A Million Keys

The late 80′s and early 90′s represented a period of both relentless creativity and intense change in the world of hip-hop. The genre was hitting what many fans see as its peak, a declaration that can be backed up by that era’s advances in both production, namely a greater sophistication in terms of sampling, and MC’ing, with Rakim in particular ushering in a game-changing complexity and dexterity sadly missing from much of today’s landscape. Alongside such rapid transformation and innovation, there of course appeared a good share of trends, some good, some over-hyped, some completely misguided….So here is the first in what may be a small series: classic rap acts who first came out of the gate riding on images that fall on the complete opposite spectrum of what they would eventually become celebrated for.