After being established as a viable art form in the late ’70s via The Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight,” hip hop music officially started taking off in the 1980s.
While it would be years later until rap became the dominant force in pop culture, a lot of the innovation and trends were set down in this decade that would go on to influence generations of superstars later down the line.
From the lyrical innovations of Rakim and Big Daddy Kane to the production techniques of Marley Marl to the righteous anger of Public Enemy and N.W.A., the ’80s is where it all started.
To celebrate the most influential decade in hip hop history, here is a list of the defining tracks from a golden era that have stayed timeless in the culture.
From Ice-T’s “I’m Your Pusher” to EPMD’s “You Gots to Chill” to Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend”, here are the 50 best hip hop songs of the 1980s.
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50. Biz Markie – “Vapors”
Released: April 1988
Album: Goin’ Off
Producer: Marley Marl
49. Kool G Rap & DJ Polo – “Men at Work”
Released: March 14, 1989
Album: Road to the Riches
Producer: Marley Marl
48. Ice-T – “I’m Your Pusher”
Released: August 23, 1988
Album: Power
Producer: Ice-T, Afrika Islam
47. Jungle Brothers – “Black is Black”
Released: November 8, 1988
Album: Straight out the Jungle
Producer: Jungle Brothers
46. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – “Parents Just Don’t Understand”
Released: February 17, 1988
Album: He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper
Producer: Pete Harris, Will Smith, Jeffrey Townes, Bryan “Chuck” New
45. Gang Starr – “Words I Manifest (Remix)”
Released: April 22, 1989
Album: No More Mr. Nice Guy
Producer: DJ Premier
44. MC Lyte – “10% Dis”
Released: 1988
Album: Lyte as a Rock
Producer: Audio Two
43. The D.O.C. – “It’s Funky Enough”
Released: June 16, 1989
Album: No One Can Do It Better
Producer: Dr. Dre
42. T La Rock & Jazzy Jay – “It’s Yours”
Released: 1984
Album: N/A
Producer: Rick Rubin
41. Ultramagnetic MCs – “Give the Drummer Some”
Released: October 4, 1988
Album: Critical Beatdown
Producer: Paul C
40. Kool Moe Dee – “How Ya Like Me Now”
Released: November 3, 1987
Album: How Ya Like Me Now
Producer: Kool Moe Dee, Teddy Riley
39. Salt-n-Pepa – “Push It”
Released: March 8, 1987
Album: Hot, Cool & Vicious
Producer: Hurby Azor
38. Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force – “Looking for the Perfect Beat”
Released: December 1982
Album: Planet Rock: The Album
Producer: Arthur Baker, John Robie
37. Boogie Down Productions – “9mm Goes Bang”
Released: March 3, 1987
Album: Criminal Minded
Producer: DJ Scott La Rock, KRS-One, Partner Lee Smith
36. Kurtis Blow – “The Breaks”
Released: June 14, 1980
Album: Kurtis Blow
Producer: J.B. Moore, Robert Ford Jr.
35. Big Daddy Kane – “Wrath of Kane”
Released: September 19, 1989
Album: It’s a Big Daddy Thing
Producer: Marley Marl
34. Roxanne Shante – “Roxanne’s Revenge”
Released: 1984
Album: N/A
Producer: Marley Marl
33. Boogie Down Productions – “The Bridge Is Over”
Released: March 3, 1987
Album: Criminal Minded
Producer: Ced Gee, DJ Scott La Rock, KRS-One, Partner Lee Smith
32. Stetsasonic – “Talkin’ All That Jazz”
Released: June 21, 1988
Album: In Full Gear
Producer: Prince Paul
31. Stop the Violence Movement – “Self Destruction”
Released: January 15, 1989
Album: N/A
Producer: KRS-One, D-Nice, Hank Shocklee
30. De La Soul – “Me Myself and I”
Released: April 1, 1989
Album: 3 Feet High and Rising
Producer: Prince Paul
29. Run-D.M.C. – “It’s Like That”
Released: August 10, 1983
Album: Run-D.M.C.
Producer: Russell Simmons, Larry Smith
28. LL Cool J – “I’m Bad”
Released: June 13, 1987
Album: Bigger and Deffer
Producer: L.A. Posse, LL Cool J
27. EPMD – “You Gots to Chill”
Released: April 30, 1988
Album: Strictly Business
Producer: EPMD
26. N.W.A. – “Gangsta Gangsta”
Released: September 5, 1988
Album: Straight Outta Compton
Producer: Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, Arabian Prince
25. Eric B. & Rakim – “Eric B. Is President”
Released: 1986
Album: Paid in Full
Producer: Marley Marl
24. Ice-T – “6 in the Mornin'”
Released: 1986
Album: Rhyme Pays
Producer: The Unknown DJ
23. MC Shan – “The Bridge”
Released: 1985
Album: Down by Law
Producer: Marley Marl
22. Big Daddy Kane – “Warm It Up, Kane”
Released: September 19, 1989
Album: It’s a Big Daddy Thing
Producer: Big Daddy Kane
21. Eric B. & Rakim – “Microphone Fiend”
Released: July 25, 1988
Album: Follow the Leader
Producer: Eric B. & Rakim
20. Eazy-E – “Boyz-n-the-Hood”
Released: March 3, 1987
Album: N.W.A. and the Posse
Producer: Dr. Dre, DJ Yella
19. LL Cool J – “Rock the Bells”
Released: September 22, 1985
Album: Radio
Producer: Rick Rubin, LL Cool J
18. Biz Markie – “Just a Friend”
Released: September 26, 1989
Album: The Biz Never Sleeps
Producer: Marcel Hall
17. Run-D.M.C. – “Walk This Way”
Released: July 4, 1986
Album: Raising Hell
Producer: Rick Rubin
16. Schoolly D – “P.S.K. What Does It Mean?”
Released: 1985
Album: Schoolly D
Producer: J.B. Weaver Jr.
