As many know.. Rap in the late 80's was kind of torn between the gangsta rap styles of N.W.A, Ice-T & Schooly D. And the other side was the political rukus of Public Enemy, Erik B. & Rakim, Run-DMC, KRS-ONE & Boogie Down Productions etc. Then there was also the late 80's to early 80's pop rap where Will Smith, MC Hammer, Young MC & Vanilla Ice came in.

Many of these rappers tried to get a ''harder'' image after The Chronic & other rap albums where all the rage....

So who do you think did the ''best'' at trying to get a harder image?

Micky Weird Al!

MickyDolenz said:

If i recall that White & Nerdy song a lot of play & his album went top 5.

Go Al

Those Weid Al pics are hilarious!

MickyDolenz said:

Straight from the Linwood suburbs.

This was a B-side (not a real video)

[Edited 8/6/12 13:46pm]

MickyDolenz said:

he is a fool!

Funnily enough, I loved all these songs... Except Vanilla Ice... He can go away somewhere. :-l

Out of the once you suggested, It has to be Run DMC I guess.

The irony of this thread is that Ice-T didn't start off as "gangsta" per se.

And lets not forget about Dr.Dre & DJ Yella in their pre-N.W.A. days as members of THAT other rap group:

AsherFierce said:

Funnily enough, I loved all these songs... Except Vanilla Ice... He can go away somewhere. :-l

Out of the once you suggested, It has to be Run DMC I guess.

DMC was more the sound & image.. that song & albm are aight

Ice though that was a diss to Mark Whalburg... er Marky Marky

Idk why him & Eminem tried ot have beef with Mark.. he would tear them up 4 way's

TonyVanDam said:

The irony of this thread is that Ice-T didn't start off as "gangsta" per se.

And lets not forget about Dr.Dre & DJ Yella in their pre-N.W.A. days as members of THAT other rap group:

True! but to be fair... Ice-T had some good morality tales in his albums.

Dre barely had that minus maybe Lil Ghetto Boy.. and he tried to forget he started as a fruity looking guy in a pretty good funkish group.

Sigh, at least Ice-T is cool & has always been honest about who he was & how he became more mainstream ALA Law & Order. Dre is still trying to pretend he has always been gangsta

TonyVanDam said:

And lets not forget about Dr.Dre & DJ Yella in their pre-N.W.A. days as members of THAT other rap group:

A couple of the Black Eyed Peas (will.i.am & Apl De Ap) started out with Eazy E, so they went in the opposite direction. They're on this song:

TonyVanDam said:

Ice-T

His first record was with Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis

Alot of those so-called gangsta rappers, were just studio gangsta's Cube included

None of them. They weren't fooling anybody

aardvark15 said:

None of them. They weren't fooling anybody

HuMpThAnG said:

Alot of those so-called gangsta rappers, were just studio gangsta's Cube included

this was just a pose ?! No way!!!

So what rappers DO have street cred for real?

SavonOsco said:

When Hammer came out with "Pumps with the Bumps"...I was like "oh poor man..smh" But I did like it tho....lol

Hell yes...especially when he did "It's All Good"....oh my lawd, that video was hilarious. Hammer with a damn gangsta hat on and the boots. His ass was STILL dancing though. Wasn't Hammer hanging with Suge Knight around this time, to further his "credibility"? "DEATH ROWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!"

[Edited 8/6/12 17:45pm]

purplethunder3121 said:

So what rappers DO have street cred for real?

2Pac. That's kind of a duh moment

purplethunder3121 said:

So what rappers DO have street cred for real?

MickyDolenz said:

oh man! MWC.... trashy but so classy

In the late 1980s, there was some of that dull ass "talking over a slow beat" type of rap (in other words, shit hop) but the majority of it didn't make it onto the radio. The majority of rap that made it onto the radio in the late 1980s was the jams that deserved to make it onto the radio. Folks like Egyptian Lover, Pretty Tony and Freestyle, LA Dream Team, etc. that were actual songs that made you want to move. That stripped down "talking over a slow beat" was considered as a bunch of "nothing" back then so radio didn't play it.

When a lot of rappers say they had to fight like hell to get airplay in the 1980s, it was usually somebody who recorded a bunch of "nothing" similar to what took over in the 1990s because there has always been plenty of rap on R&B radio since 1979. The difference is, only the good stuff made it to the radio back then. Actually, a lot of the rap of the 1980s was even more uptempo than funk and was more along a disco tempo. And before anyone says "that's not rap, that's electro" there was no such term back then. The term was created later in the 1990s when the shit hoppers wanted to distance themselves from anything that even resembled disco. Yet, another reason to hate shit hop.

.

.

.

[Edited 8/6/12 20:41pm]