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Nothing about Biz Markie’s unapologetically wacky, is-this-guy-for-real? 1989 hip-hop love song “Just A Friend” screamed POP HIT!

The “vocalist,” a Long Island, New York MC, deejay and beat boxing jokester, was laughably out of key. Yet the beloved “Just A Friend,” with its absurdly infectious chorus—“Youuu got what I neeed!” —would go on to become 1990’s most unlikely sing-along, eventually peaking at No. 9 on the Billboard 100.

It’s an intriguing flashpoint when juxtaposed with current headlines declaring hip-hop’s alleged commercial demise.

After Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s 13-week No.1 “Luther” was removed from the Oct. 25 Hot 100 following a Billboard rule change (any song that ranks below the top 25 is automatically displaced if they have spent 26 weeks on the chart), there are no rap songs in the Top 40.

The highest appearance by a hip-hop song is YoungBoy Never Broke Again’s “Shot Callin,” at No. 44.

Yet in 1990, hip-hop was still in its keeping-it-real phase. Biz’s pop chart ascendence (rap’s celebrated crown prince died in 2021) was treated as a cool, underdog moment for the member of the storied Juice Crew.

In many ways he was seen through the same positive prism as previous crossover pioneers the Sugar Hill Gang, Run-D.M.C, and Salt-N-Pepa. 
 
The reaction was the complete opposite, however, for Oakland’s MC Hammer, who’s record-breaking, 18-times platinum album Please Hammer Don’t Hurt Em spawned three top 10 hits: “U Can’t Touch This” (No. 8); “Have You Seen Her” (No. 4) and “Pray” (No. 2). 

“And proper, what you say, HAMMER?/ Proper, rap is not pop/ If you call it that, then stop,” frontman Q-Tip dissed on the 1991 A Tribe Called Quest classic “Check the Rhime.” That same year, in the video for his single “Be True to the Game,” NWA alum Ice Cube tied up and kidnapped a red sequined clad dancer who looked suspiciously like the “Let’s Get It Started” star. 
 
For many purists, MC Hammer was just as offensive as great white rap hope Vanilla Ice, who scored the biggest hit by a hip-hop act that year with the ubiquitous, chart-topping “Ice Ice Baby” and novelty rhyme duo Partners in Kryme, who reached No. 13 with their goofy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles soundtrack cut “Turtle Power.”

By ’91, Yo! MTV Raps had tightened its grip on suburban America. The Billboard charts mirrored hip-hop’s cultural expansion in real time. LL Cool J, Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Naughty By Nature, and Yo-Yo feat, Ice Cube all scored Top 40 hits.

In two years, gangster rap would explode. Snoop Doggy Dog’s “What’s My Name” and “Gin and Juice” both hit No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively.    
 
It wasn’t until decades later that hip-hop fans would re-evaluate Stanley Burrell’s monstrous commercial run. A massive album like Please Hammer Don’t Hurt Em would have done Taylor Swift numbers in today’s stream-or-bust era. Somewhere Biz is having a laugh.