Top 20 hip-hop singles of the 80s

Emerging straight outta the Bronx in the summer of 1973, hip-hop has come a long way since its humble beginnings, with the 80s being a particularly fertile period for the globe-conquering genre… here we pick out Top 20 hip-hop singles of the 80s

Given its current worldwide popularity, it’s hard to comprehend that hip-hop originated more than 50 years ago in the impoverished neighbourhoods of New York, where street parties were regularly held to boost the morale of the city’s African-American communities.

It wasn’t until the release of Rapper’s Delight in 1979 that hip-hop finally transcended the ghettos into the mainstream, and in the ensuing decade it became a global phenomenon, growing exponentially as sampling and beatbox technology evolved. From old-school rhyming through to hard-hitting social commentary, we return to this golden age of hip-hop, when rappers and turntablists alike were finally recognised as skilful and credible artists.
Words by Barry Page

20 DJ JAZZY JEFF AND THE FRESH PRINCE – PARENTS JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND (1988)

Prior to telling us all about how his life got flipped-turned upside down in The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, Will Smith made a name for himself as one half of a successful hip-hop duo. The semi-autobiographical Parents Just Don’t Understand earned them the inaugural award for Best Rap Performance at the Grammys in 1989, but they famously boycotted the ceremony after learning the segment wasn’t going to be televised. Smith told Entertainment Tonight it was a “slap in the face” for the hip-hop community, and Will certainly knows a thing or two about those…

19 REDHEAD KINGPIN AND THE F.B.I. – DO THE RIGHT THING (1989)

It was New Jack Swing pioneer Teddy Riley who suggested that red-headed MC David Guppy contribute a song to the soundtrack of Spike Lee’s then-latest joint, but as well-intentioned as its message was of making the right decisions in life, it was deemed unsuitable for the hard-hitting drama. The consolation, however, was a UK hit, plus praise for Guppy. “He’s one of those rappers whose words trip off the tongue with such casual ease, it makes the point he’s trying to put across sound utterly simple and totally and completely obvious,” enthused Smash Hits.

18 JUNGLE BROTHERS – I’LL HOUSE YOU (1988)

Part of an upbeat hip-hop collective known as the Native Tongues that also featured De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers first turned heads in the UK with this impromptu classic, which had come together after their sound engineer randomly asked if they fancied cutting a house record. Utilising a remix of Can You Party that labelmate and esteemed house music producer Todd Terry had recorded under the Royal House alias, the trio quickly devised a hook and set of lyrics, the end result being this groundbreaking fusion of hip-hop and house that still wows club crowds today.

17 FUNKY 4 + 1 – THAT’S THE JOINT (1980)

Funky 4 + 1 were not only the first hip-hop outfit to include a female MC, they were the first such act to appear on national television, introduced on Saturday Night Live by one Debbie Harry, who’d famously namechecked both Grandmaster Flash and Fab Five Freddy on Blondie’s huge crossover hit, Rapture. Featuring exemplary backing from Sugar Hill Records’ house band – including an interpolation of minor disco hit Rescue Me – the oft-sampled That’s The Joint proved highly influential, with Run-DMC’s Darryl McDaniels singling out Sha-Rock’s vocal reverb technique for particular praise.

16 TONE LOC – WILD THING (1989)

The man born Anthony Terrell Smith acquired his unique gravelly voice as a teenager after a shot of brandy scorched his infected throat. Wild Thing was the first of two huge transatlantic hits, but the version the Los Angeles-based rapper and future film star originally presented his label with was far racier than the one that became an MTV staple, and fledgling songwriter Marvin Young – aka Young MC – was brought in to, ahem, tone it down. The intermittent tom-tom break and other elements of the track were sampled from Van Halen’s 1978 single, Jamie’s Cryin’.

15 YOUNG MC – BUST A MOVE (1989)

Signed to the Delicious Vinyl label whilst studying economics at the University of California, Young MC initially tasted success as the co-writer of the Tone Loc hits Wild Thing and Funky Cold Medina. Upon resuming his own recording career, the clean-cut rapper scored a huge Billboard hit with third single Bust A Move, which later won a Grammy for Best Rap Performance. Built around a funky lick by Seattle rockers Ballin’ Jack, the track featured Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, who was paid just $200 for his work on the million-seller.

