Kurtis Blow had a Sprite commercial, but Hammer had Pepsi sponsor the monster arena tour. Run-DMC went platinum, but Hammer moved Whitney Houston’s numbers. The Beastie Boys conquered rock radio, Hammer conquered radio itself. People made fun of how Hammer was taking the whole Rick James and Prince thing, but Puffy would build an empire on “Take the ’80s hits/But does it sound that crazy?” Hammer had a Saturday morning cartoon and puppets like the Beatles or New Kids on the Block. He wasn’t the first rapper to make it, but he was the first to show that rap success won’t be determined by the limited imagination of showrunners, music videos, and record labels.
Hammer’s breakthrough came with Run-DMC’s 1986 and Dr. Between Dre’s 1993. Run-DMC teamed up with Aerosmith to smash the literal and figurative wall with “Walk This Way,” proving that rap can work hand-in-hand with pop music. . When “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang” hit No. 2, Dr. Dre proved that the most relentless, uncompromising, unchanging rap music right now is pop music itself. As for the music industry, things have been growing pains for the last six or so years. And how do we sell it?
No document captures this moment better than Monsters of rap, a two-disc 35-song compilation of the once-ubiquitous pop crossover sensations who brought hip-hop from the street to the junior high dance, including Hammer, Vanilla Ice, Young MC, Tone Loc, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, the Fat Boys, Technotronic, Snap!, C+C Music Factory and more. It was released in 1999 by Razor & Tie, nostalgia-miners who found success early in the decade with gratitude. Those fabulous 70s collections and were currently climbing a hair metal compendium Rock monsters. shortly after the release of Monsters of rapRazor & Tie co-founders and producers Craig Balsam and Cliff Chenfeld will publish the first volume in an ambitious new series called: Kids Bop.
Like his ancestors, Monsters of rap gross, shameless, cheap looking, somewhat inconsistent, and at $26.99 plus $5.95 shipping and handling, it wasn’t cheap. It features the original version of Black Sheep’s “The Choice Is Yours” rather than the iconic remix. Not available in stores, you buy it on TV like Shamwow. It’s sold over 250,000 units, but I couldn’t tell you if I’d actually seen one before I bought a copy on Discogs for $6 to do this review. As compilations go, it’s not very comprehensive (a truly exhaustive overview of the ’90s pop-rap bubble would require Biz Markie, Marky Mark, Digital Underground, Kris Kross, and the Idiot-era Beasties), but it’s all the way there. is . It stands as the most complete compendium before the jig era.
.
Comments