10 Perfect Albums That Defined The '80s

It took a long time for listeners to warm up to this new genre known as hip hop. Though the original acts like Sugarhill Gang seemed more like an offshoot of the disco scene, the heavy hitters of the genre like Run DMC and Beastie Boys always felt more associated with rock than they did with rap. That was the New York scene though. In California, we were all about to witness the strength of street knowledge.

Compared to the party jams that may have been going on across the country, Straight Outta Compton was the most dangerous thing that anyone had heard up until this point. With a virtual supergroup of emcees behind the mic, these were songs that were a lot more serious in tone, from the gang violence that these men saw everyday to having a blatant mistrust of law enforcement.

Any record like this would usually be reserved for the more niche genres, but the sticky production from Dr. Dre made the entire country want to groove to it, whether it be the George Clinton samples on Express Yourself or the KRS One interpolation on the song Gangsta Gangsta. The golden age of hip hop may have been fun while it lasted, but this was the new regime coming to the forefront. Things were about to get deadly serious.