Rok Da House came out in 1987, the year I started DJing. It was British, made by The Beatmasters with the Cookie Crew on the mic. First time round it barely charted. A year later it was remixed and put out again, and this time it went to number five. It's often called one of the first hip house records.
If the name's new to you, hip house is exactly what it sounds like. A house beat with an MC rapping over the top. The kick drum lands on every beat and the tempo sits somewhere around 120 beats a minute.
House music started in Chicago. By the late '80s it had crossed the Atlantic and blown up in the UK and across Europe. Hip hop was crossing over at the same time. It didn't take long for the two to meet. In Chicago, Tyree Cooper made Turn Up the Bass with Kool Rock Steady rapping, and Fast Eddie made Yo Yo Get Funky. Both came out in 1988. So did I'll House You, which the Jungle Brothers made in New York with Todd Terry. Over here, The Beatmasters came back in 1989 with MC Merlin. Who's In The House was subtitled The Hip House Anthem, and it went top ten.
Every record on this playlist is sitting in my crates. Most of them have been played more times than I can count. I've rapped since I was a kid and DJed since 1987, and these records sit right where those two meet.
They're also how I bring a little hip hop into a house set. They run at house tempo, so you can mix one in without the floor feeling a gear change. Suddenly there's someone rapping over the groove. Drop a couple into an hour of house and the whole set feels different.
A few to listen out for. Let It Roll by Doug Lazy went to number one on the US dance chart in 1989. Dirty Cash by The Adventures of Stevie V, another British act, got to number two here in 1990. Strobelite Honey is a bit of a cheat. Black Sheep were a hip hop group, and it's David Morales's Def Mix that turns their record into a house one. It's from 1992. Heavy D's Now That We Found Love is from 1991, so the playlist stretches a little past the '80s.
Fifteen tracks, a little over an hour, and it opens with Turn Up the Bass. The title tells you what to do.
