Song Backgrounds
I Need Love
James Todd Smith—known as LL Cool J (Ladies Love Cool James)—came to the attention of Rick Rubin after sending out a homemade demo tape. After signing with Def Jam, LL Cool J's first single, "I Need a Beat," was released in 1984. "I Need a Beat" helped establish his career, selling over 100,000 copies. "I Need Love"—from LL Cool J's second LP Bigger and Deffer— was a departure from his hard-hitting rap style. "I Need Love" -a number one hit on the R & B chart—is considered to be the first crossover rap ballad. In contrast to his earlier shouted, aggressive vocal style, LL Cool J's vocal delivery in "I Need Love" is soft over a musical background of synthesizers. The drum machine programming accentuates hi-hat more than heavy kick and bass drum sounds.
NY State of Mind
Nas, born Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, grew up in New York City. Nas was interested in music from a young age (his father was a professional musician), and wrote short stories and created his own comic books. He dropped out of high school in ninth grade. As a teenager Nas was part of a breaking crew as dancer and rapped with a crew called the Devastatin' Seven. Nas received his first recording contract in 1991 through contact with MC Serch from the group 3rd Bass. Nas made his solo debut under the name of "Nasty Nas" on the single "Halftime" from Serch's soundtrack for the film Zebrahead. Illmatic, released in 1994, was Nas's album debut. "N.Y. State of Mind" was the first full length track on the album. The song, using samples from Joe Chambers "Mind Rain" and "Flight Time" by Donald Byrd, depicts Nas's view of the city of New York and his own rapping ability and place in the rap landscape. Nas's work is often noted for the complexity of the lyrics, and the vivid pictures he evokes in his songs.
**** tha Police
"**** tha Police" opens with a "trial" in which the judge—Dr. Dre—calls on each MC in the group to testify about his experiences. The lyrics in each verse offer harsh criticism of the police department. The song was very controversial and seen as inciting violence against the police. The members of N.W.A. defended the song, saying that they were just telling the truth about their experience growing up in Los Angeles. The lyrics of the song prompted the FBI to send a warning letter to the group which states in part that: "advocating violence and assault is wrong and we in the law enforcement community take exception to such action." Although the language and subject matter prevented much radio play, the publicity resulting from the controversy propelled sales of the song and the album Straight Outta Compton which went double platinum.
California Love
"California Love" was a single from Tupac's fifth studio album All Eyez on Me. Tupac signed with Death Row Records after Suge Knight and Jimmy Iovine put up $1.5 million in bail money for Tupac. When Tupac was released from prison after serving time for sexual assault, he recorded All Eyez on Me (a double album) as part of his three-album deal with Death Row. The song is a celebration of California, name-checking various cities and hip hop figures. Musically, the song features samples from Joe Cocker's song "Woman to Woman," Ronnie Hudson & The Street People's "West Coast Poplock," and Zapp's "Dance Floor." The song was produced by Dr. Dre and features Roger Troutman (who co-wrote "West Coast Poplock") and Dr. Dre. "California Love" was Tupac's most successful single reaching number one on the billboard chart for two weeks.
Excursions
A Tribe Called Quest— Q-Tip, Phife Dawg (aka Phife Diggy [Malik Taylor]), and Ali Shaheed Muhammad formed in 1985. Their original name—QUEST—was later given the prefix A Tribe Called by their high school buddies, The Jungle Brothers. A Tribe Called Quest signed with Jive Records in 1989. A Tribe Called Quest's music has sometimes been referred to as alternative rap because of the subject matter of their lyrics and musical references, including cool jazz. "Excursions" was a song from the group's second album The Low End Theory. Featuring socially conscious lyrics, the song uses samples from Art Blakey's "A Chant for Bu," "The Soil I Tilled for You," by Shades of Brown, and the spoken word Last Poets, "Time."
Juicy
Christopher George Latore Wallace was born in New York in 1972. He was raised by a single mother who stressed the importance of education. In his teen years Wallace rebelled, dropping out of school at seventeen and becoming involved in selling drugs. At the same time, he dreamed of a hip hop career initially calling himself Cwest before settling on Biggie Smalls. Wallace came to the attention of an A & R man for Uptown Records, Sean "Puffy" Combs, who would soon leave Uptown and start his own record label—Bad Boy Records, signing Wallace to the label. Wallace's debut album was Ready To Die released in 1994. The album follows a loose narrative of the life of the performer from birth, adolescence, to the time of the release of the record. The song "Juicy" was Wallace's solo debut and the first single released from the album. The song uses a sample form Mtume's "Juicy Fruit," features Wallace's label-mates Total on backing vocals, and tells the story of the narrator's rise from poverty to rap success.
