There was an all-female version of N.W.A, named H.W.A (Hoez With Attitudes) which consisted of members Jazz, Diva, and Baby Girl. The female rap trio was active from 1989 to 1994, then reformed in 2012. Diva was replaced by Go-Di for the recording of their second album and Ty James the daughter of Rick James, was a member of the female rap group H.W.A. (Hoez With Attitude).
H.W.A released their first album Livin’ in a Hoe House in 1990 with the label Drive-By Records. The group eventually signed to Eazy-E’s Ruthless Records.
In 1986, Eric B.—then a DJ at WBLS in New York—was looking for rappers to work with. Eric B went to Long Island and met Alvin Toney a promoter who suggested Freddie Foxxx. Freddie Foxxx also lived in Long Island and when they got to his house, he wasn’t home, so the promoter suggested they go meet another Long Island MC named Rakim and from then a legacy was created.
“We went to Freddie Foxxxs house and he wasn’t home. He was like I got another dude, he nice too!” “He has a totally different style than Foxx; he got an aggressive style. “This dude got a smooth laid back style.” So Alvin takes me to Rakim’s house and we start talking.” Eric B told AllHipHop
In 1987, Eric B. & Rakim released their debut album Paid in Full.
Hot, Cool & Vicious (Released December 8, 1986) the debut album by Salt-N-Pepa, the all-female rap trio which consisted of members Cheryl “Salt” James, Sandra “Pepa” Denton and DJ Spinderella (Deidra Roper) was the first gold and platinum album by a female rap group. Hot, Cool & Vicious peaked at No. 26 on the Billboard 200 charts. The group’s No. 1 single “Push It” helped the album become a huge success. The album was produced by Hurby Azor and released by Next Plateau Records.
Hot, Cool & Vicious was certified gold by the RIAA on January 8, 1988 and certified platinum on March 23, 1988.
Blondie‘s genre-crossing 1981 single Rapture, went No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 six weeks after her Saturday Night Live episode where she brought out Funky 4+1. Rapture—which was on Blondie’s fifth album Autoamerican—was a radical disco song with a rap verse, in which Debbie Harry gives a shout-out to Fab Five Freddy and Grandmaster Flash. Rapture by Blondie was the first song with a rap to go No. 1 on March 28, 1981. The song spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100.
Debbie Harry has known about Grandmaster Flash since 1977. “She said, ‘I’m going to write a rap about you on my next record.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, right, And about five or six months later, ‘Eatin’ cars and.. eat up bars.. and Flash is fast, Flash is cool.’ She kept her word.. “I was introduced. So now …white people and people of other colors were, ‘Who is Flash?’ So she tremendously opened the door.” Grandmaster Flash told the Daily News
Rapture by Blondie was the first song with a rap to go No. 1.
Vanilla Ice‘s Ice Ice Baby, released on August 22, 1990, off his debut album To the Extreme, was the first true No. 1 rap song by a rapper on the Billboard Hot 100. Ice Ice Baby spent one week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts after peaking on November 3rd, 1990. The single also went No. 1 in the U.K. on December 1, 1990.
Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice was the first No. 1 rap song by a rapper.
In 1981, Duffy Hooks III and Jerry Hooks Sr. launched the first West Coast rap label, Rappers Rapp Records. Rappers Rapp Records was founded in Los Angeles, CA. The Gigolo Rap by Disco Daddy & Captain Rapp (Capt. Rapp) was the record label’s first release in 1981.
Shortly after The Gigolo Rap, the first west coast rap song was released, Rappers Rapp Records signed The Rappers Rapp Group, an L.A. rap group with rappers DJ Flash, MC Fosty, Lovin C, King MC, Macker-Moe, and Mr Ice. The Rappers Rapp Group released their first single, “Rappers Rapp Theme” in 1982, which would also make them the first West Coast Rap Group. A year later, the group changed their name to Dark Star and they released the first West Coast Rap EP Sexy Baby on AVI Records.
Tupac was once a ballet dancer, he attended Baltimore School for the Arts, where he took ballet classes and played the role of the Mouse King in The Nutcracker.
In 1986, Tupac and his family moved from Harlem, New York to Baltimore. He began his sophomore year at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School before he enrolled in the Baltimore School of The Arts.
Tupac studied acting, poetry, jazz, and ballet at the Baltimore School of The Arts. He attended theatre and the school play of The Nutcracker, he played the role of Mouse King. To play the role of the Mouse King, Tupac learned a lot of ballet moves like the “arabesque.”
While at the Baltimore School of The Arts, Tupac also wrote his first rap under the moniker MC New York.
“The Gigolo Rapp” (released in 1981) by Disco Daddy (Michael Khalfani) & Captain Rapp (Larry Glenn) was the first official West Coast Hip-Hop/Rap song. “The Gigolo Rapp” was released in 1981 by Rappers Rapp Records (Rappers Rapp Disco Co)—the first West Coast Rap record label. The Gigolo Rapp was recorded right in Hollywood, CA and sampled Rick James’ Give It to Me Baby.
Larry Glenn is from Long Beach, California.
“To the beat yall”
Captain Rapp eventually went solo and after signing to a new label, Saturn Records, in 1983, he released his controversial ‘Bad Times (I Can’t Stand It).’ Disco Daddy released ‘Zodiac Rhymes’ in 1983 also.
Years before Yo! MTV Raps or Rap City hit the air, Graffiti Rock aired on June 29, 1984, on WPIX channel 11 in New York City and on 88 syndicated markets across the U.S., making it the first hip-hop television show.
Graffiti Rock was created and hosted by Michael Holman, who was the manager of the popular breakdancing crew, the New York City Breakers. The show starred Run-D.M.C., Kool Moe Dee, DJ Jimmie Jazz, Shannon, Special K of the Treacherous Three, and The New York City Breakers.
Graffiti Rock was a hip-hop version of Soul Train. The show showcased the hip-hop elements including rappers(MCees), breakdancing, graffiti, and DJ’s. Graffiti Rock only received one 23-minute pilot episode.