14 LL COOL J – ROCK THE BELLS (1985)

After adopting the stage name of LL Cool J – short for Ladies Love Cool James – James Todd Smith cut one of the very first records for the fledgling Def Jam label in 1984 with I Need A Beat, but it was on Rock The Bells, released the following year, that the teenaged Long Islander really announced his arrival. Featuring a blistering opening salvo (“LL Cool J is hard as hell/ Battle anybody, I don’t care who you tell/ I excel, they all fail”), the landmark track not only exhibited a precocious command of the mic, it also invited his contemporaries to raise their game.

13 DE LA SOUL – ME MYSELF AND I (1989)

An inventive record brimming with ingenious samples and memorable skits, De La Soul’s classic debut LP 3 Feet High And Rising brought some welcome contrast into a hip-hop community where gangsta rap was becoming increasingly prevalent. Built around an infectious Funkadelic sample, Me Myself And I was a late addition to the adventurous album, crafted to appease label brass who were concerned it lacked a hit. It not only gave the Long Island trio their commercial breakthrough, it served as a celebration of their individualism, and a riposte to the critics who’d branded them gimmicky hippies.

12 BEASTIE BOYS – FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT (1986)

Reportedly written in about five minutes, Fight For Your Right was intended as a parody of frat boy culture, but after making it big on both sides of the Atlantic it soon became a good-time anthem for the very youngsters the Beasties were poking fun at, leading the trio to disown their biggest hit. Fans keen to emulate Mike D’s look in the promotional video began stealing Volkswagen badges from Beetles and Golfs up and down the land, prompting the German car manufacturer to offer them for free to anyone who wrote in.

11  N.W.A – EXPRESS YOURSELF (1989)

Often criticised for its misogyny and glorification of violence, in its rawest form gangsta rap painted an authentic picture of the ganglands of the United States. The radio-friendly Express Yourself gave N.W.A their first UK hit, a Trojan horse of a release that included two of their greatest tracks on the associated 12”. The incendiary Straight Outta Compton pulled no punches in its depiction of downtown LA, leading to widespread radio censorship, while Fuck Tha Police, a fearless commentary on police brutality and racial profiling, incurred the wrath of the FBI.  

10 KURTIS BLOW – THE BREAKS (1980)

A tribute to a culture he was once part of, Kurtis Blow’s classic second single was dedicated to the street dancers of Harlem and the Bronx, but through its clever wordplay there were other connotations. “The Breaks was a song for the breakers,” Blow later explained to Songfacts, “but then you had the other implied meaning of brakes on a bus or a car, good breaks or bad breaks in one’s life.” The single sold more than half a million copies, while its charismatic call-and-response delivery also made it a huge hit in the clubs as well as on the live circuit.

09 SUGARHILL GANG – RAPPER’S DELIGHT (1979)

Rapper’s Delight makes it into our countdown as it was still in the charts at the turn of the decade, and it would be criminal to ignore such a culturally-important track, one that was partly responsible for taking hip-hop into the mainstream, and whose opening lines are now iconic. However, at the time of Rapper’s Delight’s release the seminal single had some detractors, notably Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers who were incensed by its interpolation of Chic’s 1979 hit Good Times, and an out of court settlement resulted in a writing credit for the disgruntled duo.

08 DOUG E FRESH & THE GET FRESH CREW – THE SHOW (1985)

The practice of beatboxing was partly born out of financial necessity due to the expense of drum machines such as the Roland TR-808, but it soon became a phenomenon, thanks to skilled practitioners including Doug E. Fresh. Both The Show – which was notable not only for its utilisation of the Inspector Gadget theme tune, but for upsetting the Beatles’ publishers over its playful pilfering of Michelle – and its much-sampled B-side La Di Da Di showcased his considerable skills, but future Def Jam star Slick Rick also earned plaudits for his comedic storytelling.

07 ROB BASE AND DJ E-Z ROCK – IT TAKES TWO (1988)

“It takes two to make a thing go right,” and in this case it was Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock, who created what many critics have hailed as the greatest hip-hop track ever made. The future floorfiller leant heavily on Lyn Collins’ James Brown-produced funk hit Think (About It), sampling its meaty drum break and soon-to-be-ubiquitous “Woo! Yeah!” vocal. Coupled with lyrics that oozed with positive energy, the end result was hip-hop gold. “It’s a club banger,” a modest Rob Base told The Boombox in 2012. “You throw it on in a party, everybody dances.”

