In Honor of Hip-Hop’s Birthday, The Root Staff Reveals Our First Hip-Hop Jams

“Rakim’s flow is unlike anyone else’s in the game. I remember saving up to buy the cassette and listening to it over and over so I could memorize the lyrics!”

- Senior Writer, Angela Johnson

“My earliest hip-hop memory is being bewildered by Biz Markie’s off-kilter wail on ‘Just a Friend.’ I didn’t completely understand what I was hearing, but it served as a gateway into a culture I’ve since learned to fully embrace.”

- Senior Editor, Jay Connor

“My brother bought her album on cassette in ‘92 and it just made the rotation in the car. The song’s r&b/pop melody and chorus hook you, but that early ‘90s hip-hop beat keeps you in a head-nodding groove for four and a half minutes. It’s definitely one of my karaoke songs.”

- Video Lead, Adriano Contreras

“I liked hip-hop, but never really felt a deep connection to it until Queen Latifah came out with her timeless female empowerment anthem. As the only girl in a family full of boys, I was already a young feminist in the making. This song gave me permission to be even louder about it.”

- Staff Writer, Stephanie Holland

“With those cute brown puppy dog eyes (pun intended), fresh cornrows, fresh bars and a Harlem Shake that could knock any hater off your shoulders, he made me pay attention to the genre immediately. However, tears later, when I became a bit more intentional about it, Queen Latifah’s ‘U.N.I.T.Y.’ & Lauryn Hill’s ‘Doo Wop (That Thing)‘ were the two songs I gravitated to first.”

- Staff Writer, Shanelle Genai

“Mine was actually a song my late uncle and dad (Law and Tot) recorded in the basement of my house: ‘Who’s Da Enemy.’ They both grew up during the birth of hip-hop in the boogie down Bronx. I grew up around those two writing rhymes, blasting music and talking about the shows they did and rappers they met back in the day. In my extremely biased opinion, they could’ve gone toe to toe with some of those MCs.”

- Staff Writer, Kalyn Womack

“As a kid from Atlanta, T.I. was everything. This hit was the first one that made me fall in love with his music.”

- Staff Writer, Noah McGee

“‘California Love’ was the first song that made me think about hip-hop as an art form and want to go deeper into the history of the music.”

- Senior Reporter, Jessica Washington

“My earliest hip-hop jam had to be ‘Rapper’s Delight.’ I can remember everyone singing it on the school bus. It was the only song I could remember word for word.”

- Editor-in-Chief, Tatsha Robertson