6 Year Rap Comparison!

To bring home the last post's theme about the changing motifs in hip hop, and to make you (well some of you, and me) feel older, here is a 6 year span (1987-1993 and 2004-2010) comparison of notable albums:

Eric B. and Rakim
Paid in Full (1987)
This is the duo's first studio album, inaugurating the Golden Age of hip hop (when going gold was a respected standard of success) with that b-boy, sample-based sound. James Brown's breaks are reinvigorated in this audioscape. Notice the DJ is still central here.

A Tribe Called Quest
Midnight Marauders (1993)
This album is in line with the Afro-Humanist vibe of the early 90s, and came out at a time when hip hop's Westcoast beef would start to heat up! The sounds are a bit more experimental than in the 80s. And where did the DJ go??

Kanye West

College Dropout (2004)

Included the hit singles "Jesus Walks," "Get 'Em High," and "Slow Jamz." Kanye West begins building his rap empire with that mid-2000 sound. What can stop him now?

It's a bit premature to know a notable 2010 album, but Jay-Z and Alicia Key's single"Empire State of Mind" has been making a killing and paints a good sense of rap on the radio today. Not too drastic a change from 2004! Right?

The 2000s saw the coming and going of hyphy, the rise of Southern crunk, the return of Chicago (with Kanye and Lupe Fiasco, for example), ring-tone rappers, auto-tune, and the dominance of strip club-themed music.

Do you feel that the span between 2004-2010 saw much of a difference in the transformation of hip hop music as between 1987-1993?

To those who have been following hip hop made by Fil Ams, Blue Scholars' first album came out in 2004! Bambu's album Self-Untitled came out in 2003! How you like that??

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