Remember Rap Back In The Day?

I sure do and I wonder what happened to rap? In my opinion, rap and “hip hop” of today can’t even come close to what rap was back in the very late 80’s through mid 90’s. I may prefer rockabilly music in the present time, but growing up as a kid I was very much into rap, especially through my junior high school days. To this day I have very vivid memories of the songs I used to listen to and of the songs that were getting heavy play time in the neighborhoods of Southern California. I also remember trying to dig up as much change as I could each month to go buy The Source magazine.

I had a pretty large collection of cassette tapes, singles and maxi-singles (Yes, cassettes. CD’s were still in it’s infancy)of many of the songs in the following list. Here I have compiled a list of the Top 20 rap songs from “back in the days” based on what I remember hearing and what I remember other people hearing.

10. 2 Pac - Holla If Ya Hear Me, 1993
Early Tupac at his finest. This song was much different than any of his future releases, but I still prefer this to any of his newer songs.

9. Redman - Time 4 Sum Aksion, 1992
Produced by Eric Sermon, you can hear his traditional motor-like bass lines that he was heavily using in the 90’s. B-Real is sampled for the chorus.

8. Digital Underground - Humpty Dance, 1990
Who didn’t like this song? Very catchy song from a group that featured 2 Pac as a member at one point.

7. N2Deep - Back To The Hotel, 1992
Back To The Hotel was N2Deep’s first hit and most successful song. This song was being played constantly everywhere I went. Sadly though, they never did come close to matching this song’s or album’s success with any of their future offerings.

6. Dr. Dre - Nuthin But A G Thang, 1992
Most successful single off the album, “The Chronic”. The “G-Funk” sound at it’s best.

5. Jeru The Damaja - Come Clean, 1994
Amazing. That’s all I can say about Jeru The Damaja’s lyrical flow and delivery on this song. Backed by a mesmerizing beat by DJ Premier (Gang Starr), this song will always be a rap favorite of mine.

4. EPMD - You Gots To Chill, 1988
Before Eric Sermon made his little mark as a solo artist, he was tearing it up with Parrish Smith, as EPMD. Great use of “More Bounce To The Ounce” as the sample.

3. Snoop Dogg - Gin And Juice, 1993
Snoop Dogg came very strong with his debut album, “Doggystyle”, going 4 times platinum in less than a year. This was the song that had to be my favorite off the album.

2. Wu Tang Clan - M.E.T.H.O.D Man, 1993
Off of the debut album, “Enter The Wu Tang (36 Chambers)”, came the song that probably had the most impact on launching the solo career of Method Man. I give this song the edge, but this whole album is a classic with songs like “C.R.E.A.M” and “Protect Ya Neck”. I highly recommend this album.

1. Cypress Hill - How I Could Just Kill A Man , 1991

From their debut, self-titled album comes this little gem which probably was getting the most play in my area back in the day. Produced by DJ Muggs (Soul Assassins), this whole album had a very unique sound and style. From B-Real’s nasal delivered vocals, to the very different sounds of DJ Muggs’ beats. In many of DJ Mugg’s songs that he produced in the early 90’s, not only for Cypress Hill, but artists like Funkdoobiest and House of Pain, you can clearly hear a lot of guitar riffs sampled and what definitely sounds like an upright bass being sampled for the main bass line to several songs. I guess that’s why it was so easy for me to head down the rockabilly music path, with the upright bass and guitar riffs being a staple of that genre.

Honorable Mentions: (In no particular order)

EPMD - Crosover
Eric Sermon - No Pressure (The whole album)
DJ Quik - Tonite
Funkdoobiest - Bow Wow Wow
Black Sheep - The Choice Is Yours
Gang Starr - Mass Appeal
Grand Puba - 360 (What Goes Around)

And there you have it. Hope you enjoyed this little trip down rap memory lane. I know I probably missed quite a few jams, so feel free to post them in the comments and also feel free to disagree with my list.