birth to his “Stop the Violence” Campaign. By All Means Necessary was one of the first albums the group made after Scott La Rock’s death that would have a lasting effect on generations to come.

As “The Teacher,” on perhaps one of the most influential tracks from the LP, “Stop the Violence,” he spits,

“I look, but it doesn’t coincide with my books/Social Studies will not speak upon hard hitting crooks/It’s just the Presidents, and all the money they spent/All the things they invent, and how their house is so immaculate/They create missiles, my family’s eating gristle/Then they get upset when the press blows the whistle”

As a plea to end violence in Hip Hop, which still hasn’t been heeded, KRS-One took on the role of the spearhead of Hip Hop’s Stop The Violence Movement, choosing the single “Self Destruction” as the lead single.

With classic tracks like “Nervous,” nearly every track on the album had a distinct narrative, and even the album cover art and the theme were Malcolm X (By Any Means Necessary) inspired. On the track “Jimmy,” the rapper became the first rapper to speak on the AIDS/HIV epidemic that plagued Black and Brown communities in America. In the song “Illegal Business,” Kris gives the masses a startling perception of the drug trade and how it corrupts the police and the government.

Salute to KRS and the Boogie Down Productions crew for giving us this epic piece of Hip Hop history!

“It’s not about a salary, it’s all about reality..”

The post Today In Hip Hop History: Boogie Down Productions Released Their Second LP ‘By All Means Necessary’ 35 Years Ago appeared first on The Source.

Today in Hip-Hop History: Biz Markie Dropped His Debut Album ‘Goin’ Off’ 35 Years Ago

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On this date in the infamous year of 1988, the late, great “Human Orchestra” Biz Markie released his debut full-length album Goin’ Off on Cold Chillin’/Warner Brothers Records.

Produced exclusively by legendary Queensbridge superproducer DJ Marley Marl, Goin Off introduced singer TJ Swan and a then-unknown rapper named Big Daddy Kane. The Brooklyn protege of Biz Mark also wrote the first five songs on the album and was even the subject on the second verse of one of Biz’s most famous songs from the ten-track album, “Vapors.”

Forget that he was a member of the World Famous Juice Crew. With several timeless gems from the album, including “Nobody Beats The Biz,” “The Biz Dance,” and “Make The Music With Your Mouth,” Biz Mark solidified his position in the game single-handedly with his debut release. Back in 1998, this album was even listed by The Source’s Mind Squad as one of The Best 100 Rap Albums of all time.

Salute to the Biz(RIP), Marley, TJ Swan, Kane, Shante, Fly Ty, and the rest of the Juice Crew and the Cold Chillin’ crew who made this album a piece of Hip Hop history!

The post Today in Hip-Hop History: Biz Markie Dropped His Debut Album ‘Goin’ Off’ 35 Years Ago appeared first on The Source.

Today In Hip Hop History: Boogie Down Productions’ Debut LP ‘Criminal Minded’ Turns 35 Years Old!

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On this date in 1987, “Blastmaster” KRS-One, DJ Scott La Rock, “The Human 808” D-Nice and the rest of the Boogie Down Productions crew released their highly anticipated debut album Criminal Minded on B-Boy Records.

With the “South Bronx” vs. “The Bridge” aka BDP vs. The Juice Crew beef on wax was at its height, the Criminal Minded album proved to be one of the most important instructional projects for up and coming emcees on how to take out the top dog and start your own reign. As KRS mentioned in the QDIII Beef documentary, if MC Shan wouldn’t have responded to “The Bridge Is Over”, one of the premiere singles from the album, there probably would not have been the rise and success of KRS and BDP.

With Boogie Down Productions aligned with DJ Red Alert on the FM dial at 98.7 KISS and The Juice Crew siding with the one and only Mister Magic and Marley Marl on 107.5 WBLS, it also began the early radio wars, which is actually the origin of the HOT 97 and Power 105 battle on the dial.

Tracks that will forever be etched in Hip Hop history include intellectually adept “Poetry”, the street sagas in “My 9mm Goes Bang” and “P Is Still Free”, the late Scott La Rock-inspired “Super Hoe” and the extensive lyrical lesson in the album’s title track. Ironically, Scott Sterling, better known as DJ Scott La Rock, was killed less than six months after the album’s successful release.

Following Scott’s death, KRS began dropping socially conscious singles and albums, prompting Hip Hop’s “Stop The Violence” movement and the iconic, star-studded “Self Destruction” single.

The post Today In Hip Hop History: Boogie Down Productions’ Debut LP ‘Criminal Minded’ Turns 35 Years Old! appeared first on The Source.