Nuthin but a G Thang
Dr. Dre left N.W.A. after disputes with Eazy-E and Jerry Heller and started Death Row Records with former N.W.A. lyricist the D.O.C. (Tracy Lynn Curry), Marion "Suge" Knight, and Richard Gilbert "Dick" Griffey. The Chronic was Dr. Dre's debut album released on Death Row Records. Dr. Dre is credited with popularizing the 'G-funk' sound. Musically, 'G-funk' incorporates funk, synthesizers, female backing vocals, and extended breaks. Lyrically, 'G-funk' could include 'gangsta' topics such as sex, drugs, violence, but also songs about hanging around with friends and love of one's city. The vocal style is slow and drawn-out (sometimes almost slurred). Although The Chronic is a solo album, it features several collaborations with a new rapper—Snoop Doggy Dogg.
Til I Collapse
Eminem (born Marshall Bruce Mathers III) grew up moving between Detroit and Kansas City, Missouri. He became interested in rap at an early age. He started rapping at fourteen, adopting the name Eminem and entering open-mic rap contests around Detroit. In 1992, Eminem began working with Jeff and Mark Bass, two brothers who have produced much of his work, including his debut album Infinite. Eminem came to attention of Dr. Dre after his appearance in the 1997 Rap Olympics in Los Angeles. Dr. Dre offered him a contract with a major label and Eminem would go on to release four albums between 1999 and 2004 with Dr. Dre serving as executive producer. The song "'Till I Collapse" appears on the 2002 album The Eminem Show. The song, which features Nate Dogg, uses a sample from the Queen song "We Will Rock You" as its driving rhythmic pattern. The lyrics reflect on Eminem's rap career and refer to some of the artists who Eminem view as influences and giants of the art form.
Microphone Fiend
Eric B.—Louis Eric Barrier and Rakim—Willian Michael Griffin Jr.—are an influential hip hop duo formed in New York in the mid-1980s. Rakim played the saxophone, a skill he credits with influencing his rhythmic sensibility and timing as a rapper. Eric B. and Rakim's debut album Paid in Full was released in 1987. "Microphone Fiend" was the second single from the duo's second album Follow the Leader. Rakim's style includes innovative rhyming technique such as internal and multi-syllabic rhymes. Musically, the song features a sample of Average White Band's 1975 song "School Boy Crush." Rakim uses addiction imagery in the lyrics of "Microphone Fiend" to describe Rakim's need to keep rapping.
Rhyme Pays
Ice-T (Tracy Lauren Marrow) spent his childhood in New Jersey. After losing birth his parents (his mother when he was seven and his father when he was twelve), Ice-T moved to Los Angeles to live with his aunt where he attended Crenshaw High School. While still in high school, Ice-T began reading the novels of Iceberg Slim—from whose name his stage name is derived. After a stint in the army Ice-T pursued a career as a DJ, but found he got more attention for his rapping. Ice-T's vocal style and lyrical material was influenced by Schoolly D's song "P.S.K. What Does it Mean" which makes reference to gang life. After signing with the Sire Records label, Ice-T's debut album Rhyme Pays was released in 1987. The title song "Rhyme Pays" features an ominous opening in which Ice-T introduces himself. The music which plays underneath this introduction is Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells"—made famous as the theme from the movie The Exorcist. The song features DJ Evil E's turntable technique, drum machine patterns, and studio effects such as echo and delay. The song includes a sample of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" which contributes to the overall menacing quality of the song. The album Rhyme Pays has the distinction of being the first hip hop album to carry a Parental Advisory warning label.
Cabinet Battle #1
Inspired by the book about American founding father Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, Lin-Manuel Miranda—the writer, composer, and star of the Broadway musical Hamilton—first envisioned Hamilton as an album project called The Hamilton Mixtape. The project evolved over a seven-year period to become a full-length Broadway show. In discussing the idea to use hip hop as the musical foundation of the show Miranda has noted, "Hamilton's life is a 'classic hip-hop narrative': he was like a rapper who used the power of words to lift his way out of poverty and obscurity and into fame. Hamilton, the 'bastard orphan' immigrant from St. Croix, rose to power on the strength of his words, but his verbal ingenuity was a double-edged sword that also precipitated his downfall." Since opening in 2015, Hamilton has become a phenomenon: winning the Pulitzer Prize, the Tony Award for best musical, the Grammy Award for best soundtrack album, and the hardest theater ticket to get on Broadway. "Cabinet Battle #1" is from Act II of the show, with Hamilton making his argument for a central bank. Miranda sets the cabinet meeting as a rap battle between Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, who disagrees with Hamilton. Lyrically, make note of the multi-syllabic rhymes and references to early hip hop.
