In August 1983, 200 people entered a new dimension above the Heidelberg in Ann Arbor.

The clubgoers stepped into an unfamiliar yet fascinating music realm at the Big Beat Club, now known as Club Above, to dance the night away.

“Want to be on the cutting edge?” wrote Jim Boyd for The Michigan Daily on July 28, 1983. “New York, as usual, is the place to be, but this Friday you can save the plane fare by going to the Big Beat Club. There you will be able to experience the latest music/dance craze that is now surfacing in New York. It’s called ‘hip hop’ and its impact may prove to be culturally vast.”

The show was pushed back to August 5, 1983, but when the concert finally happened, curious viewers arrived to watch Harold “Whiz Kid” McGuire, a New York City DJ, spin and mix records in a “new” musical style known as “hip-hop.”

“There have been articles about ‘hip hop’ – which includes a style of manipulating turntables known as ‘scratching,’ for which the Whiz Kid is known, ‘break’ dancing, and ‘rapping’ – in such prestigious publications as Rolling Stone and the New Musical Express,” wrote Bill Brown in a July 23, 1983 article for The Ann Arbor News.

During Whiz Kid’s mesmerizing set, clubgoers watched his hands move as smoothly as a Kung Fu master while he played, mixed, and scratched records.

“The Whiz Kid’s ‘show’ consisted of a continuous, five-hour stream of heavily synthesized, emphatically rhythmic dance music,” wrote Brown in an August 12, 1983, review for The Ann Arbor News.

“At some points, especially when more people were watching him than dancing, he would play straight, uninterrupted records such as ‘Billie Jean.’ He would gradually throw in rhythmic accents that he either improvised on his electronic drum machine, created by manipulating the turntable’s needle, or snatched directly from other records.”

Whiz Kid’s Ann Arbor debut proved to be “a smashing success,” and he was invited back for another show three months later at U-M’s University Club. His shows were the first of many for hip-hop in Ann Arbor in the 1980s.

It wasn’t long before acts like Afrika Bambaataa, Run-D.M.C., 2 Live Crew, and De La Soul were bringing their intelligent rhymes and innovative beats to local clubs and auditoriums, which influenced a generation of Washtenaw County hip-hop creatives.

To gain a better idea of how hip-hop was received in Washtenaw County back then, we researched past media coverage from The Ann Arbor News, The Michigan Daily, and The Eastern Echo to capture the history of the era.

We combed through local publication archives to find album reviews, concert previews and reviews, and interviews to compile a story about the burgeoning popularity of hip-hop music and culture at the time.

One of the first local references to hip-hop appeared on November 14, 1981, in a review of Kurtis Blow’s sophomore album, Deuce, by writer Beth James in The Michigan Daily. 

She credited the New York City DJ as “one of the few artists to popularize an entertaining new category of soul music called rap with his chart-topping song, ‘The Breaks.’”

In addition to that accolade, Beth James defined “rapping” to University of Michigan students and local readers unfamiliar with the term and burgeoning genre: “Rapping is, essentially, talking to the beat of a driving bass guitar and percussion section.”

Bill Brown also referenced how hip-hop’s development had been steady throughout the U.S. since 1981. “‘Scratching’ has in many places almost completely replaced traditional disco styles as the dominant style of spinning dance records in New York City,” he wrote in a July 23, 1983, article for The Ann Arbor News.

Big Beat Club promoter Phil Cushway wanted to bring Whiz Kid back that fall for another show, which would feature the Funky Four and “break” dance group the Finesse Four. Instead, Whiz Kid returned on November 12, 1983, for a solo performance at the University Club in U-M’s Union.

Nearly a year later, Whiz Kid returned to U-M’s University Club for a show on September 21, 1984, as part of its “High Energy DJ Series.” Ann Arbor News writer Harmen Mitchell praised Whiz Kid’s prior show for his “rhythmic complexity of the beat that powers the music, and the athletic, imaginative breakdancing it inspires.”

Afrika Bambaataa, another hip-hop pioneer, inspired a night of dancing at Joe’s Star Lounge two months later. Bambaataa performed with rapper/scratcher Ikey-C to bring a taste of the New York City club scene to Ann Arbor.

