It never ceases to surprise me how this generation just eats up old-school hip-hop like they were pop classics. I have little doubt that if Chief Rocker were released today it would rush to the top of the national charts, but at the time, it was not a Pop (as in popular) mainstream classic. Popular Hip Hop classic yes, but In 1993 Hip Hop was still on the come up, more underground than mainstream. Even at this stage, some 15 years after the first rap record (Rappers Delight-1979), Hip Hop was still music you could mostly hear only on black radio and in black clubs. Although this would change completely by the late 90s and early 2000 when rap songs really started to become a thing, everywhere and at all levels. Regularly hitting the number-one spot in the national and even international charts.
It never ceases to surprise me how this generation just eats up old-school hip-hop like they were pop classics. I have little doubt that if Chief Rocker were released today it would rush to the top of the national charts, but at the time, it was not a Pop (as in popular) mainstream classic. Popular Hip Hop classic yes, but In 1993 Hip Hop was still on the come up, more underground than mainstream.
Even at this stage, some 15 years after the first rap record (Rappers Delight-1979), Hip Hop was still music you could mostly hear only on black radio and in black clubs. Although this would change completely by the late 90s and early 2000 when rap songs really started to become a thing, everywhere and at all levels. Regularly hitting the number-one spot in the national and even international charts.