Page 105 - 1991.Millard.North

Rap, R+B Hit

Charts in 90's

-Kevin Ridley-

Ten years ago no one even knew what
rap music was. Now rap and R+B (rhythm and
blues) musi c were on the charts.
Two of the top rap arti sts, M.C. Ham-
mer, and Vanilla Ice were the Number One and
Number Two albums at the end of 1990. Ac-
cording to Billboard Magazin e, the album Please
Hammer Don't Hurt'em stayed at number 1
for 28 straight weeks and sold over eight million 1 1
copies. Hammer's biggest hit was the song "U ~
Can't Touch This". l
Public Enemy and Two Live Crew
made it big in 1990 despite the public at their
backs for their lyrics . Public Enemy's "Flavor
Flav" had a lot of success with his songs "911 is
a Joke" and "Can't Do Nuttin For ya Man."
Senior Steve Simpson said, "I like Public Enemy
because of their beat and Flavor Flav. "
Other rap groups that were successful
were Digital Underground, L.L. Cool J., Young
M.C., and Ice Cube.
R +B music has had a lot of songs on
the charts in the year 1990. One of the most
popular groups was New Edition. A lot of
people hadn't heard of them until they split up
for a year. New Edition consisted of Ronny
Devoe, Michael Bivens, Rickey Bell (Bell Biv
Devoe) , Ralph Tresvant, Johnny Gill , and Bobby
Brown.
Everyone underestimated the power of
New Edition after singer l!obby Brown left the
group. Their albums went down hill thereafter.
Now they have had complete success by going
either solo or in a group. Sophomore Me~Nla
Gagliolo said, "I like Bell Biv Devoe because
they were from New Edition before they were a
group."
Other R+B songs that have made it big
on the charts were Guy's "I Wanna Get With
You", Hi-Five's "Just Can't Handle It", Tony
Toni Tone's "It Feels Good", new cmners
Another Bad Creation 's "Iesha", and En Vogue's
"Hold On".
As a result, the 90's gave rap and R+B
music an extra edge in the music market.

April Dostal Jennifer Eck Jon Engle Matthew Ferguson Jeff Furst
Julie Downey Katherine Ecklund Shannon Ernst Travis Flores Melissa Gagliolo
Megan Downey David Eidem Scott Etheredge Melissa Florio Rebecca Gartner
Rachel Down s Dan Ei lers Rebecca Fechner Christopher Fosmer Kadi George
Todd Doxzon Shane Ekdahl Heidi Feehrmeyer Jodie Fougeron Douglas Gerace
Shannon Duffy Gregory Ekstrom Kale Feelhaver Dawn Fox Eri n Gerlach
Cheri Dunaw ay Jennifer Enghauser Adam Felchner Holl y Franzen Alex Ghali
Debbie Eads Julie Enghauser Clint Fieldhacker Deanna Frenk Gregory Gibilisco RllP and R+B