Monie Love

It's been 32 years since the music industry officially recognized June as American Black Music Month. But, ask any casual music fan and she'll tell you that popular black music has been pumping through the speaker box since long before 1979.

Climb aboard our little time-traveling contraption and set the dial to the year 1990, friends, because we are going on a little ride to the past. Of course, 1990 isn't all that long ago—one could barely consider it history in most cases—but keep in mind that in hip-hop years, two decades is like two centuries.