You have surprised me John D. (and others). I thought I'd be the only one on the forum who followed early rap. I was very much into it as the 80s progressed and beyond. I was rather isolated from the music growing up in the Upper Peninsula of MI but became familiar with many of the groups through my complete run of RapMasters cassette tapes
Among my favorites . . . Beastie Boys (seen them in concert several times, sadly no more), EPMD, Eric B & Rakim, Doug E Fresh, MARRS (pump up the volume single), D Nice, and even some of the newer artists including Fat Boy Slim and others. Sadly, Columbia House took a chunk out of my OJ funds during my teenager years.
I apologize for the off topic reply but I couldn't resist.