Monday, December 28, 2009

1988

The year 1988 is said by a lot of hip hop heads to be the golden era, or best year for the music. I don't really agree or disagree with this statement. There are lot of great albums released in other years which I can't live without either. But, I definitely see the point. It just so happens that 1988 is the year I really started paying attention to hip hop and buying albums - well, cassette tapes.

I was young. Really young. But, I wanted to be like my big brother, so whatever he was into I was into basically. He gravitated towards hip hop, and I followed. The start of Yo! MTV Raps didn't hurt either. In fact, the show probably played a large part in bringing hip hop to a lot of people. We watched it all the time. We used to record videos on VHS tapes and watch them over and over again.

I got my mom to take me to the mall up the street from us one night. There were two music stores in it then - Record Town and Camelot. I think I went to Record Town that night. I don't think you could find even one music store in that mall today. This is where I bought my first hip hop cassette: Tougher Than Leather by Run D.M.C. I still remember her letting me unwrap it and put it in for the ride home in her new 1988 Pontiac Grand Am. I remember turning it up to hear "Run's House" and "Mary Mary". I listened to that tape over and over again.

1988 was a good year for me as far as hip hop goes. The tapes I have from that year that I bought in the store are as follows (and I included a video from each below)

Run D.M.C. - Tougher Than Leather



By the way, this video is from the movie Tougher Than Leather. I have never seen it. If anyone could get me a copy I would be eternally grateful. I doubt it would be nearly as enjoyable as it would have been when it came out, but I still wanna see it. This is probably my favorite song on the album.

Big Daddy Kane - Long Live The Kane



I still know every word to this song (and pretty much every other one this album).

Kid 'N' Play - 2 Hype



Some may laugh now, but these guys were mega stars when I was little. Great entertainers, and they actually rhymed together, which I liked. Plus, House Party is a classic. No one can argue that.

EPMD - Strictly Business



EPMD was and is my favorite duo of all time.

So, that's my collection from 1988. Don't get me wrong, I heard a lot of other MCs that year. My brother had some tapes, we watched the videos and listened to the radio (which at that time wasn't a complete joke) constantly. But, these are the ones I owned and listened to over and over and over again.

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