My third set of 10 songs begins when Rap's conscience was developing fast. After the Stop The Violence Movement, many rappers began 'dropping knowledge' on the subject of gangs and violence and other matters in the everyday lives of kids in the ghetto. The movement got militant with X-Clan and Public Enemy and then afro-centric with crews like the Jungle Brothers and A Tribe Called Quest. Before long though, G-Funk came along and made rap all about 'bitches, bling and hos'.
- Ice-T - You Played Yourself : Over a tasty sample from James Brown's The Boss, Ice-T lets it be known that frontin' to fake a reputation, smoking crack and selling out for money are not what the culture is about. At the time, Ice-T was the king of rap and what he said went.
- Public Enemy - Fight the Power : 1989! Another Summer! That 'nine' from Chuck and Flav was a missile fired across the bow of all culture as a warning that rap and Hip Hop were in charge. From the S1Ws marching through the Spike Lee directed film clip to Chuck's intense delivery, PE were the most militant thing on two turntables and a microphone, ever.
- Beastie Boys - Root Down : Continuing Hip Hop and rap's growing nostalgia, the Beasties dropped this awesomely funky track about growing up in the BK and the idols that came before even their own seminal influence (such as Kool Moe Dee and Busy Bee). More importantly, they offer the advice that 'disrespecting women has got to be through..." little knowing that from hereon in, it would get much worse.
- Jungle Brothers - Black Is Black : A curious mix of the new dance music, House, and afrocentric Native Tongues acts, the (other) JBs debut Straight Out The Jungle ushered in the high-conscience form of rap along with De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. This song features Q-Tip.
- X-Clan - Heed The Word of the Brother : At the time X-Clan released To The East, Blackwards on which this track appears, I was hooked on De La Soul, The Jungle Brothers, NWA and PE. What I heard from X-Clan on Scratch FM sounded too militant. It wasn't until Eminem's Yellow Brick Road spoke of X-Clan's debut that I went out and picked it up. I was right, it is too militant...
- Ice-T - Original Gangster : Beats punctuated with machine gun fire, warnings about street connections and a film clip of a buffed up Ice in prison blues, wife beater and bandana were as hardcore as gangster got in 1990. Even NWA seemed like a few kids playing smart when Ice-T was on the mic. This instantly became my new favourite tape to blast from the '79 Gemini :)
- The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy - Televison, the Drug of a Nation : Just to prove there were intelligent rappers left who understood the whole new media, post-modern trip that the world was on, the Heroes gave us a song about mass consumerism, the Gulf War propoganda machine and a host of very 90s concerns that mostly still ring true today. I was studying Media at the time and all my Professors drooled over this song and its clip.
- De La Soul - Ring RIng Ring (Hey Hey Hey) : De La blows up. Every man and his dog's dog knew this song. It was the start of more popularisation for rap. I still hear people singing this chorus when joking about not taking phone calls.
- Dr Dre - Bitches Ain't Shit : Featuring Snoop Dogg and Kurupt among others, this track may have been about ex-NWA crewmate Eric 'Eazy-E' Wright, but the kids on the street didn't take it that way. And now and for all time, it seems, most people will tell you its only about disrespecting women. It is disrespectful, without a doubt, but it's also about treating Eazy-E like a 'bitch'. Regardless, songs like this helped forge misogyny as part of the rap vernacular. I was onto Grunge at this point. But the Ben Folds version kicks arse.
- Ice Cube - The Nigga You Love to Hate : Again, I didn't hear this at the time, but I have the album now. This is Cube glorifying the life of a criminal and hustler and reveling in the hatred of the establishment for gangster rap and Hip Hop culture in general.
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