When I was a kid I mowed lawns around my neighbourhood. I spent the money I earned on two things: baseball cards and hip-hop records. It all started back around '80-'81. I still collect both of those things to this day and it scares me a little to think of how much money I spent through the years. These days, I have my baseball card collection organized in binders, boxes and display cases. I wanted to build these classic hip-hop streams as a way to enjoy and share my music collection.
These streams cover the essential recordings from the late '70s, the '80s and early '90s. But I want them to go deeper too. I want these to be complete documents or as close to as is humanly possible. I dug very deep into my collection to put these together and it's my intention to add to them on an ongoing basis. I want this to be the best place anywhere to enjoy, explore and discover the music that makes up the foundation of the hip-hop genre.
In the late '80s, hip-hop music began to diversify with the emergence of new hardcore sub-genres like Miami bass and gangsta rap. I feel it's important to cover those movements but I also don't want the content of these streams to be offensive to anyone. Hip-hop records didn't receive much airplay in the '80s, so labels often didn't bother to make available radio-friendly edits of songs with explicit lyrics. Nevertheless, I did my best to include material by important artists like NWA, 2 Live Crew, Ice-T and Schoolly D.
Here, you will hear the classics by Rock and Roll Hall of Famers like Run DMC, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Public Enemy and the Beastie Boys. You'll also have the chance to discover lost gems by acts like JVC Force, Tuff Crew, The Bizzie Boys and Antoinette, to name just a few.
Listen as hip-hop takes its first steps, finds its voice and changes the world. I sincerely hope you have as much fun listening as I did putting it together.
This is a document of the early years of hip-hop and your chance to follow in the footsteps of the pioneers. Hear LL Cool J, Run-D.M.C., Grandmaster Flash, Lady B and more!
Hip-hop entered a golden age in the last half of the 80s and into the early 90s. Hip-hop records were now a platform for abstract poetic expression and social commentary as well as the standard verbal acrobatics. This is the place to re-discover hip-hop's most creative era. Hear Beastie Boys, 2Pac, Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan and more!
More to explore: