Moving on from the seminal Run DMC albums of the mid 80's and certainly not to discredit the important releases of LL Cool J and Beastie Boys ( Radio and License to Ill respectively are definite classics from the era )
1987 saw the release of two albums that fundementally changed Hiphop forever.
I'll come back to the secod one in a later post, but the first was by a South Bronx crew known as Boogie Down Productions.
This group consisted of D-Nice, DJ Scott La Rock and KRS One and the album they dropped - "Criminal Minded" - was an album that set a very important precedent.
This classic was notable for being the album where Blastmaster Kris slaughtered the opposition in the legendary Bronx v Queensbridge wars, where BDP and others went to battle with the Juice Crew and Marley Marl. If your not familiar with this do some research, it was a crazy time.
More importantly this album consolidated KRS One as a premier emcee, telling vivid lyrical stories about life in the South Bronx and allowing people all over the world, including skinny 10 year old white kids in Australia a glimpse of life in a New York burough. This album layed the ground work for the future genre known as Gansta Rap.
Sadly Boogie Down productions was short lived, and a key member of BDP didnt get to enjoy their success, as DJ Scott La Rock was shot and killed just months after Criminal Minded dropped.
His loss changed the Hiphop game, as KRS One turned his back on gangster type lyrics and became 'The Teacher' spitting what came to be known as 'Conscious Lyrics' and becoming the cornerstone for Conscious Rap.
Kris is considered by most hiphop heads that grew up in this era as one of the alltime great emcees.
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