The 40 Biggest Hip-Hop Moments in Pop Culture History

The events that defined rap and the culture surrounding it.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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In the entire, brief history of hip-hop, a few moments have gone—as the saying goes—deeper than rap.

These are not the scenes and headlines that made hip-hop "relevant" as much as the moments where hip-hop characters, ideals, and narratives ended up on the front pages of national papers, shifting the American news cycle and making the sounds, lyrics, and faces of the genre as much a story as any great world leader or event. Sometimes, like Bill Clinton calling out Sister Soulja, the moments were gasoline on fire. Other times, they were just a spark on a fuse waiting to be lit, like Dr. Dre making headphones everybody's most essential personal style accessory.

These are moments of protest, of struggle, and of shame. These are moments of pride and of power. These are moments that define the music we so often take for granted, whether it's Kanye saying some shit about an American President, or an American President saying some shit about Kanye—and then campaigning with Jay-Z not long after. From the subliminal moments to the most pronounced, from the film and TV show moments to the moments when the corridors of political power were forced to confront rappers—yes, rappers—these are those times when hip-hop splashed into the mainstream, by all means necessary.

Hip-hop's taken everything from figurative bows thrown to literal shots fired. Yet, they weren't game changers for rap so much as for pop culture, moments of pure, uncut recognition that this isn't just a subculture, or a trend, but pieces of the greater American mosaic. From Kanye to Clinton, from Style Wars to who Wu-Tang's for, these are The 40 Biggest Hip-Hop Moments in Pop Culture History.

Written by Foster Kamer (@weareyourfek)

RELATED: The 50 Greatest Fashion Moments in Rap Video History

40. Blondie's "Rapture" is the First "Rap" Video Played on MTV

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39. Tone Loc Makes the Cover of Newsweek as the Face of Rap Rage

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38. KDAY Hires Greg Mack (and Becomes America's First True Hip-Hop Radio Station)

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37. Def Comedy Jam Premieres on HBO

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36. Vanilla Ice Makes a Cameo in the Ninja Turtles Movie

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35. Bulworth is Released in Theaters

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34. Busta Rhymes and Martha Stewart Present a VMA Together

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33. Fat Boys' Swatch Commercials Air in NYC

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32. LL Cool J Pushes FUBU Into The Gap's Commerical

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31. Allen Iverson's Bars Result in NBA Beef

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30. Theo Huxtable Raps on The Cosby Show

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29. The Chicago Bears Debut the "Super Bowl Shuffle"

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28. PBS Airs Style Wars

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27. Saturday Night Live Airs the "Lazy Sunday" Digital Short

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26. MC Hammer's Pepsi Ad Hits the Airwaves

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25. Common is Invited To Read Poetry at The White House

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24. Ol' Dirty Bastard Explains Who Wu-Tang is For

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23. Eazy-E Attends White House Luncheon with President George H.W. Bush

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Date: March 18, 1991

The Moment: It's the ultimate moment in "WTF" rap trivia: The L.A. Times breaks the news that Eazy-E—founding N.W.A member, singer of "Boyz-n-the-Hood," yes, that Eazy-E—had been invited to the White House by then-Republican Senate leader Bob Dole for a luncheon. The Republican Senatorial Inner Circle would be in attendance, with George H.W. Bush, the President of the United States of America.

The Impact: The American media outrage machine wasn't as fast in 1991 as it is now. In other words, by the time most people got the news, Eazy had already finished up lunch. With Bob Dole. And President George H.W. Bush. And by the time they did receive the news, it had already become the stuff of legend. The moment was so unbelievable, it was literally unbelievable, made all the more difficult to process by the fact that no pictures exist of Eazy at the lunch.

The Upshot: Republicans and fans of Eazy-E alike were stunned: How could the sitting American President allow this gangster rapper into the White House? and Eazy-E is a Republican? The Bush White House, for their part, decided to kill the matter by never commenting on it. Eazy did, however, explaining in an interview: "How the fuck can I be a Republican when I got a song called 'Fuck tha Police'? I ain't shit—ain't a Republican or Democrat. I didn't even vote. My vote ain't going to help! I don't give a fuck who's the president," and later, explaining in song: "So, you can kiss my black ass/Fuck the White House, it ain't my house/So, you can burn the mothafucka down for all I care/Cause T-shirts and khakis is all I wear."

While history accuses Eazy—who eventually died of AIDS, not exactly a conservative cause in the '90s—of being a Republican, the urban legends about this are wrong, as Jerry Heller explained in his book Ruthless. Eazy had donated to a South Central charity event. His name was picked up by an RNC computer mailing list, which hit Eazy up with an invitation, which Eazy accepted. We'll let Heller's book speak for itself, because the truth of the matter is so, so great:

"...As it turned out, we had a pretty okay time. We ate poached salmon and roast beef. (Eazy E) sat next to a woman from Dallas, who I would bet had never mixed socially with a person of color before in her long and well-heeled life. I expected her to start talking about 'the problem of the Negro.' I think she was actually afraid to look at the short African-American next to her, so she didn't notice that (Eazy E's) eyes looked like a couple of all-black marbles. "Nobody's been that stoned in the White House since Gerald Ford's kid Jack smoked dope on the White House roof. And Eazy had better weed that Jack Ford ever did."

22. Cam'ron and Dame Dash Are Booked as Guests on The O'Reilly Factor

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21. Cypress Hill Lights Up, Becomes the First Rap Act to Be Banned by SNL

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20. John Connor Wears A Public Enemy T-Shirt in Terminator 2: Judgement Day

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19. Chappelle's Show Airs the First Lil Jon Skit

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18. Kanye Jumps The Jumpman with Air Yeezys

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17. Three 6 Mafia Wins an Oscar

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16. J-Lo and Diddy Leave the Scene

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15. Lauryn Hill Dominates The Grammys

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14. "Fight The Power" Becomes Do The Right Thing's Anthem

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13. Dr. Dre Has Some Headphones He'd Like To Sell You

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12. Bill Clinton Responds to Sister Soulja

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11. Kanye West Interrupts Taylor Swift

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10. Florida Judge Outlaws 2 Live Crew's Nasty As They Wanna Be

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9. Yo! MTV Raps Debuts

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8. Run-DMC Walks Aerosmith's Way

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7. Public Enemy's Professor Griff's Anti-Semitic Interview

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6. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Debuts on NBC

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5. The Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill Drops

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4. Jay-Z Campaigns For And Introduces Barack Obama At Ohio Rally

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3. Eminem and Elton John's Duet at The Grammys

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2. Kanye West Calls Out George W. Bush

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1. 2Pac And The Notorious B.I.G.'s Murders

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