How ya like me now?
Harry Allen, Public Enemy's former Minister of Information, likened the history of hip hop to the Big Bang: four interdependent elements--MCing, DJing, graffiti, and breakdancing--split apart and expanded in all directions at the speed of sound. By the early 1990s, these elements had completely dis-integrated and rap music, the most visible and commercially successful of the elements, exhibited a remarkable diversity. The Legends of Hip Hop Tour, which stops at the ShoWare Center on March 14, provides a snapshot of that Golden Age of hip hop.
Fly girls Salt-n-Pepa championed female sexuality with songs like "Push It" and unusually frank "Let's Talk About Sex," a song whose message was so timely that it became a public service announcement ("Let's Talk About AIDS") at the height of the AIDS crisis in the US. Monie Love was "born in L-O-N-D-O-N" but "sounds American." She broke in to the US hip hop scene in 1989 with a verse on Queen Latifah's hit "Ladies First," and released a pair of Grammy-nominated albums. Her Sirius XM show, Ladies First, continues to empower a new generation of female hip hop artists.
Kool Moe Dee, whose legendary 1981 battle with champion party MC Chief Rocker Busy Bee almost single-handedly changed the way MCs write rhymes, was none the less critical of the new generation of rappers (LL Cool J in particular) for forgetting their roots—a problem that continues to plague mainstream rap. His success with albums like 1987’s How Ya Like Me Now led to him being the first rapper to perform on the Grammys in 1989.
Artists like Kwamé and Chubb Rock provided the yin to Moe Dee’s yang. Kwamé’s trademark polka-dot motif provided the backdrop for a string of danceable hits like “The Rhythm.” His recent production work has supported Christina Aguilera and Will Smith, among others. Chubb Rock’s deep baritone and verbal dexterity were showcased on classic hits like “Treat ‘em Right” and “Just the Two of Us.”
There was room for fun and social awareness, male and female, domestic and foreign during the Golden Age. By the late 1990s, money--the greatest of gravitational forces--hastened the collapse of the hip hop universe. Despite the fact that rap music has a much larger market share today, the universe has contracted so much that the diversity has been all but squeezed out--much of it forced to the periphery; the black hole of the underground. Mainstream rap is now home to a small cast of stock characters, the gangsta/pimp/ho trinity that hip hop scholar Tricia Rose discusses, with the roles played by an endlessly rotating cast. The Legends of Hip Hop Tour offers us a nostalgic glimpse into the universe's past while offering hope that, given the right conditions, such a diverse roster of artists could one day come into being again.