This probably goes against everthing I believe in, but here are just a few artists from each "era" of American Hip Hop History. Obviously it is very flawed. This is for the Hip Hop novice, for those that ignore the Old School, or those that only listen to commercial rap.
These are the "best" emcees/groups of their era. Sometimes the mainstream and talent connect, sometimes they don't, but I tried to keep it as mainstream as possible. Era's are hard to determine for artists who have stayed in the game, for example, Common Sense has been putting albums out since 1992, but he's in a later era simply because that's when people took notice.
1970s - Early 1980s
DJ Kool Herc
Afrika Baambaata
Grandmaster Flash
Mid - Late 1980s
Eric B. & Rakim
Boogie Down Productions (KRS-One)
Public Enemy (Chuck D)
Run DMC
Late 1980s - Early 1990s
A Tribe Called Quest
De La Soul
NWA (Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, etc.)
Mid 1990s
Tupac Shakur
Notorious B.I.G.
Nas
Late 1990s
Common [Sense]
Black Star (Mos Def & Talib Kweli)
The Roots
Early 2000s
Eminem
Jay-Z
OutKast
Mid 2000s
Kanye West
50 Cent
5 comments:
No women on the list. Whats up with that?
- Lisa
Lisa, is it this guy's fault, or has that just been the history of Hip Hop?
- Da FloW
Didn't realize this would be so contentious.
I thought about Wu-Tang and left them off for no good reason. The Fugees had one really good album and Lauryn Hill followed suite. Wyclef's had some good songs too, so they could be on the list as well.
I don't have much of an opinion on 50 Cent cuz I've only heard a few of his songs. But enough emcees that I respect like his style, so I included him.
As far as female emcees, I'll leave that debate open. I have a feeling that Jean Grae will make a list like this in the future for the coming era though.
what about bahamadia? or queen latifah?
Queen Latifah could easily have made the list too.
Bahamadia is wonderful. I wouldn't put her on a list like this only because she is a bit too underground. I had this problem with many artists. I could keep listing people forever, but I limited it for the sake of impact.
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