Friday the 13th…I’mma play Jason!

- Big Daddy Kane, “Ain’t No Half-Steppin’,” Long Live the Kane, 1988

“I been to many malls from state to state,But I’ve never been in, say, one this great.I hate to say, about the other shopping centers that’s left,But the Albee Square Mall is the doo-doo-def!”
–Biz Markie, “Albee Square Mall,” Goin’ Off, 1988
Brooklyn’s Albee Square Mall, at the intersection of Fulton Street and DeKalb Avenue, was razed in 2007 to clear way for the City Point retail space and upscale living community, opening in Spring 2012.

“I been to many malls from state to state,
But I’ve never been in, say, one this great.
I hate to say, about the other shopping centers that’s left,
But the Albee Square Mall is the doo-doo-def!”

–Biz Markie, “Albee Square Mall,” Goin’ Off, 1988

Brooklyn’s Albee Square Mall, at the intersection of Fulton Street and DeKalb Avenue, was razed in 2007 to clear way for the City Point retail space and upscale living community, opening in Spring 2012.

A rap pro, do a show, good to go, also
Cameo afro, Virgo, domino, I go Rambo,
Gigolo, Romeo, Friday night spend money on a ho…tel,
To get a good night’s sleep, I’m keeping in step.
Now do I come off? Yep.

- Big Daddy Kane, “Just Rhymin’ with Biz,” Long Live the Kane, 1988

They smile in my face, behind my back they talk trash,
Mad and stuff because they don’t have cash.

- Erick Sermon, “Strictly Business,” from EPMD’s Strictly Business, 1988

You got to have style, and learn to be original.

- KRS-One, “My Philosophy,” from Boogie Down Productions’ By All Means Necessary, 1988

My life is violent but violence is life,
Peace is a dream, reality is a knife.

- Ice-T, “Colors,” from Colors Soundtrack, 1988

The employees of the year, yeah we back to work.
I took time off, while other rappers got jerked.

- Erick Sermon, “So Watcha Sayin’,” from EPMD’s Strictly Business, 1988

I got a letter from the government the other day
I opened and read it…it said they were suckers.

- Chuck D., “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos,” from Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, 1988

Makin’ veterans run for medicine,
Cause I put out more lights in a fight than ConEdison.

- Kool G. Rap, “The Symphony,” from Marley Marl’s In Control Vol. 1, 1988

I don’t need your assistance, social persistence.
Any problem I got, I just put my fist in.

- Ice-T, “Colors,” from Colors soundtrack, 1988

We don’t just say “No”, we too busy sayin’ “Yeah!”
To drinkin’ straight out the eight bottle…
Do I look like a muthafuckin’ role model?!

- Ice Cube, “Gangsta Gangsta,” from N.W.A.’s Straight Outta Compton, 1988

I’m even lethal when I’m unarmed…
‘Cause I’m louder than a bomb.

- Chuck D., “Louder Than a Bomb,” from Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, 1988

You’ve been fightin again and you forgot why.
Hey kid, walk straight…master your high.

- Slick Rick, “Hey Young World,” The Great Adventures of Slick Rick, 1988

Stepping to me? Yo, that’s the wrong move.
So what you on, hobbs, dope or dog food?

- Big Daddy Kane, “Ain’t No Half-Steppin,” Long Live the Kane, 1988

The 808 kick drum makes the girlies get dumb,
We’re rollin’ Rainier, and the jealous wanna get some.
Every time we do the sucka MC’s wanna battle,
I’m the man they love to hate, the J.R. Ewing of Seattle…

- Sir Mix-a-Lot, “My Posse’s on Broadway,” SWASS, 1988