From the mid 80’s to early 90’s before the internet, some of us spent our free time and weekends at the local record shop.
Back then albums in the UK cost somewhere between £3.99 and £6.99
Singles were somewhere around 75p to £1.50
(the discount vinyl bins were also good for picking up unsold records on the cheap).
Personally, I got 55p a day for school lunch and £2.50 a week for helping around the house.
This meant about £5 a week to spend on records, if I so desired. Which I often did…
I was lucky enough to grow up with access to independent record shops that stocked a nice section of Hip-Hop LP’s and singles as well as the Street Sounds Electro and Hip-Hop comps and Ultimate Breaks and Beats Comps. (All Hail Morgan Khan and Breakbeat Lou)
My intro to Hip-Hop came with the likes of Biz Markie, Run DMC, LL Cool J, T La Rock, Ultramagnetic MCs, EPMD, Eric B. & Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, A Tribe Called Quest, KRS-One, Gang Starr and Public Enemy to name a few (The list goes on). And with top labels to look for like Def Jam, Profile, Jive, Cold Chillin’ and Wild Pitch, again to name a few.
On rare occasions the liner notes on album covers shared info about the samples, and sometimes I got the heads up from one of the old collectors, who would have been a regular face in the store.
We often made connections through our passion and interest for music and most of the heads were enthusiastic when it came to sharing knowledge about the breaks that were used on tracks I was listening to at the booth.
Either way, I soon realised the hooks and breaks that initially drew me in, came from albums released by bands I'd never heard of, and this opened up a whole new world of music.
.
And so began my introduction to, and exploration of Jazz, Soul, Funk, Disco and a bunch of other music that contained the ‘hair stand up on the back of your neck’ breaks.
Almost 40 years later it feels like I’m still learning the basics, as I’m regularly finding wow factor, must have music, I missed along the way and can’t figure out how I missed it.
With that being said, here are 5 classic examples of artists and music I found thanks to Hip-Hop records I purchased back in 87 and 88.
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Kool and the Gang from Grandmaster Caz - Get Down Grandmaster - 1987
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Bobby Byrd and James Brown from Eric B & Rakim - I Know You Got Soul - 1987
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Bob James from Run DMC - Beats to the Rhyme - 1987
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Lyn Collins from Rob Base & D.J. E-Z Rock - It Takes Two - 1988
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Lonnie Liston Smith from Stetsasonic – Talkin' All That Jazz - 1988
If you can relate, share your top 5
Final shout out has to go to BreakBeat Lou for giving us the Ultimate Breaks and Beats albums back in 86. This was a game changer for every B-Boy who was out buying records in the late 80’s.
These albums were a great source of inspiration in the search for new music and let us get our hands on some of those obscure hits that were previously out of reach.