Summertime
Jeffrey Allen Townes and Will Smith—also known as DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince—met in Philadelphia in 1985 and soon formed their self-named group. Originally, the group was a trio with Clarence Holmes (Ready Rock C) as the resident beatboxer, and they released their first single in late 1985 on Word Up Records. Their first LP Rock the House, was first released on Word Up in 1986 and then on Jive Records in 1987. Their second album, He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper, included the song "Parents Just Don't Understand" which made DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince MTV stars and won the first Grammy Award given in the rap category. "Summertime," the lead single from their fourth studio album, Homebase, was released in May 1991. Lyrically, the group is known for their light-hearted stories and profanity-free raps. Musically, "Summertime" follows a verse-chorus form and samples the song "Summer Madness" by Kool & the Gang.
Power
Kanye West was born in Atlanta, Georgia but grew up in Chicago. West's father was a former Black Panther and his mother was a college professor. West started rapping in the third grade and he came in contact with West crossed paths with a producer and DJ by the name of 'No I.D.' (Ernest Dion Wilson) also known as "The Godfather of Chicago Hip Hop." West formed a close friendship with No. I.D. and he soon became West's mentor, from whom West learned how to sample and program beats after receiving his first sampler at fifteen. West came to prominence first as a producer working with local Chicago artists. West got his big break in the year 2000, when he began to produce for artists on Roc-A-Fella Records. Despite his success as a producer, West aspired to be a rapper. Anxious to keep West from leaving to go to another company, Roc- A-Fella signed West as an artist. "Power" was the first single from West's fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Musically "Power" uses material from King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man," "Afromerica" by Continent Number 6, and "It's Your Thing" by Cold Grits.
Doo Wop (That Thing)
Lauryn Hill began her career at an early age performing Smokey Robinson's "Who's Lovin' You" at the Apollo Theater's Amateur Night when she was thirteen years old. Hill also pursued acting, appearing on the soap opera As the World Turns and as a lead in the movie Sister Act 2. Hill met Prakazrel "Pras" Michel and Wyclef Jean in her teens, and the three formed the rap trio that became known as the Fugees (short for "Refugees") and released their first album, Blunted on Reality, in 1994. "Doo Wop (That Thing)" is a single from Hill's solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill which was one of the most critically acclaimed and highest-grossing albums of the 1990s. The album's songs reflect Hill's musical roots—soul and Motown—as well as her personal takes on love and life. "Doo Wop (That Thing)" contains biblical imagery and references in its message of women's empowerment. The words refer having respect for oneself as a woman and critiques the excessive value placed on material things at the expensive of meaningful relationships. Hill's music was sometimes called 'neo-soul'—a reference to the musical styles and musical references ("Doo Wop (That Thing)" uses musical material from two earlier soul songs: "Let's Find Love' by the 5th Dimension and "I'm a Loser" by Brighter Side of Darkness). Hill also incorporates contemporary studio techniques such as multilayered vocal lines.
Criminal Minded
Lawrence "Krisna" Parker (KRS-One) grew up in New York and left home at thirteen. Parker was living in homeless shelters and writing graffiti using the tag KRS-One (Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone). Parker met Scott Sterling—a youth counselor—also known as DJ Scott La Rock, and the two began making music together. After an earlier version of a group with Parker and Sterling broke up, they decided to call themselves Boogie Down Productions (BDP). Criminal Minded, released in 1987, was their debut album. The album included the songs "South Bronx" and "The Bridge is Over" BDP's dis rap and response to MC Shan and the Juice Crew's "The Bridge" and "9 mm Goes Bang" which features a crime narrative. These so-called 'hardcore' lyrics and the album cover—one of the first hip hop album depicting a group with guns and ammunition—suggest that they were supporting criminal activities and violence and are considered to be early examples of 'gangsta' rap. However, KRS-One has explained the concept of the album: "The purpose of the album was to attract a thug-type audience, so we could teach them later on...We wanted to make intelligence a cool thing." The song features lyrics that describe an MC battle with gang language and imagery, with KRS-One bragging about his verbal skill, and toughness. The musical backing features a song call "Different Strokes" by Syl Johnson, "Let's Get Small" by Trouble Funk, and an introduction sung to the tune of "Hey Jude."
