One of the best purchases I made in some time. A selection of some of the best songs from the Old School era, the 80s. This was the time when rappers were not everywhere, when hip hop was still a distinctly new music genre, when rappers were not smitten with their “rich douchebag” syndrome.

If you’re feeling nostalgic, or if you just plain love old school rap (like I do), then this is definitely one album you should check out:

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And you win the best moustache award this side of Frank Zappa!

1. Slick Rick

Slick Rick was the archtypecal 80s rapper – fun, and just way cooler and retarded  than anybody in the current or preceding decade. In the meantime, he also found time to scare the mainstream with songs like Treat her Like a Prostitute.

2. Beastie Boys

The Beastie Boys are still growing strong today, a fact that can be owed to the tremendous appeal their music has to people all across the board. It took a long time for them to get mainstream success and street cred – until the 90s, they were still white boys in a world of black rappers, anomolies if nothing else. Their style is very, very distinct and rooted in punk.

Best song? Sabotag from their 1994 album III Communication. Period.

3. N.W.A.

How could you beat a rap group that consisted of Easy E, Dr. Dre, and Ice Cube? N.W.A. took the Public Enemy socially conscious rap to the street and were easily the finest rap group of their time. Ice Cube since then has taken to doing shitty family friendly movies, but Dr.Dre is now one of the finest rap producers around credited with “discovering” some of the best rap talents in the world, namely Eminem. But back in the 80′s, the N.W.A. was the most badass group the mainstream had seen ever. No wonder there were so many requests to get them banned.

Best songs? Gangsta Gangsta and Fuck Tha Police.

4. Run D.M.C.

Run D.M.C. was the towering 80′s rap supergroup that was easily able to bridge the gap between socially conscious rap and consumer friendly fare. Although I’ll never forgive them for the shitty Aerosmith collaboration (‘Walk This Way’) that eventually led to bands like Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park, Run D.M.C. remains the most successful rap group of the 80′s.

Best songs? King of Rock and It’s Like That.

5. Public Enemy

Public Enemy laid the foundation of socially conscious rap with a message, right before Kanye West and gang came over and took a gigantic dump on it with trademark douchbag behavior. In terms of scariness, Public Enemy were right there (even better) than N.W.A.; Chuck D, Terminator X, and Flava Flav took rap to a new level which few rappers from the 90s have been able to match. Its another thing that Flavor Flav now spends most of his time these days honing up on crazy, but Public Enemy remains critically the best rap group of the past 3 decades.

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1. Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick – Ladi Dadi

Doug E. Fresh was pretty much among the first “human beatboxes”, and easily one of the best. Ladi Dadi is that quirky, funny rap song that was so typical of the 80′s. There’s perennial confusion if this song was named ‘Lodi Dodi’ or ‘La Di Da Di’, but I choose to go with ‘Ladi Dadi’. Remember that famous line from Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall” – la di da da? I just can’t help but think of that movie when I hear this song…

2. Beastie Boys – (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (to Party)

I’ve always been amazed by the kind of longevity the Beastie Boys have had. Other rappers from the 80′s are either doing some ridiculous movies (LL Cool J in Deep Blue Sea, Ice Cube in pretty much everything, for instance), or have turned being an idiot into a full time business (I’m talking Flavor Flav). The Beastie Boys, though, are still making decent, if not awesome music.

This (along with ‘Sabotage’) is one of my favorite 80s rap song. Check out the video below and you’ll know why.

3. Run D.M.C. – King of Rock

Pretty much anything by the Run D.M.C. could’ve made this list. This rap supergroup had an awesome reputation for churning out hits after hits. ‘King of Rock’, which should ideally have been ‘King of Rap’, is a definite D.M.C. track.

4. Ice-T – Colors

Ice-T was instrumental in pioneering gangsta rap, and Colors is easily one of his best song. ‘Nuff said:

5. MC Hammer – You Can’t Touch This

I hate to say it, but this super idiotic song that ideally shouldn’t be here because it was released in 1990 (who cares..) was just too catchy to ignore. If I had a dollar for each time someone said to me ‘Stop! Hammertime!’, I should be a millionaire by now, but love it or hate it, ‘You Can’t Touch This’ is just too sticky to ignore.

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