15. Public Enemy – “Fight the Power”
Released: July 4, 1989
Album: Fear of a Black Planet and Do the Right Thing: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Producer: The Bomb Squad
14. Eric B. & Rakim – “I Know You Got Soul”
Released: July 7, 1987
Album: Paid in Full
Producer: Marley Marl
13. N.W.A. – “Fuck tha Police”
Released: August 8, 1988
Album: Straight Outta Compton
Producer: Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, Arabian Prince
12. Boogie Down Productions – “South Bronx”
Released: 1986
Album: Criminal Minded
Producer: DJ Scott La Rock, KRS-One, Partner Lee Smith
11. EPMD – “Strictly Business”
Released: June 7, 1988
Album: Strictly Business
Producer: EPMD
10. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five – “The Message”
Released: July 1, 1982
Album: The Message
Producer: Edward G. Fletcher, Sylvia Robinson
9. Slick Rick – “Children’s Story”
Released: April 4, 1989
Album: The Great Adventures of Slick Rick
Producer: Slick Rick
8. Marley Marl – “The Symphony”
Released: 1988
Album: In Control, Volume 1
Producer: Marley Marl
7. Big Daddy Kane – “Ain’t No Half-Steppin'”
Released: June 21, 1988
Album: Long Live the Kane
Producer: Marley Marl
6. N.W.A. – “Straight Outta Compton”
Released: July 10, 1988
Album: Straight Outta Compton
Producer: Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, Arabian Prince
5. Audio Two – “Top Billin'”
Released: October 15, 1987
Album: What More Can I Say?
Producer: Audio Two, Daddy-O
Released in 1987, “Top Billin” is one of the last great classics from Hip-hop’s early years. The track features emcee Milk Dee dropping a b-boy freestyle over a hard breakbeat produced by Stetsasonic’s Daddy-O. It’s a street corner rap straight outta Brooklyn.
“Top Billin” has been sampled, covered and quoted on countless recordings over the past three decades. Audio Two would never again match the success of the song. Soon gangster rap would change the culture for good. However, this track remains as an iconic moment in hip-hop history. Not only did “Top Billin'” one of the best hip hop songs of the 1980s, it’s one of the most iconic rap anthems of all time.
4. Doug E. Fresh & MC Ricky D – “La Di Da Di”
Released: August 13, 1985
Album: N/A
Producer: Dennis Bell & Ollie Cotton for City Slicker Productions
In 1985, before he went by Slick Rick the Ruler, Richard Martin Lloyd Walters was known as MC Ricky D of the Get Fresh Crew. That’s when hip-hop’s greatest storyteller and the legendary Doug E Fresh created this landmark recording. They stepped into the studio with two mics and no beat. They came out with this masterpiece. As one of the greatest 80s rappers, Slick Rick proved that he was also hip hop’s finest storyteller.
The track has been sampled countless times since its release. Snoop Dogg famously covered the song (as “Lodi Dodi”) in 1993. Nearly 40 years after its release, this beatbox tale of Ricky D’s romantic exploits is still regarded as a definitive classic of Hip-hop. The men responsible are heralded as two of the founding fathers of the genre.
3. Eric B. & Rakim – “My Melody”
Released: July 7, 1987
Album: Paid in Full
Producer: Marley Marl
With this epic freestyle, the world met the man who many regard as the greatest rapper of all time. In 1986, Rakim’s smooth musical flow and sophisticated lyrical style set the gold standard for all future emcees. His influence can still be felt to this day.
This track was originally released as the B-Side to Eric B. & Rakim’s debut single “Eric B. is President.” It has since become regarded as a classic in its own right. With a hard-as-nails beat produced by legendary New York City DJ Marley Marl, “My Melody” is a six minute hip-hop master class of technique and lyricism.
2. Run-D.M.C. – “Sucker M.C.’s”
Released: August 10, 1983
Album: Run-D.M.C.
Producer: Russell Simmons, Larry Smith
More than any other group, Run (Joseph Simmons), DMC (Darryl McDaniels) and Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizell) epitomized hip-hop when this single dropped in 1983. Run’s brother Russell Simmons had just launched the iconic Def Jam record label with Rick Rubin. With the release of Run-DMC’s eponymous debut they introduced the genre to a world beyond the five boroughs.
The album’s fifth track “Sucker M.C.’s (Krush-Groove 1)” is now regarded as a seminal work of hip-hop’s second wave. Originally released as the B-Side to the single “It’s Like That”, the song tells the story of the group’s rise to fame. Run’s lyrics are a veritable reference dictionary of old-school hip-hop lingo.
1. Public Enemy – “Rebel Without a Pause”
Released: July 1987
Album: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Producer: The Bomb Squad
In 1988 Public Enemy unveiled their ground shaking sophomore album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, and changed hip-hop forever. Chuck D, Flava Flav, Professor Griff and Terminator X had made waves a year earlier with Yo! Bum Rush the Show. But when their second album’s first single dropped, they unleashed a tsunami.
In “Rebel Without a Pause” Chuck states his intention to, “Voice my opinion, with volume!” He fulfills that promise. The song is a harbinger of the sea change to come. PE’s music shifted the focus of the hip-hop world to subjects of Afrocentric pride and political activism. Rap was suddenly the smartest music on the radio.
