How Bay Area Hip-Hop Found Its Sound in the 1980s | KQED

Casio keyboards, homemade tapes and the boundless creativity of Bay Area youth flourished in the 1980s hip-hop scene.

That's My Word How Bay Area Hip-Hop Found Its Sound in the 1980s Casio keyboards, homemade tapes and the boundless creativity of Bay Area youth flourished in the 1980s hip-hop scene. Apr 5, 2023 Updated Aug 5, 2025 Mosi Reeves In the mid-1980s, after years of street dance, DJing and graffiti sharing equal space, rapping took center stage. The Bay Area's bass-heavy sound would arrive at the end of the decade. (Clockwise from top left: Too Short, MC Hammer, Dominique DiPrima, Club Nouveau, and Motorcycle Mike.) (Steve Ringman/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images; Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Arch

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