A Look Back At Hip Hop In The 90s

In honor of Hip Hop’s fiftieth Anniversary, The Shade Room want to commemorate the moments, the pioneers, and the instruments of the artwork kind which have in the end transcended the music style, influencing each side of modern-day well-liked tradition. Join us every week as we glance again at 5 a long time of hip hop.

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1991: MC Hammer’s Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em Project Becomes Rap’s First Diamond-Certified Album

Starting the record, we have now MC Hammer knockin’ doorways down by changing into the primary rapper to have a diamond-certified album.

According to the National Museum of African American History & Culture, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) licensed the venture as diamond in April 1991. This notably went down merely one yr after its launch.

MC Hammer acknowledged the album throughout a 2020 sit-down with HipHop-N-More to mark the venture’s thirtieth anniversary.

“You know, the title of my album was Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em, I think a lot of them are still hurt. I think that for people who were competing against me at that time, like if you look at it from a sport standpoint, they were competing for record sales, right? They didn’t come close in that area. Then they were competing for cultural impact.”

This accomplishment opened the door for different artists and shut down critics of the style. In later years, further hip hop albums that went diamond embrace The Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem, Country Grammar by Nelly, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below by Outkast, and different hit albums by artists like Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., and Lauryn Hill.

We must also add that, per Billboard, Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em is the hip hop album that spent the longest continuous time at #1 on the Billboard 200 (18 weeks). As a result, it’s solely becoming to present this game-changing venture its flowers!

The Era Of REAL Remixes

While talking on hip hop within the 90s, we’d be remiss to not acknowledge how the rap remixes of the time really served up one thing particular for listeners.

Plenty of bops proceed to get remixed, although this usually entails the observe being the identical with a rap verse plopped in.

However, again then, listeners might relaxation assured that remixes would serve a totally completely different vibe. Some of the tracks that spawned noteworthy beat-switchin’ remixes embrace “Scenario” by A Tribe Called Quest (1991), “All I Need” by Method Man (1994), and “Street Dreams” by Nas (1996).

Another occasion of a big switch-up is Lil’ Kim’s spicy “Not Tonight” observe (1996) turning right into a fun-filled bop by way of its “Ladies Night” remix (1997) with Angie Martinez, Missy Elliott, Da Brat, and Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes.

Even among the R&B superstars obtained in on the vibe. Brandy featured MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, and Yo-Yo on the hip hop remix to “I Wanna Be Down” (1995), which Norwood mentioned “meant the world” to her, per Vibe.

“They embraced me as a little sister. I was one of the first R&B artists to welcome hip hop onto an R&B beat. It had never been done before quite like that.”

The “Remix Queen,” Mariah Carey, additionally got here through with hip hop remixes that includes artists and teams like Ol’ Dirty B*stard (ODB), Da Brat, Missy Elliott, Mase, and The Lox — exhibiting the R&B diva effortlessly entering into her rap bag and sampling artists like Snoop Dogg!

Lyrically Raw Ladies Hit The Hip Hop Scene

Of course, we even have to present a particular shoutout to the feminine rappers who started to hit the scene round this time, as they really laid a basis and performed the sport whereas bringing their distinctive vibes.

From Da Brat’s Funkdafied (1994) to Lil’ Kim’s Hard Core (1996) and Foxy Brown’s Ill Na Na (1996), the gworlz got here through and let male rappers know that they have been right here to alter issues up!

We additionally had Lady of Rage laying down bars on Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle venture (1993) and Ms. Roq having a MOMENT on Dr. Dre’s 2001 album (1999). Trina additionally hit the scene within the late 90s by hopping on “Nann” (1999) with Trick Daddy.

Around the identical time, works like Joan Morgan’s When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost (1999) highlighted hip hop’s male-centric core, and extra ladies started unapologetically hitting the rap scene and turning the style on its head with their savage flows.

Lauryn Hill was one other artist who hit the scene in the course of the 90s with the Fugees. Her solo debut with The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998) earned her the title of being the primary girl to earn ten Grammy nominations (and 5 wins) in a single night time. She additionally claims the title of being the primary hip hop artist to win Album of the Year.

While earlier ladies within the recreation helped shake issues up, feminine rappers started to actually carve out a lane for themselves as a pressure to be reckoned with in the course of the 90s.