Dr. Carter
Lil Wayne (Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr.) is from New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1991, at the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as half of the duo The B.G.'z. At the time, he was the youngest member of the label. In 1996, he joined the Hot Boys, a group including Wayne's label-mates Juvenile, B.G., and Turk. The Hot Boys released two albums between 1996 and 1999. Lil Wayne released his solo debut album Tha Block is Hot in 1999 when he was seventeen years old. "Dr. Carter" is song from Lil Wayne's 2008 album Tha Carter III. The song, which uses a sample of David Axelrod's "Holy Thursday," depicts Wayne as a doctor trying to 'save' various patients. The patients represent hip-hop and rap styles. Wayne comments on different aspects of hip hop, placing himself center stage and referring to other artists such as Kanye West, Andre 3000, and Swizz Beatz as exemplars of the form.
Fight the Power
Public Enemy, known for their politically charged lyrics, began with Chuck D (Carlton Douglas Ridenhour) making a record with Spectrum City in New York in the early 1980s. Together with Flavor Flav (William Jonathan Drayton, Jr.) and a production team known as the "Bomb Squad"—Hank Shocklee, Keith Shocklee, and Eric "Vietnam" Sadler—and "Minister of Information" Professor Griff (Richard Griffin) and with the last addition of DJ Terminator X (Norman Rogers) the group, taking the name Public Enemy, signed with Def Jam Records. Film director Spike Lee approached Public Enemy to write a song for his movie Do the Right Thing. "Fight the Power" was first released on the soundtrack of Do the Right Thing in 1989 and then on Public Enemy's third album Fear of a Black Planet. The lyrics of the song refer to civil rights and uses samples ranging from James Brown to Bob Marley. The song opens with a sample of a speech by Chicago attorney and civil rights activist, Thomas "TNT" Todd.
Ladies First
Queen Latifah (Dana Owens) made her mark in her early career rapping about social issues, especially those of black women. In "Ladies First"—from her debut album All Hail the Queen—Queen Latifah offers a prime example of 'womanist' rap. The song, which features British-born Monie Love, demonstrates that women rappers can 'flow' and should be taken as seriously as their male counterparts while destroying sexist stereotypes. The song utilizes samples—Kool and the Gang's "Good Times" and 7th Wonder's "Daisy Lady" and drum machines to create the soundscape under Latifah and Love's rhymes. The production features different textures and instrumental grooves which alternate with the verses to create sonic variety.
Ice Ice Baby
Robert Matthew Van Winkle, known by his stage name Vanilla Ice, grew up in Florida and Texas. As a teenager, he was a breaker—nick-named "Vanilla" because he was white. When he began MCing at parties he became known as MC Vanilla. Van Winkle signed a contract with SBK Records in 1990 and the company promoted his career with a fictional biography of Van Winkle's childhood years. Van Winkle states that he wrote "Ice Ice Baby" when he was sixteen. The lyrics describe Ice and his friend on a drug run that ends in a drive-by shooting. Musically the song features a sample of the Queen/David Bowie song "Under Pressure." After denying that the music was a sample and legal action, Queen received credit for the song. "Ice Ice Baby" was the first hip hop single to hit the top of the Billboard charts.
Rock Box
Run-D.M.C. was founded by Joseph "Run" Simmons, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels and Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell in 1981. The group was originally known as Orange Crush, but changed their name in 1982. They signed with Profile Records and had a hit with "It's Like That." The flip side of the record, "Sucker MCs" took the group to the next level. The titular term became a popular phrase used in hip hop to separate the 'real' MCs from the fake ones. The group was managed by Joseph Simmons's brother Russell Simmons, a hip hop manager and promoter (Russell Simmons managed Kurtis Blow). Run- D.M.C.'s style merges rap and rock featuring rock guitar solos and riffs by Eddie Martinez and a hard, aggressive vocal delivery. "Rock Box" is a single from the album Run-D.M.C. (the first album in the genre to go gold). Some key musical elements to listen for: the recurring guitar pattern, either as a solo or in the background; the drum machine backing; stop time patterns. Vocally, the MCs rap important rhymes at the end of lines together, and there are whole sections with this technique throughout the song. The video for "Rock Box" is the first rap video played on MTV.
Paul Revere
The Beastie Boys—Michael "Mike D" Diamond, Adam "MCA" Yauch, and Adam "Ad- Rock" Horovitz—started their career as a hardcore punk band. In 1984, after going through some personnel changes, meeting producer Rick Rubin, and a move towards rap and hip hop, the Beastie Boys released their EP Rock Hard on Def Jam Records. Licensed to Ill—the Beastie Boys debut album—was released in 1986. "Paul Revere" was a single from the album and was written by Adam Horovitz, Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Rick Rubin and produced by Rick Rubin and the Beastie Boys. The style of the Beastie Boys' vocal delivery was similar to Run-D.M.C.: hard, spitting delivery as opposed to the more sing-song delivery of earlier MCs. "Paul Revere" tells a fictional story of how the Beastie Boys met, and includes a very sparse drum machine accompaniment played backwards.
