Old school hip hop

Style markers
- Displaced 8th-note endings

Style marker

Displaced 8th-note endings

It was common in the '80s (and late '70s, and very early '90s) to end a rap line with this rhythmic figure on the third beat of a measure:

Notation in which the third beat articulates three of its four sixteenth notes, omitting the third.

It fell out of favor by the mid-'90s.

Rapper's Delight (1979)

The Sugarhill Gang

&

1

&

2

&

3

&

4

&

now

what

you

hear

is

not

a

test

Basketball (1980)

Kurtis Blow

1

&

2

&

3

&

4

&

bas

ket

ball

I'm

Mist

er

Kurt

is

Blow

Peter Piper (1986)

Run-D.M.C.

&

1

&

2

&

3

&

4

&

now

Pet

er

Pip

er

picked

pep

pers

but

Run

rocked

rhymes

Album artwork for NWA's F*** Tha Police.

F*** Tha Police (1988)

NWA

4

&

1

&

2

&

3

&

4

&

and

when

I'm

fin

ished

bring

the

yel

low

tape

My Adidas (1986)

Run-D.M.C.

2

&

3

&

4

&

stan

din'

on

two

5th

street

Microphone Fiend (1988)

Eric B. & Rakim

1

&

2

&

3

&

4

&

I

grab

the

mic

and

try

to

say

yes

y'all

Ain't No Half Steppin' (1988)

Big Daddy Kane

1

&

2

&

3

&

4

&

put

words

to

geth

er

like

Let

ter

Man

Mama Said Knock You Out (1990)

LL Cool J

2

&

3

&

4

&

un

less

you

say

my

name

'80s Parody Freestyle (2025)

Lil' Yachty

4

&

1

&

2

&

3

&

4

&

my

moth

er

said

that

my

fath

er

left

when

I

was

three

References in later music

The Pharcyde

The Pharcyde's 1992 song Return of the B-Boy, which opens with the lyric "yo, is '87 in the house," uses this rhythm to imitate the sound of the '80s.

Return of the B-Boy (1992)

The Pharcyde

1

&

2

&

3

&

4

&

rhyme

on

the

mic

ro

phone

all

night

long