“While Bam has been billed as a Hip-hop and Scratch Act, there wasn’t a whole lot of scratching Thursday night. One gets the sense that Bam refrains from muddying other musicians’ work out of a sense of respect for their product. When Bam does scratch it is supportive, rather than destructive. … Bam uses deejaying as a means of exposing people to music they might otherwise not hear,” wrote John Logie for The Michigan Daily.

Logie also interviewed Bambaataa for The Michigan Daily and cited how the hip-hop movement seemed analogous to the music movement in the late 1960s, but hip-hop had placed a much heavier emphasis on technology and electronics.

In response, Bambaataa said how hip-hop “became electronic when we made Planet Rock, before it was really any type of music that had a basic beat, drum beat, percussion, bass line that was funky. When I did Planet Rock I was trying to please people that were into just beat music and people that were into just New Wave, so I took elements of Kraftwerk, Clint Eastwood movies, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, and For a Few Dollars More, and some old Hip-hop records like Superspy by Captain Skyy, and The Mexican by Baby Ruth, and put them all together.”

Joe’s Star Lounge hosted another forefather of hip-hop in March 1985 when Gil Scott-Heron and his band performed two shows there. Ann Arbor News writer Harmen Mitchell cited Scott-Heron’s lyrics, poems, and music as having “enough spontaneous street-level reality to lay claim as a significant influence on the current, influential subculture of rap music.”

Outside of pivotal live shows, The Michigan Daily reviewed several hip-hop records, including Kurtis Blow’s America in October 1985. John Logie credited Blow with being innovative and helping bring hip-hop to the masses: “While most bands were tiredly rehashing the by-then cliché funk of bands like the Ohio Players, Blow was inventing, and he can legitimately claim a degree of responsibility for the eventual popularization of rap music.”

By April 1986, Bambaataa had returned to Ann Arbor for another live show at the Nectarine Ballroom. Ahead of his performance, he discussed a collaboration with Little Steven and other musicians for the Artists United Against Apartheid album, Sun City, with Logie of The Michigan Daily: “I feel strongly that when singers get together—it’s almost like in the ‘60s, when you used to see singers getting together on the same stage for a cause. They lost that in the ‘70s, but the ‘80s seems to be bringing it all back together, and going against different problems in the world, like A.I.D.S., feeding the hungry, not going to nuclear war.”

Three months later, Harmen Mitchell reviewed Run-D.M.C.’s iconic 1986 album, Raising Hell, and highlighted how it appealed to both white and Black listeners, especially due to its remake of “Walk This Way” in collaboration with Aerosmith. “This pair of New York rappers takes a song from the white heavy subculture of the mid-1970s, and shows that it translates exceptionally well to their approach. … But ‘Raising Hell’ is more than just a lesson for the uninitiated — it is a gesture by Run D.M.C. to bridge the gap that separates their music from other forms.”

Future Run-D.M.C. tourmates, the Beastie Boys, performed two nights at Detroit’s Fox Theatre during the Licensed to Ill tour on March 20-21, 1987. Eastern Echo writer Jeff Allen attended the show, which included Fishbone and Murphy’s Law as the openers, and noted “the horrible sound mix” and “loud DJ backup tracks.”

“The list of negative comments could go on and on, but the bottom line is the Beastie Boys were mercilessly boring and are destined to become another cheap, one hit, get-rich-quick scheme that will pass with time. So, think of them as the ‘pet rock’ of the ‘80s,” wrote Allen in an April 1, 1987, review of the show.

That assessment of the Beastie Boys proved to be incorrect, of course, and the group experienced follow-up success with releases like Paul’s Boutique in 1989, Ill Communication in 1994, and Hello Nasty in 1998.

While the Beastie Boys were building a large following at that time, hip-hop superstars Run-D.M.C. remained in the spotlight, as documented in Bill Adler’s 1987 book, Tougher Than Leather.

A former Ann Arborite, Adler served as the group’s publicist through Rush Artist Management and Def Jam Recordings from 1984 to 1990.

