# 1988 in hip-hop

This article summarizes the events, album releases, and album release dates in hip hop music for the year 1988.

## Released albums

| Release Date | Artist | Album |
| January 31 | Too Short | Life Is...Too Short |
| February 17 | Geto Boys | Making Trouble |
| February 23 | Biz Markie | Goin' Off |
| March 29 | DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince | He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper |
| April 12 | Boogie Down Productions | By All Means Necessary |
| April 12 | Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five | On the Strength |
| April 19 | MC Lyte | Lyte as a Rock |
| May 16 | Derek B | Bullet From A Gun |
| May 17 | Run-D.M.C. | Tougher Than Leather |
| May 31 | Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew | The World's Greatest Entertainer |
| June 7 | Audio Two | What More Can I Say? |
| June 7 | EPMD | Strictly Business |
| June 15 | J.J. Fad | Supersonic |
| June 21 | Stetsasonic | In Full Gear |
| June 28 | Big Daddy Kane | Long Live the Kane |
| June 28 | Public Enemy | It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back |
| July 1 | The Fat Boys | Coming Back Hard Again |
| July 26 | Eric B. & Rakim | Follow the Leader |
| August 2 | Salt-n-Pepa | A Salt with a Deadly Pepa |
| August 9 | Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock | It Takes Two |
| August 17 | 2 Live Crew | Move Somethin' |
| September 1 | Sir Mix-A-Lot | Swass |
| September 13 | Ice-T | Power |
| September 13 | Steady B | Let the Hustlers Play |
| September 20 | Marley Marl | In Control, Volume 1 |
| September 28 | MC Hammer | Let's Get It Started |
| October 4 | Ultramagnetic MC's | Critical Beatdown |
| October 7 | Boogie Boys | Romeo Knight |
| October 25 | MC Shan | Born to be Wild |
| October 26 | Kid 'n Play | 2 Hype |
| November 1 | Slick Rick | The Great Adventures of Slick Rick |
| November 8 | Jungle Brothers | Straight out the Jungle |
| November 15 | King T | Act a Fool |
| November 22 | Eazy-E | Eazy-Duz-It |
| November 22 | Lakim Shabazz | Pure Righteousness |
| December 15 | Various Artists | The First Priority Music Family: Basement Flavor |
| Unknown | Alliance | We Could Get Used To This |
| Unknown | Busy Bee Starski | Running Thangs |
| Unknown | Kaos | Court's In Session |
| Unknown | Kurtis Blow | Back By Popular Demand |
| Unknown | Three Times Dope | Original Stylin' |
| Unknown | M.C. Cool Rock & M.C. Chaszy Chess | Boot the Booty |
| unknown | Michael Peace | Rappin' Bold |
| Unknown | MC Shy D | Comin' Correct in 88 |
| Unknown | P.I.D. | Here We Are |
| Unknown | The 7A3 | Coolin' In Cali |
| Unknown | Tuff Crew | Danger Zone |
| Unknown | J.V.C. F.O.R.C.E. | Doin' Damage |
| Unknown | Masters of Ceremony | Dynamite |
| Unknown | Raheem | The Vigilante |
| Unknown | Sweet Tee | It's Tee Time |
| Unknown | Mantronix | In Full Effect |
| Unknown | Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud | Girls I Got 'Em Locked |
| Unknown | K-9 Posse | K-9 Posse |
| Unknown | Rodney-O & Joe Cooley | Me and Joe |
| Unknown | Cold Crush Brothers | Troopers |
| Unknown | Def IV | Nice & Hard |
| Unknown | The Krown Rulers | Paper Chase |
| Unknown | Various Artists | Rhyme Syndicate Comin' Through |
| Unknown | Bass Patrol | Rock This Planet |
| Unknown | The Skinny Boys | Skinny (They Can't Get Enough) |
| Unknown | Schoolly D | Smoke Some Kill |
| Unknown | The Fila Fresh Crew | Tuffest Man Alive |
| Unknown | Tall Dark & Handsome | Tall Dark & Handsome |
| Unknown | Original Concept | Straight From the Basement of Kooley High! |
| Unknown | Cash Money & Marvelous | Where's the Party At? |
| Unknown | Chubb Rock | Chubb Rock (featuring Howie Tee) |
| Unknown | Whistle | Transformation |
| Unknown | Numarx | Our Time Has Come |
| Unknown | Shinehead | Unity |
| Unknown | White Boys | On A Mission |
| Unknown | Various Artists | The Rap Pack II Fresh Records Compilation |
| Unknown | Various Artists | Mr. Magic's Rap Attack Volume 4 |
| Unknown | Various Artists | Rap's New Generation Rooftop Records |
| Unknown | Don Baron | Young, Gifted And Black |
| Unknown | Tony Tee | Time To Get Physical |
| Unknown | Spike V.S.T. | I Wanna Dance |
| Unknown | The 45 King | Master Of The Game |
| Unknown | Finesse & Synquis | Soul Sisters |
| Unknown | True Love | I'm Bustin' Out |
| Unknown | Chilly Uptown | I Got Rules |
| Unknown | True Mathematics | Greatest Hits |
| Unknown | Frozen Explosion | Frozen Explosion |
| Unknown | The Real Roxanne | The Real Roxanne |
| Unknown | L'Trimm | Grab It! |
| Unknown | Kid Flash | He's In Effect |
| Unknown | Blood Brothers | Honey & Blood |
| Unknown | Big Mouth | Quite Not Right |
| Unknown | Boy White | Do We Connect |
| Unknown | Wendy O. Williams' Ultrafly And The Hometown Girls | Deffest! And Baddest! |
| Unknown | M-4 Sers | Shake It Up & Get Nasty!! |
| Unknown | Metal MC | Born To Party |
| Unknown | Symphonic Evolution | Revolution |
| Unknown | DJ Red Alert | We Can Do This |
| Unknown | Various Artists Urban Rock Records Comp. | U-Rock Posse In Effect |

## Highest-charting singles

Hip hop singles from any year which charted in the 1988 Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 :
| Song | Artist | Project | Peak position |
| "Going Back To Cali" | LL Cool J | Less than Zero (soundtrack) | 31 |