06  GRANDMASTER  & MELLE MEL – WHITE LINES (DON’T DON’T DO IT) (1983)

With Grandmaster Flash then estranged from the Furious Five, this classic anti-drugs anthem was essentially a solo outing for Melle Mel, who masterfully delivered a cautionary tale of the adverse effects of cocaine. It was the last significant hit for the legendary Sugar Hill label who filed for bankruptcy soon afterwards, due in part to impending litigation over the track’s unauthorised recreation of the stunning bassline and other elements from Cavern by Liquid Liquid. A decade later, both Flash and Melle guested on a credible version by Duran Duran.

05 ERIC B. & RAKIM – PAID IN FULL (1987)

The title track from the Long Islanders’ second album deservedly earned praise for its ice-cool delivery and redemptive storytelling – which drew on Rakim’s tale of being a  “stick-up kid” – but it was a remix by Coldcut that took the track to a whole new level. A veritable journey into sound, the plunderphonics pioneers’ ‘Seven Minutes Of Madness’ mix retained the track’s much-utilised drum break, but also wove in a number of unusual elements, most prominently a vocal sample from Ofra Haza’s Im Nin’alu, which soon after become a hit in its own right. 

04 SALT-N-PEPA – PUSH IT (1987)

Incredibly, Push It started life as a throwaway B-side, with former call centre employees Cheryl James (Salt) and Sandra Denton (Pepa) claiming its poppy synth hook dented their street credibility. But a remixed version of the blood-pumping track became a worldwide hit for one the greatest ever girl groups, and paved the way for other female emcees to enter the mainstream. In the UK, it was only denied top spot by Glenn Medeiros’ cloying cover of Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You, while across the pond it earned a Top 20 placing and Grammy nomination. 

03 RUN-DMC – WALK THIS WAY (1986)

Sensing Run-DMC’s third studio LP Raising Hell lacked a hit, producer Rick Rubin suggested they work on a new version of Walk This Way with its originators Aerosmith. But although the trio were familiar with its hip-hop-friendly beat, they weren’t initially sold on the idea. For the 70s rock act, though, whose own career was on the decline, the chance to ride on Run-DMC’s commercial coattails was gratefully seized. The result was a huge crossover hit, its success partly driven by an ingenious promotional video that symbolised the barriers of rock and rap being pulled down.

02 PUBLIC ENEMY – FIGHT THE POWER (1989)

Focusing on the racial tension and violence in a Brooklyn neighbourhood, Do The Right Thing was one of the best movies of 1989, and in theme song Fight The Power it not only had an effective leitmotif, it had a veritable anthem for the ages, whose message of empowerment would far transcend the inner cities of New York. To complement Chuck D’s powerful tirade, production team the Bomb Squad created a sonic mosaic of epic proportions, weaving in numerous samples and beats from their considerable soul and funk library. Not a second is wasted. 

o1 GRANDMASTER FLASH & THE FURIOUS FIVE – THE MESSAGE (1982)

Classic old-school cuts such as Rapper’s Delight and The Breaks certainly put hip-hop on the cultural map during its formative years, but arguably no record had as big an impact as The Message did in 1982, influencing everyone from Chuck D to Phil Collins. With its gritty lyrics focusing on authentic social issues – including drug addiction, gang violence, financial hardship, homelessness and unemployment – the record painted a pretty bleak picture of contemporary life for African-Americans growing up in the poverty-stricken suburbs of New York.

But the game-changing single most associated with Grandmaster Flash actually included little involvement from the legendary turntablist. An embryonic version of the track had been penned in 1980 by Sugar Hill employee Duke Bootee, who’d initially been inspired by the transit strikes in New York that year, and label boss Sylvia Robinson felt its vivid depiction of ghetto life was a great fit for the group.

Flash felt it strayed too far from their good-time party ideals, but Furious Five rapper Melle Mel was eventually persuaded to step up to the mic, trading verses with Bootee to great effect. Punctuated by a memorable synth motif partly inspired by Tom Tom Club’s Genius Of Love, the end result was a landmark in hip-hop history, whose startling wordplay continues to resonate and inspire. 

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