In an October 9, 1987, “Pop Shop” weekly column of news and opinions on the local music scene in The Ann Arbor News, Harmen Mitchell wrote: “In late summer, a book came out called ‘Tougher Than Leather,’ telling the story of rap music in general by telling, in particulars, the story of one of the form’s central figures, Run-DMC. This group was responsible for rap music’s first top-10 single, (‘Walk This Way’), first platinum album (‘Raising Hell,’ worldwide sales of four million), and first top five album, (ditto, sales of ditto).”

He also praised Adler for spotlighting how Black music had spawned not only hip-hop but rock as well: “To Adler, rap is a logical progression in the evolution of black music, which is the parent (and in his opinion, a parent that’s still better at the music) of rock and roll.”

Nearly a week later, tickets went on sale for Run-D.M.C.’s first headlining show at Hill Auditorium on November 12, 1987. Harmen Mitchell wrote in his Ann Arbor News “Pop Shop” column, “Finally shed of the Beastie Boys (tourmates for last summer’s ‘Together Forever’ tour), these B-boys will show Ann Arbor what chillin’ hard be all about (I promise never to do that again).”

The Ann Arbor News also featured a preview of that show on November 7, 1987. Harmen Mitchell’s article cited how the group had been recording material for their “new” album—what would become 1988’s Tougher Than Leather—and planned to tie it to their film of the same name.

“And so it is that Run DMC prepares to come to town to finally show Ann Arbor how it’s done—and in a much smaller room than they normally play,” wrote Mitchell. “While a lot of the appeal of the event owes to the youth and strength of the artists and the audience they speak for, keep in mind, Run DMC is about ignoring boundaries, crossing barricades and bridging gaps, and you don’t have to be tough to get in on it—just walk this way …”

The following summer, Run-D.M.C. headlined a July 31, 1988, show at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit with Public Enemy and DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. The group also partnered with the NAACP and the National Association of Businessmen to set up voter registration booths and provide job training resources at their concerts for youth attending the shows.

In an interview with Harmen Mitchell, Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels noted rap’s rising power in mainstream music: “Rap sells more records than a lot of singers, rap sells out concerts, rap’s got a lot more positive influences than a lot of groups. The only thing rap about rap is the rap. You can’t even put Stevie Wonder or Michael (Jackson) or Mick Jagger or Bruce Springsteen in the same category, because they sing their music, and we rap the music. And the reason rap is so famous and so popular is because it’s good music.”

Another rising hip-hop act, 2 Live Crew, performed at Hill Auditorium with Big Daddy Kane and Detroit’s Prince Vince and The Hip Hop Force on September 24, 1988.

“Their music, combining explicit lyrics and a hard-driving bass rhythm, which they call ‘Ghetto Bass,’ has brought them fame, publicity, controversy, and legal trouble. Although their lyrics are considered too controversial for radio play, they are immensely popular on the underground circuit—their latest and best album Move Somethin’, is expected to do even better than the 500,000 sales chalked up by their first LP, Two Live Crew is What We Are,” wrote Sheala Durant in The Michigan Daily.

Prince Vince and The Hip Hop Force represented the opposite end of the musical spectrum compared to 2 Live Crew: “Prince Vince describes [it] as ‘positive rap’: social messages aimed at young listeners. … And The Hip Hop Force does more than talk positive, having performed at numerous charity functions, including several for the Detroit anti-crime organization Save Our Sons and Daughters,” Durant continued.

Meanwhile, Run-D.M.C.’s film, Tougher Than Leather, played in movie theaters across the country, including the then-new Showcase Cinema in Pittsfield Township. In October 1988, the theater increased police patrols due to violence that had occurred after screenings the weekend before.

“Last Friday, during Showcase’s grand opening weekend, a crowd of about 200 moviegoers threw rocks and bottles after watching ‘Tougher Than Leather’,” wrote Susan Oppat in The Ann Arbor News. “Theater managers have declined to pull the film as theaters in Detroit and New York have done ….”

As for live performances, Gil Scott-Heron returned to U-M’s Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre for a sold-out show on October 21, 1988. He continued to serve as an influential force in the hip-hop world, especially his song-poem “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” which is spoken word over a jazz-soul beat.

