While many people think of Run-DMC as being the epitome of 1986 rap with the dominating force of the Raising Hell album – which was an undeniable cultural and musical testament to the power of rap music – it’s also worth noting that the next generation of rappers has already moved on from the Shout Rap standard that had ruled the airwaves since 1983. Three crews in particular epitomised this new generation in 1986 – Boogie Down Productions, Eric B. & Rakim and Ultramagnetic MC’s. 1988 is often claimed to be the ‘Golden Era’ but it was the innovations of these three groups that paved the way for the evolution of the music, both in the terms of the beats and the rhymes. ‘Ego Trippin’‘ most directly attacked the ‘childish rhymes’ and ‘nursery terms’ of the Hollis crew, presenting a more sophisticated verbal attack over cutting-edge breakbeats that made Run sound positively prehistoric in comparison.
Meanwhile, fellow Bronx Bombers and Ced-Gee affiliates Scott La Rock and KRS-One presented a whole new cadence that rejected the Run-DMC flow for a new style of delivery for a more refined technique that went beyond just rhyming the previous bar with ‘South Bronx‘. Over in Long Island, previously not even considered part of the New York rap landscape, Rakim introduced a Slow Flow science that made the competition re-evaluate their vocabulary and style when he chaged the game with ‘Eric B. Is President‘. The following year, ‘I Know You Got Soul’ sent Public Enemy back to the lab to create ‘Rebel Without A Pause’ is response – which stands as one of the most important and influential moments in music of the decade.
These innovations paved the way for the likes of It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Long Live The Kane, Critical Beatdown, Follow The Leader, The Great Adventures of Slick Rick, By All Means Necessary, Strictly Business and many, many more, but it was these three groups that truly ushered rap into the New School era that moved beyond rock breaks and drum machines and laid the foundation for the next generation that would flourish in the early nineties. While Rakim is commonly acknowledged for his contributions to the evolution of rap, BDP and Ultra remain under-appreciated for their pioneering efforts by those not old enough to remember their impact. Let’s not let rap revisionists tell the wrong story simply because they grew-up on Wu-Tang Clan.
“Previous year’s Hip Hop integral influence in subsequent year’s Hip Hop” shocker.
Very good year….. being from that era and witnessing the “transformation”….. I can say that Stetsasonic are cruelly slept on for their contribution to the culture…
Another notable thing about 1986 is that the dual surges of Rick Rubin rock-rap production + the breakbeat-sample tracks pretty much ended Larry Smith’s 2 or 3 year reign as Rap’s superproducer.
Rick Rubin? What about Mantronix? 🤔
Mantronix definitely contributed too. But not to the extent of Rubin who basically replaced Larry as Run-D.M.C’s main producer for the third album.
Truth….but in 86….Rick is looking like a savvy label exec more than a producer….
Whatever you wanna call Rubin, he was behind the sound of ’86’s 2 biggest rap albums, and that sound was influential on other ’86 stuff (the Skinny Boys first LP etc.)
@TM
It wasn’t Rick Rubin who deaded Larry Smith, it was Marley Marl, who should be listed 4th as far as those who changed the game in ’86 (with The Bridge and his work on Eric B. As President and My Melody…)
@$yk
What up! It’s been a minute…
Marley was the final nail, but it was Rubin who replaced Larry Smith as Run-D.M.C’s producer for Raising Hell. That’s a key Changing-Of-The-Guard moment for 1986.
Skinny Boys for the win in 1986
Oska!!! Yo tm… how can you say game changer when Marley, epmd, ced gee, and Stetsasonic (prince Paul) were around…and the culture still spent the next decade sampling James Brown? 🤔
Don’t forget…Rubin produced James Todd Smith went to Marley to get his “street cred” back up….and the culture’s sound changed 2 years later….hence the ongoing 86 v 88 debate…
I hadn’t heard any of those singles yet, I didn’t have any access to real hip-hop radio, but the two other albums that I was into that year were Saturday Night the Album and Music Madness.
I know you’re talking about ’86 and not ’87 but one thing folks probably don’t know or remember is that not long after Criminal Minded was released it was almost impossible to find for years, which probably accounted for a lot of extra sales for A Man and His Music.
It just dawned on me that while the game was changing in ’86, Larry had one more ace up his sleeve, Whodini’s Back In Black album. One Love still gets burn to this day and might be, on the low, Hip-Hop’s greatest love song while we all had our eyes on LL’s I Need Love…
I was getting to whodini oska lol… shout-out to 5 minutes of funk being the intro to Ralph McDaniels’ video music box…. where many watched run dmcs raising hell videos
good shit, robbie!
when people talk about ’86, they usually overlook g rap and t la rock – when it comes to delivery, cadence and vocabulary, they had a huge impact on refining rap language back then.
Kool Moe Dee too… I enjoy conversation like this thread because in a debate about Rick Rubin, you bring up someone like Paul C…..who was just as influential as Rick….and let’s not forget Teddy Riley was around too
Schooly D changed the game in 86 as well, Saturday Night man what an album
I love Ultra they were so ahead of their time.
Fact is RUN-DMC in 1984 were much more groundbreaking than Ultra in 1987 or 1988.
Run-Dmc, LL, Rakim, and Slick Rick have way more quotable albums and Ultra after their first album fell off hard.
I am from the Bronx and I am saying as proud as were of ULTRA they were No Run-Dmc or Public Enemy.
Public Enemy in 1986 were a million times more ground breaking than Ultra.
The change in production styles debate is a whole other can of worms – my take on that has always been that Marley accidentally sampling a drum sound on that Captain Rock remix eventually freed rap from the drum machine and guitar era, which is more significant than any other innovation those other big names made.
@Ikilled2pac: Agreed that Run-DMC and PE had a bigger impact but Ultra were still an important part of the New School movement.
’86 was definitely the “foundation yr” for the golden era. ’86 debuted: krs, g rap, biz, rakim, ultra, just-ice. Marley, mantronik, hurby, Larry Smith, Rick Rubin were dropping heat. ’86 was ill
1986 was a big year for Hip-Hop. Mantronik was on top of his game.”Back To The Old School” Just-Ice and Mantronik was the hottest LP on the streets. Different sound. Schoolly D dropped his second LP “Saturday Night”. A hood classic. But in 1987 debut rapp LP’s were blowin’ up to gold and platinum sells with no radio airplay. 1986 was a big year in Hip-Hop.
Fantastic article and so spot on! Ego Trippin was BOMB when that dropped and it was the record to Made me believe i can rhyme