1984 Underground Hip-Hop Essay
1989 SWASS Essay
Historylink.org, a free online encyclopedia of Washington State history, has added two additional essays chronicling the epoch of Seattle hip-hop and its boisterous beginnings. The retrospective vignettes by Peter Blecha recount pivotal turning points in Seattle’s hip-hop history, including the 1984 rap concert at the Seattle Center Exhibition hall and the release of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s SWASS album in 1989. With the advent of hip-hop talent such as Mix and DJ Nasty Nes entering the scene it was a groundbreaking and progressive period for Seattle hip-hop. To balance out the business end of newly formed Seattle hip-hop labels and rap records going gold (and eventually platinum) there were wild hootenannies such as the 1989 “Nastymix Gold Party.” To read the Seattle rap culture infused expositions follow the Historylinks above and enjoy some old school hip-hop community history from the original golden era of Seattle rap culture.