The Golden Era

Ask ten rap fans when the "golden era" was and most will say roughly the mid-'80s to the mid-'90s. Nobody agrees on the exact years, and that's half the fun. What they do agree on: in about ten years, rap invented almost every style it still uses.

Run-DMC kicks the door down

Run-DMC were three guys from Hollis, Queens. They ditched the flashy disco-style outfits earlier rappers wore and showed up in Adidas tracksuits, fedoras and laceless shell-toes, which is what kids were actually wearing on the street.

• In 1986 they remade Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" with Aerosmith. It got heavy MTV play and brought rap to rock fans.
• They wrote a song called "My Adidas". At a Madison Square Garden show, they had the crowd hold up their sneakers in front of Adidas execs. Adidas signed them to an endorsement deal soon after.
• That's the blueprint for every rapper sneaker deal since, all the way to Travis Scott's Jordans.

The lyricists level up

Rakim, of Eric B. & Rakim, changed what rapping sounded like. A lot of early rap was simple, shouted rhymes. Rakim rapped calm and smooth, with complicated rhymes hidden inside his lines. Their 1987 album Paid in Full is required listening, and a lot of rappers still call him the "God MC".

Around him: Big Daddy Kane's charisma, KRS-One teaching on the mic, Slick Rick's storytelling, and MC Lyte proving women could out-rap anyone.

Rap gets political

Public Enemy made rap loud and angry about racism and the media. Their 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is one of the most acclaimed albums ever made. "Fight the Power" (1989) was the theme of Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing.

The Native Tongues: rap with a vibe

A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, the Jungle Brothers and Queen Latifah went jazzy, positive and a little weird. Tribe's The Low End Theory (1991) put jazz basslines under rap, and it's still on every best-of list.

The West Coast answers

Meanwhile in Compton, California, N.W.A (Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, MC Ren and DJ Yella) dropped Straight Outta Compton in 1988. It was raw and confrontational about police and street life, so much so that the FBI sent their label a warning letter. This is where gangsta rap went mainstream.

The mid-'90s peak

The era ends on a ridiculous run:

• Dr. Dre: The Chronic (1992)
• Wu-Tang Clan: Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)
• Nas: Illmatic (1994)
• The Notorious B.I.G.: Ready to Die (1994)
• OutKast: Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (1994)