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Pioneering Hip-Hop Rappers of the '80s

Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" was hip-hop's first Top 40 hit 33 years ago.

Pioneering Hip-Hop Rappers of the '80s

Pioneering Hip-Hop Rappers Of The'80s
Pioneering Hip-Hop Rappers Of The'80s
Pioneering Hip-Hop Rappers Of The'80s
Pioneering Hip-Hop Rappers of the '80s
Pioneering Hip-Hop Rappers Of The'80s
Pioneering Hip-Hop Rappers Of The'80s
Pioneering Hip-Hop Rappers Of The'80s
Pioneering Hip-Hop Rappers Of The'80s
Pioneering Hip-Hop Rappers Of The'80s
Pioneering Hip-Hop Rappers Of The'80s
From left, Joseph "Run" Simmons, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels and DJ Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell of Run-D.M.C. photographed in New York, 1988. Their first single, in 1983, "It's Like That," was listed by VH1 as No. 40 on its 2008 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs. Mizell was shot to death at his New York recording studio in 2002. (Frank Micelotta/ImageDirect)
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