Several outside factors influenced hip hop in the 1980s. From public unrest to technological advancements, the music from hip hop’s “Golden Age” quickly grew and developed to be more substantial and innovative than hip hop from the 1970s.

1980s hip hop was influenced by earlier forms of music such as the blues, r&b, and jazz. Lyrically, though, what set 1980s hip hop apart from its predecessors in the decade before was that the songs’ content had somewhat matured and became more “authentic.” 1980s hip hop found inspiration in the political and social issues of the time, and artists in the genre began to speak out against the problems plaguing Americans living in urban areas, such as police brutality and drugs. In addition, 1980s hip hop was influenced by technological advancements that enabled artists to swap out turntables for sampler machines that were more affordable and efficient for producing music. Consequently, the change in the technology available for the production of music allowed for artists to try different things and become more innovative, such as can be seen with the strains of electronic music heard in some of the genre’s songs from the decade.