⬇️ TODAY IN HIP-HOP ⬇️

1999: Lauryn Hill wins 5 Grammys, changing into the primary rap/hip-hop artist to win Album Of The Year

She additionally turned the primary feminine solo artist to win 5 awards in a single night time 🐐

𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘙𝘦𝘮𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯 pic.twitter.com/EdKdTqA8nR

— XXL Magazine (@XXL) February 24, 2022

1994-1997: Coastal Clash! The Biggie & Tupac Situation

It wouldn’t be 90s hip hop if we didn’t contact on the East Coast–West Coast rivalry centered round figures like Tupac Shakur, Suge Knight, The Notorious B.I.G., and Diddy (then nonetheless referred to as “Puffy”).

While there have been some jabs right here and there between artists reppin’ New York City and Los Angeles, the state of affairs escalated after gunmen shot Tupac whereas getting into Quad Recording Studios in Manhattan on Nov 30, 1994.

It was on then, and varied disses on the 1995 Source Awards and a infamous NYT article ensued. Tupac additionally made his stance clear throughout a number of diss tracks and infamously went in with “Hit’ Em Up” (1996).

Eventually, the coastal rivalry and deep-seated beef culminated within the deaths of Tupac and Biggie in Sept. 1996 and Mar. 1997, respectively.

Both killings stay unsolved. However, as The Shade Room beforehand reported, there’s just lately been some renewed curiosity within the Tupac case.

Tupac Shakur & Biggie Smalls, New York, 1993. pic.twitter.com/40ugneT3AF

— Tobi Marshall (@CoededMarshall) August 8, 2023

Growin’ & Flowin’: Hip Hop As Business

Finally, we should acknowledge how the style made leaps and bounds within the enterprise realm throughout this decade. Ultimately, this helped flip hip hop right into a billion-dollar business.

Regarding how enterprise and advertising and marketing play into hip hop, C. Keith Harrison, a enterprise professor on the University of Central Florida, notes that — at its core — the style “has always been about the audience.” Over time, we’ve seen it transfer from “being marginalized” to “becoming hyper-commercialized.”

“It goes back to ‘Throw your hands in the air, and wave ’em like you just don’t care.’ It’s gone from being underground to being marginalized to crossing over to the mainstream to becoming hypercommercialized.”

Master P constructed on this by launching No Limit Records in 1991. One of the label’s best-known releases is Snoop Dogg’s Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told (1998).

Dan Runcie — founding father of Trapital, a “research group focused on music, media, and entertainment” — spoke on the enterprise facet of hip hop throughout a current sit-down on The Hustle Daily Show.

At one level, he acknowledged how there was a big shift within the enterprise of hip hop in the course of the 90s. He honed in on Dr. Dre and Death Row Records, based in 1991.

“Dr. Dre stands out to me from what they had done with Death Row. In the 90s, we started to see more evolution with the economics of the music industry itself and how artists — especially hip hop artists — started to approach things differently. … In hip hop, we saw a few artists start to push for more ownership of the masters and actual assets they had. We saw it first with Death Row Records. Suge Knight and Dr. Dre do a deal with Interscope where they’re able to maintain ownership of what they have. This was the early 90s — they sat on Dr. Dre’s debut album, The Chronic, for nearly a year because they wanted to find the right distributor.”

Fast-forwarding to 1998, Runie mentioned Cash Money Records signing a $30M distribution take care of Universal, calling it “probably the most successful ownership-related deal we’ve seen in hip hop.”

He additionally acknowledged, “That deal set the footprint for arguably one of the most successful record labels we’ve seen.”

Of course, we will’t neglect to say Jay-Z and Damon Dash’s Roc-A-Fella Records. This label took place in 1994 “because Jay-Z could not find a suitable record deal,” based on Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture.

And We Can’t Forget The Fashions!

Aside from hard-hitting file labels, the 90s additionally noticed the emergence of Black-owned vogue manufacturers that have been inextricably tied to hip hop — comparable to Daymond John’s FUBU in 1992, Russell Simmons’ Phat Farm in 1992, Diddy’s Sean John in 1998, and Jay-Z’s Rocawear in 1999.

Regarding FUBU, Daymond appeared on The Ellen Degeneres Show to debate rappers serving to him develop by rockin’ his model.

“I would go to every video set I could over the course of 10 years with the same 10 T-shirts. And I’d put a T-shirt on a rapper, and then I’d take them back. And then I’d keep going back to the sets … people started seeing them in the videos.”