Tag: 30th Anniversary

The Great Adventures of Slick Rick: The 30th Anniversary

The year was 1988. One of the greatest years in hip hop history. A year full of some of hip hop’s greatest albums to ever drop and reinvent the the culture at a time when hip hop was still on the rise. One of those albums was Slick Rick’s “The Great Adventures of Slick Rick.” The day was November 1st, 1988. 30 years ago we seen this young, fresh and fly dude with huge gold chains and gold grills in his mouth rock the mic to tell some of the greatest stories in his music that hip hop has ever seen and heard while keeping us rocking at parties to “Mona Lisa” And “Children’s Story.” We originally knew him as MC Ricky D when he appeared alongside with Harlem’s own Doug E. Fresh on “La Di Da Di” before the album. With a five mic rating and being ranked as one of rap’s greatest 100 albums by The Source, topping the charts for only five weeks, and “Children’s Story” being ranked as number 61 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs in 2008, there’s no denying the impact that Slick Rick had on the game. Even giving birth to future storytellers like Biggie Smalls, Nas And Ghostface Killah, just to name a few. 30 years later, MC Ricky D is still killing it at shows all over and still one of the freshest to ever do it too. The adventures are only beginning and this storybook will forever be timeless and golden and told still in another 30 years. 

Long Live The Kane: The 30th Anniversary

June 20th, 2018. Ford Amphitheater. Coney Island. Brooklyn, NY. Mister Cee is on the stage and on the big screen spinning all of the classic hip hop and R&B joints of the 80’s and the 90’s. People are still walking in just in time before the show starts. Looking for their seats, buying food at the concession stands, buying shirts and other merchandise, it’s a hip hop celebration. At exactly 8:18pm, the man himself walks out dripped in all white with two beautiful women by his side and the crowd goes wild. Hit after hit, banger after banger, it’s an amazing show in dedication to the hip hop legend’s debut album that dropped 30 years ago. The Juice Crew, M.O.P., Doug E. Fresh, Ecstasy of Whodini, MC Lyte, the list goes on and on. They all come out to perform their hits as well. It’s another Yo! MTV Raps 30th anniversary show 2.0 and the crowd is still going wild. June 28th, 2018. The actual day that marks 30 years since Big Daddy Kane dropped his debut album, “Long Live The Kane.” The then twenty year old fresh from Brooklyn became friends with Biz Markie which started the infamous Juice Crew, a collective that was headed by Marley Marl. Kane signed with Cold Chillin’ Records in 1987 and released his debut single “Raw” which he showcased his pioneering fast rhyme style that then influenced a new lane of rappers like Jay-Z. The album displayed topics of love and Afrocentrism. With four singles, “Raw”, “Ain’t No Half Steppin’”, “Set It Off”, and “I’ll Take You There”, they were all commercially successful. “Long Live The Kane” is to be considered one of hip hop’s most influential albums of all time. Especially one from the Golden Era. Kane’s lyrical ability and flow, to his style and grace, and the references and samples used that came from this album are all an example of the impact of Kane. The perfect but timeless title for an album that fits. Even thirty years later. Long live the Kane.

A Different World: The 30th Anniversary

After the success of the popular 1980’s sitcom, The Cosby Show, a spinoff show hits the airwaves that started off showcasing the college experience of Denise Huxtable. 30 years ago, on September 24th, 1987, A Different World was aired. The show starts off all about Denise, the daughter of both Heathcliff and Claire Huxtable who in the beginning struggles to find her own way in college life. She’s slacking off, grades not looking too good, she’s trying to find a job to pay off what she owes, and not staying focused on her studies, all the while, occasionally dealing with a southern belle who goes by the name Whitley Gilbert. Whitley is a bit of an uptight, snotty and spoiled young woman who comes from a family who has money. Later on she becomes the star of the show after the first season. As well as Whitley, Denise also puts up with a guy named Dwayne Wayne. He’s a stylish, skinny kid whose smart and very good at math but in the first season, he kind of comes off as annoying and a bit creepy the way he’s always in Denise’s face trying to get with her. After the first season, it was said that Denise drops out of Hillman to go traveling and the show focuses more on Dwayne and Whitley and then everyone else. As the show progresses, each episode gives the viewer a closer and closer anticipation of the friendship between Whitley and Dwayne. They went from hating one another to being an on and off couple to being husband and wife in the end. Besides their love affair, we also get a taste of the other characters on the show who are like the pieces of the puzzle on the show. Each character has their own uniqueness and way of shining on the screen with the way they all connect and made you believe that Hillman was an actual college and that you wanted to attend. There’s Dwayne Wayne’s close friend Ron Johnson, Freddie, Kim, Shaza Zulu, Jaleesa, the lost goes on. The show was important in a way that focused on black students being productive and positive college students with dreams while also touching on worldly topics and issues that mattered. Especially for black people. It was an overall positive show that made you laugh, cry, it was suspenseful, knowledgeable, insightful and powerful. It’s something that needs to be shown on television again today. Something so moving and enjoyable. 30 years later, the show is still just as popular as it was then. It was on Netflix a year or two ago and still being played on television with reruns of the episodes. It’s definitely my favorite sitcom of all time. One of the greatest.

Bigger And Deffer: The 30th Anniversary

Another hip hop classic that has reached 30 years. Coming from Queens, LL was still a young, ambitious, and fresh faced guy on the scene. On June 2nd, 1987, LL released his second album “Bigger and Deffer.” Compared to his debut “Radio”, BAD was definitely what the title says, bigger and deffer and so was LL himself. Still not quite there yet as far as growth as an artist, LL still had the cool and laid back personality, he still had the style but this album was still a step further than his previous. Besides the singles, the album was full of braggadocio, lots of DJ scratches, and a “rap ballad” that was the first to be commercially successful. The album also reminds me of Jazzy Jeff and Will aka The Fresh Prince with its early hip hop days sound, when hip hop was just beginning to become something much more bigger. The beginning of a golden era. It’s not a top 5 LL album, but it’s definitely an album I’ll recommend when it comes to 80’s hip hop.