Rarely ever do hip hop songs open with casual conversations about other hip hop artists; Ghetto Chilldren gracefully proved an exception when they released “Hip Hop Was” in 1998. It speaks to the development of hip hop during its first three decades that the “was” of their desires primarily existed as recently as eight years prior. That would be like a pining now for a return to the hip hop of 2017 – nothing progresses that radically nowadays. Yet, the Seattle-based duo of rapper B-Self and rapper/producer/DJ Vitamin D entered the booth with reminiscences as they recorded what is both a tribute and a lamentation for what hip hop once was.

“Hip Hop Was” begins with the aforementioned conversation like someone had snuck a microphone into a conversation of passion. Hip hop has that beautiful ability: someone can be described purely as “filthy” but it is an outright declaration of ability and approval. Nothing else often needs to be said. The only ever time that the mention of Divine Styler starts a song is exhibited here; he is described by B-Self as “weird at first” but Vitamin D defends him with his 1989 release Word Power. The conversation segues into pioneers like the Treacherous Three and Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five before Vitamin D proclaims DJ Jazzy Jeff as “the filthiest DJ of all time”. They mention the debut album by Gang Starr, No More Mr. Nice Guy, and its brave depiction of Guru and DJ Premier posing together on its cover; B-Self jokes, “I don’t know about the leather boots … and the pants … and the hat!”

Only nearly 40 seconds into the song and the conversation with its gentle instrumental give way to Vitamin D commencing his recount of hip hop’s glory days. He begins, “what I mean is this, conjure up, remember the bliss / that you felt when you pressed play, heard a beat and an essay.” He explains the criteria for an emcee to be successful: “you had to be dope, you had to be fly / you had to be fresh” – the last word amplified by the use of the essential scratch sound. Vitamin D takes us “to an era / where Just-Ice to a sucker emcee was plain terror” – the late-1980s. He recalls when he bought his first Public Enemy album and creates the metaphor of him being a fish that was attracted to the bait released by rappers of the time. He references Scott La Rock having it all according to “Super Hoe” by Boogie Down Productions and Rakim having soul per his and Eric B.’s “I Know You Got Soul” yet all he had was a ball because he was young at the time. However, times have changed and rappers that he once idolised have fallen off; Vitamin D claims to be carrying their legacy as he “rhyme[s] like this” to relieve the pain of hip hop’s deterioration. He concludes with his mission: “I want to give the same feeling that was given to me / I’m living to be somebody’s inspiration / continue the chain, continue the art.”

The voice KRS-One of Boogie Down Productions is scratched throughout the hook using a line from “South Bronx” – “b-boys ran to the latest jam” – as B-Self and Vitamin D answer in unison: “to hear the beat that was treacherous or the Afrika Bam”. The bridge is a casting call of the defining elements of hip hop culture throughout the 1980s: pan-Africanism, pimping, hairstyles, public notoriety, breakdancing, graffiti, street fashion, the DJ–MC combination and handclaps over drumbeats.

B-Self provides the second verse in an effortlessly breathless performance. He traces back to hip hop’s beginning where originality had not yet spurred so “brothers was sporting Converse / pretending to be Julius Erving”. He cannot recall when he first encountered Sugar Hill (either the record label or the group) but “what [he] recall[s] is what [he] heard released endorphins” that caused his child-self to drop his action figure toy. As hip hop was not yet a commodity, the early rappers said a lot to him: the Furious Five, Funky 4 + 1 and the Treacherous Three are credited with giving him the ambition “to be the best at this”. He found further inspiration with the next generation of artists: Stetsasonic, Too Poetic, MC Lyte and Ultramagnetic MC’s. However, he now finds himself disenchanted with the present affairs of hip hop artists around him. B-Self concludes in a beautifully poetic fashion: “The two of us may look no more at them / they playing with emotions now I’m sore at them / I take these frustrations and convert them to the positive / I hope you feel elation by this true school derivative.” Vitamin D scratches in a Biz Markie sample as encouragement: “Keep on!” After a repeated hook, Vitamin D brings the song to its close with scratches of Run-D.M.C.’s adlibbed introductions of their performance of “Here We Go” in 1984.

The drums end and the conversation from the start is returned. They proclaim 1990 as being a strong year for hip hop: they mention Brand Nubian’s debut album One for All and J.V.C. F.O.R.C.E. who released Force Field that year. There is a defence for Kwamé – who “was tight with “The Rhythm”” – before B-Self hums an improvised version of his 1990 song “Ownlee Eue”. The instrumental disappears as Vitamin D tries to recall a song by Two Kings in a Cipher by emulating its scratch routine and drum pattern but then gives up by stating, “you know how it went!”.

“Hip Hop Was” is a special composition for its outpouring of love for past generations weaved into personal anecdotes of development and discovery. Ghetto Chilldren were an act that expressed a deep passion for hip hop; their 1996 song “Equilibrium” features both B-Self and Vitamin D describing hip hop as if it were the equivalent of a romantic partner. With its lulling instrumental and vintage hip hop throwbacks, “Hip Hop Was” is a moment in time that longs for what came before it.

On that conversation though. One might notice in the occasional quietened moments of the instrumental during the verses that there is talking in the background. The conversation actually continues throughout the song. It is inaudible but it is there. For five minutes, Ghetto Chilldren talk of their love for hip hop yet that conversation will never be heard. Instead, what remains is the tribute through their performance. What hip hop was – because of the encapsulation by Ghetto Chilldren – becomes what hip hop is.