Radio cover

Radio

Released

“Box!” With one word, the original radiohead—17-year-old Queens rapper Ladies Love Cool James—famously stole the most memorable scene in 1985’s rap drama Krush Groove and never looked back. Radio marked the first full-length album of Def Jam Recordings, the nascent hip-hop label of manager Russell Simmons and the producer of T La Rock’s “It’s Yours” (and Radio), Rick Rubin. The musclebound, dimple-faced kid in the Kangol rhymed polysyllabically about his girls (“I Can Give You More,” “Dear Yvette,” “I Want You”), his skills (“Dangerous”) and, naturally, his radio (“I Can’t Live Without My Radio”). The idea of the solo career in rap was never the same.

Miles Marshall Lewis

Recommended by

Suggestions
8 Diagrams cover

8 Diagrams

Wu-Tang Clan
The Message cover

The Message

Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five
Follow the Leader cover

Follow the Leader

Eric B. & Rakim
Holy Intellect cover

Holy Intellect

Poor Righteous Teachers
The Album cover

The Album

Mantronix
Black Reign cover

Black Reign

Queen Latifah