Lets Talk About Sex
The group Salt-N-Pepa—Cheryl "Salt" James, Sandra "Pepa" Denton, and Deidre "DJ Spinderella" Roper (who replaced the group's first DJ Pamela Latoya Greene)—formed in 1985 in New York. Salt-N- Pepa's entrance to the music business was an answer rap to Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick's song "The Show." The song, called "The Show Stopper," was released as a single in 1985, reached number forty six on the Billboard R&B chart, and earned the group a contract with Next Plateau Records. Salt-N-Pepa enjoyed crossover mainstream appeal with music that was danceable, while featuring lyrical themes that addressed women's issues. "Let's Talk About Sex" was a single from the group's third studio album Blacks' Magic. The song, which discusses safe sex, was released at a time when the subject of HIV and AIDS was prominent in the media. "Let's Talk About Sex" played a role in in educating people about the dangers of unprotected sex. (The popularity of the song led to a re-write and re-recording by Salt-N-Pepa called "Let's Talk About AIDS.") The lyrics also comment on the censorship of sexual topics in media at the time of the song's release. Musically, the song features a sample of the Staples Singers song "I'll Take You There" in a verse-chorus song format typical of crossover hip hop during the early 1990s.
Straight Outta Compton
The members of N.W.A (*****z With Attitude) are Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, DJ Yella, MC Ren—aka O'Shea Jackson, Andre Young, Eric Wright, Antoine Carraby, Lorenzo Patterson. The group was put together by Eazy-E—a former drug dealer—who had started a record company called Ruthless Records with manager Jerry Heller. Initially the group consisted of Eazy-E and Dr. Dre with DJ Yella (who was in a group called the World Class Wreckin' Cru with Dr. Dre) joining shortly after. Ice Cube would join the group after writing an early song "Boyz N the Hood" for another Ruthless group (who didn't want to record it). Released in 1988, Straight Outta Compton was N.W.A.'s debut album. With tracks with the names "Gangsta Gangsta," "Dopeman," and "**** tha Police," and laden with profanity, violent imagery, and hardcore intensity, Straight Outta Compton announced that West Coast hip hop had arrived and became the blueprint for the style of gangsta rap that flourished in the 1990s. Each MC (Ice Cube, MC Ren, and Eazy-E) takes a verse and each has his own distinctive vocal range: Ice Cube's voice is low, MC Ren's is mid-range, and Eazy-E's is in the higher range, creating a sense of building intensity throughout the song. The backing track is a combination of manipulated samples, drum machine programming, and DJ effects.
Dear Mama
Tupac Amaru Shakur was born in New York and was named for a South American revolutionary. His parents were both members of the Black Panthers and his mother was acquitted of conspiracy charges a month before Tupac was born. Tupac was involved with acting from an early age, appearing in the play A Raisin in the Sun when he was eleven years old. Afeni Shakur moved her family to Baltimore, Maryland when Tupac was fifteen. In Baltimore Tupac attended a performing arts school and studied acting, dance, jazz, and poetry. When Tupac was seventeen, he and his family moved to Marin, California. Tupac began his professional career as a roadie, dancer, and MC with the group Digital Underground. His first solo album was 2Pacalypse Now released in 1991 on Interscope Records. The song "Dear Mama" is a musical tribute to Tupac's mother Afeni Shakur. The song was released as a single from Tupac's third album Me Against the World. The lyrics of the song reveal Tupac's strong emotions about his mother and the recognition of the hardships—including drug addiction—that she faced. Musically, the song features samples and interpolations of The Spinners, "Sadie" (itself a tribute to a mother) and "In All My Wildest Dreams" by Joe Sample.
Eye Know
Vincent Lamont Mason Jr., Kelvin Mercer, David Jude Jolicoeur (also known by many nicknames such as Posdnuos, Trugoy, Pasemaster Mase, Plug One, etc.) formed in New York in 1987. Through Prince Paul, a New York producer, De La Soul signed a contract with Tommy Boy Records. Their debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, was released in the spring of 1989. Because of the themes of unity, peace, and love in the group's lyrics and their acronym "the D.A.I.S.Y. age" (Da Inner Sound, Y'all), some critics labeled the group as a 'hippie band,' a label the group didn't embrace. "Eye Know (The Know It All Mix)" was a single from 3 Feet High and Rising. The song contains diverse samples including Steely Dan, Otis Redding, and Sly and the Family Stone.
