Song: Wee Rule
Artist: Wee Papa Girl Rappers
Year: 1988
Album: The Beat, The Rhyme, The Noise
Genre: Hip Hop
Style: UK/ Ragga
Pictured: 12″ Single
Click Here to Play the Song
This song incorporates several styles of music in a seamless manner. It’s clearly a rap song, but there are elements of dancehall reggae and rave music present. Keep in mind, the sort of electronic music played in clubs and at raves in 1988 is very different than the homogenous, upbeat, thumping electronic tracks being played today. Plenty of downtempo and different-sounding songs were mainstays in DJ’s sets in that era, so something slow and groovy like this was not out of place at all in at a rave. Check out songs like Candy Flip’s cover of “Strawberry Fields Forever,” or Adamski’s “The Space Jungle,” to hear the sorts of songs that were huge rave hits in the ’80s, but that would result in a dance floor full of puzzled dancers if played at an EDM club today. To hear a mix of such tracks, check out the “Raver Days” mixtape over on my Mixtapes page.
This was also a time when electronic music and raving were virtually unknown in the U.S., so it may come as no surprise to learn that the Wee Papa Girl Rappers are from the U.K. This rap duo received something of a mixed response from hip hop fans in the US, primarily because of what I mentioned above. This didn’t sound much like American rap music. I loved it, but mostly because I wasn’t exclusively into rap music. Keep in mind that in 1988, rap was not yet a mainstream style of music in the U.S., and many people were still unaware that it existed. As a clear subculture, a large number of rap fans were fans of rap and rap alone, and for that crowd, Wee Papa Girl Rappers wasn’t hard enough. They sounded too poppy, too dance-y, and they never really found their footing in the U.S. market. Nonetheless, the song still holds a special place in my heart, as it bridged a gap between two disparate styles of music that I enjoyed, and it now holds place 360 on my list of favorite songs.