1998 brought the release of It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back by Public Enemy, as well as female rapper MC Lyte's debut, Lyte as a Rock. Hip-hop branched farther out as MTV created a new show, YO! MTV Raps, and The source magazine printed its first issue. It was during this same year that West Coast crew N.W.A. released Straight Outta Compton and rapper Slick Rick released The Great Adventures of Slick Rick.

N.W.A. - Read more about N.W.A here

The 1988 Priority Records release of Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A. (Niggaz With Attitude) thrust this California-based band into the limelight. Brutal, hardcore and pure street, the album took gangster (or gangsta) rap to new levels.



"YO! MTV Raps"

After years of being excluded form MTV, the popularity of rap artists could no longer be denied, and in 1988 the network finally introduced YO! MTV Raps, an all-rap show. Hosted by the legendary Fab 5 Freedy, and later, Ed Lover and Dr. Dre (not to be confused with N.W.A.'s Dr. Dre), the show focused solely on hip-hop, making the music (and culture) more available to the general public than ever before. This cool style YO! MTV Raps jacket was a promo item from the program.

Public Enemy

In 1988, Public Enemy released "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, a booming, screeching, beat-driven sonic assault over which Chuck D unleashed his relentless raps. Calling rap the "black CNN", Chuck D saw hip-hop music as a vehicle for political and social change, and used his rhymes to educate hi listeners. With tracks like "Don't Believe the Hype" and "Black tell in the Hour of Chaos", this groundbreaking album came across like a call to arms.



MC Lyte

Scrappy, though, and deadly on the mic, MC Lyte released her full-length debut, Lyte as a Rock, in 1988. At a time when rap had become increasingly concerned with "keepin' it real", a track like "Paper Thin" proved Lyte was a nonsense rapper who could more than hold her own in a male-dominated genre. MC Lyte was proud and hard, and her rhyming skills earned her respect of both sexes.



Slick Rick

After his success with "The Show" and "La-Di-Da-Di", MC Ricky D left partner Doug E. Fresh to pursue a solo career. He renamed himself Slick Rick, on Def Jam in 1988. Jewels in his teeth, rings on his fingers, decked out in gold ropes and chains and wearing his signature eye patch, Slick Rick sported an over-the-top fashion sense that was the rap world's answer to Liberace. And he was a master storyteller; this was illustrated on "Children's Story" track, which helped propel the record to Platinum status.