“While there has recently been a heightened awareness of Scott-Heron’s themes and messages, via the work of hip-hop artists like KRS-One, Eric B. and Rakim, and Public Enemy, the boppin’ poetical genius that is Gil Scott-Heron is still largely unknown,” wrote Brian Berger in The Michigan Daily.

“Scott-Heron’s wild and intoxicating mix of be-bop, jazz, and funk is simply incredible. Outside of the hip-hop arena, only Prince can claim to be as down and vocal a socio-musical force as Scott-Heron.”

In 1989, The Michigan Daily noted the increasing popularity of conscious hip-hop artists over the old-school “ego rappers,” who cared more about what brand of gym shoes they wore instead of political and social issues.

“The ‘new school’ of rappers are in their mid-to-late 20s, college-educated, and speaking out on political and social issues related to the Black community. Two groups, Boogie Down Productions and Public Enemy, are part of this cultural revolution in rap music,” wrote Sheala Durant.

Public Enemy’s sophomore release, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, was called one of the most controversial albums of 1988. “The entire album is a critique of what Public Enemy perceives to be the ills ravaging Black American society,” Durant continued.

The other “new-school” rappers, Boogie Down Productions, especially member KRS-One, didn’t consider themselves Black Nationalists “like [their] friend Chuck D” of Public Enemy. “We are presently one of the most politically oriented rap groups out right now. I say politically oriented, not because we point fingers at political problems, but because we educate the public on how to deal with them,” said KRS-One to The Michigan Daily.

Public Enemy and Boogie Down Productions had collaborated with several hip-hop artists, including Hank Shocklee, D. Nice, M.C. Lyte, Stetasonic, Heavy D., Just-Ice, and Doug E. Fresh, to form the Stop The Violence Movement and release a 12-inch single called “Self-Destruction,” a song about Black-on-Black crime awareness.

“It was released last January [1988] in conjunction with Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and the publication of the National Urban League’s ‘State of Black America Report,’” wrote Sheala Durant.

By November 1989, The Michigan Daily had noted the next group of emerging hip-hop acts to shape the genre and culture: “The class of ’89 is like a revolution in retrospect, breaking completely new ground in hip-hop and burying the concept of the gold-chain wearing B-boy deep underground. This year, Three Times Dope, NWA, Tone Loc, Kings of Pressure, Special Ed, De La Soul and the D.O.C. all released first albums, as will the Digital Underground and A Tribe Called Quest,” wrote Forest Green III.

Green compared the class of ’89 to the class of ’87, which included acts like Public Enemy, Ice-T, Eric B. and Rakim, Boogie Down Productions, and NWA. “Although three of these acts broke new ground with militant lyrical content and political commentary, the rap scene was in a bit of a quagmire; loaded down with all sorts of ten cent M.C. crews trying to out-bass each other, and so, fiercely competitive,” he wrote.

As a class of ’89 representative, De La Soul brought its funky and funny hip-hop antics to U-M’s Power Center on December 7, 1989. The trio performed in Ann Arbor as part of its Euro-American tour and in support of the 3 Feet High and Rising album.

“A large part of the appeal of De La Soul is its disavowal of the clichés that plague most of male rapdom,” wrote Nabeel Zuberi in The Michigan Daily. “Instead of gold chains and designer tracksuits of questionable color-coordination, the three Plugs favor more of a mixed bag.”

Despite that initial compliment, Zuberi wasn’t impressed with the group’s performance that night. He noted De La Soul’s inability to translate its critically acclaimed debut album from the studio to the stage.

In a December 11, 1989 review for The Michigan Daily, Zuberi wrote, “Mase wasn’t exactly the nimble-fingered king of the turntables we’d come to expect from the album; Posdnous was pissed off with a sound system that threatened to explode when the bass was pumped up; and Trugoy the Dove just seemed plain bored.”

National hip-hop artists weren’t the only acts sharing their talents locally. A generation of Washtenaw County DJs and MCs was ready to emerge in the 1990s, inspired by what came before them but ready to take hip-hop into the future.

Lori Stratton is a library technician, writer for Pulp, and writer and editor of strattonsetlist.com.