# Whats the best 80's hip hop song YOU know? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 10, 2003, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471 "2003-07-10T14:45:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![naomi2003](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@naomi2003](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naomi2003)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471/1 "2003-07-10T14:45:24Z")
I am looking to compile the ultimate CD of every genre of music. First up is 80’s hip hop - along the lines of Doug E Fresh or Sugar Hill Gang. Tell me your favourite tracks so I can listen and ensure I miss no treasures. Suggestions for other genres would be good too. No jazz though baby - that just gets too political. Any unusual acoustic covers I would also like to know about. One day you might see me cruising through your town, windows down, listening to YOUR choice of tune. Have your say - Naomi needs you. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471/2 "2003-07-10T14:57:59Z")
Run DMC - _My Adidas_, _Run’s House_ and _King of Rock_ The Sugarhill Gang - _Rapper’s Delight_ Grandmaster Flash - _Message_ ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471/3 "2003-07-10T15:03:48Z")
Kutis Blow - _The Breaks_ ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471/4 "2003-07-10T15:21:11Z")
Public Enemy’s _Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos_ is excellent, though it might violate your “too political” restriction. It’s the angry, ranting narrative of a black dissident imprisoned for resisting the draft. The lyrics tell an engaging story and it all flows really well. [Allmusic](http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS70307101021&sql=X1691712) has a review. ---
**Author:** ![WIGGUM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WIGGUM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WIGGUM)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471/5 "2003-07-10T15:44:43Z")
I gotta go with _Busta Move_ by **Young MC** Flea lays down one of the baddest baselines of all time in that song. ---
**Author:** ![Ill\_Logik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Ill\_Logik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ill_Logik)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471/6 "2003-07-10T15:49:56Z")
Public Enemy - _Sophisticated Bitch_ ---
**Author:** ![Gundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Gundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundy)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471/7 "2003-07-10T15:52:22Z")
De La Soul’s “Me, Myself & I”. ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471/8 "2003-07-10T15:53:36Z")
Too hard to just choose one. Classics include: De La Soul - Say No Go Beastie Boys - Paul Revere Grandmaster Flash - The Message Public Enemy - Don’t Believe The Hype Public Enemy - Terminator X to the Edge Of Panic (the intro… man, that intro!) NWA - Straight Outta Compton Run DMC - It’s Tricky Run DMC - Proud To Be Black Beastie Boys - She’s Crafty Beastie Boys - Hey Ladies was KRS One’s _South Bronx_ eighties? If so, that too. ---
**Author:** ![vivian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3e96dc/32.png) [@vivian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivian)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471/9 "2003-07-10T17:06:18Z")
I’d have to agree with the whole De La Soul…3 feets high and rising is good. you should go to [www.cdnow.com](http://www.cdnow.com) and do a search. if you do a search on De La, it’ll pull up every other rapper in that same genre of hip hop and show any Listmania! lists that people have come up with. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471/10 "2003-07-10T18:35:04Z")
The Fat Boys - _Wipe Out_ (fun song) ---
**Author:** ![Chicago\_Faucet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chicago_faucet/32/13910_2.png) [@Chicago\_Faucet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicago_Faucet)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471/11 "2003-07-10T19:37:23Z")
“Endicott” by Kid Creole and the Coconuts. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471/12 "2003-07-10T19:50:01Z")
Run DMC- Tricky A Tribe Called Quest- Can I kick it? Tag Team- Whoomp there it is (just kidding) Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five- the Message House of Pain- Jump Around (yeah, its cheesy… and I think it might be early nineties, but use it anyway) Cameo- Word Up! (not technically hip hop, but hip hoppish and great) ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471/13 "2003-07-10T19:58:05Z")
You might as well have said “What’s the best hip hop song, period?” to include the late 70’s (which is when “Rapper’s Delight” was released) as well as the 90’s and 00’s, during which time, hip-hop has been completely commercialized and every song has been cringe-inducing at best, total projectile vomit-spew at worst. (Mostly worst.) But there have indeed been some good hip-hop songs. My examples: “Mama Said Knock You Out” - LL Cool J “Walk this Way” - Run DMC & Aerosmith (ok, it’s more of a rap/metal hybrid) “Bring the Noise” - Public Enemy, plus just about everything else by them. “A Gangsta’s Fairytale” - Ice Cube “We Had To Tear This Motherfucker Up” - Ice Cube “Rhyme Pays” - Ice-T “Six in the Mornin” - Ice-T “The Girl Tried to Kill Me” - Ice-T etc… ---
**Author:** ![austen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@austen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/austen)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471/14 "2003-07-10T21:51:38Z")
Howsabout: _White Lines_ by Grandmaster Melle Mel _It Takes Two_ by MC Rob Base & DJ Easy Rock and this isn’t really hip hop, but is sampled so much - \* Genius of Love\* by the Tom Tom Club. ---
**Author:** ![nitroglycerine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@nitroglycerine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nitroglycerine)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471/15 "2003-07-10T22:32:33Z")
“World Destruction” by Afrikka Bambatta and John Lydon’s project Time Zone. Jon ---
**Author:** ![Semp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Semp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Semp)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471/16 "2003-07-11T00:31:07Z")
Don’t forget Eric B. & Rakim. _Paid In Full_ and _Microphone Fiend_ are two of the greatest songs ever, categorization be damned. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471/17 "2003-07-11T01:12:24Z")
A lot of good ones so far. I always liked _Eric B For President_ and MC Shy D’s _I’m Shy D_ Don’t forget Blondie’s _Rapture_. Some other good 80s stuff that crosses the line between rap and techno: Egyptian Lover: _What Is A D.J. If He Can’t Scratch, Girls, And My Beat Goes Boom,_ and of course, _Egypt, Egypt._ Soul Sonic Force: _Planet Rock_ * * * When it comes time for the dance/techno/mix compilation, come see me. I’ve got tons. I was a party and club DJ in the early to mid 80s\*. Ah… good times \*always a remodeler, but I’ve done plenty of secondary and moonlighting jobs. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471/18 "2003-07-11T01:17:35Z")
Kurtis Blow: _These Are The Breaks, Basketball_. Or was he 70s? Anybody remember Houdidni? “Cause I’m a ho, you know I’m a ho. I got three or four freaks after every show…” ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471/19 "2003-07-11T01:19:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JuanitaTech \* > \*\*Kurtis Blow - _The Breaks_ \*\* Sorry, girl. Missed that on the first go round. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471/20 "2003-07-11T01:24:20Z")
Easy answer: “Don’t Copy That Floppy” video here: [http://static.hugi.is/video/fyndin/dctf-1.wmv](http://static.hugi.is/video/fyndin/dctf-1.wmv) AWESOME [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-80s-hip-hop-song-you-know/187471.md?page=2)