Welcome...to Friday Night.

Classic Hip Hop. From precursors to OGs.

We begin with an early masterwork. Timeless.

You see, "tap" started off not as we knew it, but as a story leading to the main event. Prologue like this :

*rap

We all know the story of Kool Herc and his twin wheels of steel, yes?

But the old among us all remember 77-78. A minor label called "Sugar Hill".

By then, hip hop was a fun, braggadocious, lighthearted affair.

And...kinda sexy, too.

(BTW, Busta Rhymes only thought he had you all in check. But these guys did it first.)

And, before Lyte, Latifah, YoYo and all, Sugar Hill was the first to put a lady on the mic.

Hip Hop was also a cool way to get things off the chest.

I mean, you owed money to the Mob. And yesterday you lost your job.

Well:

As fast as Sugar Hill came, they went.

But not without one hell of a farewell card.

Hip hop was fast becoming much more than style and fun, though. The hard edge came into view, quickly.

Where were you the first time you heard this, OGs?

Now, the early days were dominated by the east coast. And a bunch of young talent showed up, some before they left high school.

Slap on your Kangols.

The guys were, well, wild.

But ready.

Some guys weren't satisfied with sampling. Some wanted, well, their own sound. Like this gentleman.

And some were, well...angry. But they took that and shaped some incredible beats.

And offered advice.

Along the way, some warned us of the fire next time.

Now, you'd be forgiven for thinking that rap in those days was all on the right side.

But the left coast was stirring. And an infantryman led the way forward.

What was interesting was that MTV (yes, the one that used to feature music), didn't like black artists very much.

It took the future GOAT to crack that barrier.

An aside: you know you've arrived as a genre when some does a parody of you. It actually wasn't that bad.

The ladies of those years had to fight to be heard. Mysogyny was rampant, labels wanted sex symbols.

MC Lyte demanded respect, and got it.

Hip Hop threw up philosophers, too. Not all posturing and excess.

Big Business showed up towards the end of the classic era, and the fight for the soul of hip hop began. Hasn't ended yet.

Not only Big Business, but other genres, too. Hip hop crossed over, as did rock, country and, well, everybody else.

And, along came the ladies. Strong, smart. And firing bars like bullets.

And, of course. Her Majesty.

The South came out with a primal roar in the late 80s, and the echoes still reverb.

And the future moguls took their thrones.

Hip hop became more urgent, more demanding, more...MORE.

Hip hop also, sadly, became a place where death was accepted far too easily by some of the greatest players in the game.

We can only wonder what might have been.

But, the classic era also saw the philosopher poets show up as a counterweight to the live fast, die young folks.

As Dizzy Gillespie once said, "there's got to be sweetness."