1986
East Coast
↑ See it on the mapLong Island
Strong Island, NY
Dense collage sampling · militant funk · suburban weirdness
Ride the roster1:20Story, bloodline and 6 names
The suburbs turned out to be where the most radical records got made. Rakim rewrote what a rap verse could sound like, Public Enemy built a wall of noise out of James Brown and sirens, and De La Soul proved you could be strange and still sell.
Bloodline · 1 stop from The Bronx
- 1973The Bronx
- 1986Long Island
TransferQueens
Rakim rewrote the Bronx cadence into something jazz-phrased and calm. Chuck D and the Bomb Squad met at Adelphi's college radio station, and Def Jam — a Queens and downtown operation — signed them both.
Next stopsLeimert Park (LA), Chicago, Detroit
The Bomb SquadNative TonguesHit Squad
Roster
1986
Eric B. & Rakim
Rakim brought internal rhyme and a calm, jazz-phrased flow. The line splits here.