Yes they did! The Fearless Four had a HUGE hit with their 1982 single “Rockin' It”. The group’s Mike C remembered the response to that song in Fricke and Ahearn’s book:

Then we did “Rockin' It,” and it was so big that we’d get on stage, and no matter how the rest of the show sucked – ‘cause there’s been times that like, “Man, we ain’t working. Ain’t nothing happening right,” you know? – but “Rockin’ It” would come on, and we would get such a big response, you’d be like, “Wow! This is like Michael Jackson just walked on stage.” People would go crazy when “Rockin' It” would come on

Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde was an NYC-based 80’s group best known for two things. First, they were amongst the first to wear suits and ties while rapping

Second, the “Dr. Jeckyll” of the group was Andre Harrell, who would later become a record industry bigwig, founding Uptown Records (and famously starting Puffy’s career) and becoming the CEO of Motown

Speaking of Kool Moe Dee, Diamond next shouts out Dee’s old group, the Treacherous Three, which also consisted of DJ Easy Lee, L.A. Sunshine, Special K and, in the early days, Spoonie Gee. The group is remembered as the pioneers of fast rapping. Their hit 1983 single, “Body Rock”, is here

David “Busy Bee” Parker was another old-school pioneer. The rapper had an extremely prominent part in the classic film Wild Style, worked with Grand Wizzard Theodore in the group The L Brothers, and was a participant in one of the earliest rap battles, in late 1981 with Kool Moe Dee – read about it here and hear it below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhuqTecycQQ

The Fantastic 5 were NYC rivals of the aforementioned Cold Crush Brothers. On July 3, 1981, the two groups battled at a popular club called Harlem World (what – you thought Mase made that up?) for a $1,000 prize, and the Fantastic 5 won

“Grand Wizzard” Theodore Livingston is the DJ who is widely credited with the invention of scratching. He explained the eureka moment in this amazing book:

One particular day I was in the house practicing [DJ'ing], and the music was a bit too loud, so my moms came and banged on the door and said, “If you don’t turn that music down, you’re going to turn it off.” And she had the door open, and while she was talking to me, I was still holding the record, and the other record was still playing. And when she left the room, I thought about what I was doing; I was trying to make a tape and I was like, “Wow, this really sounds like something.” I practiced with it and perfected it and used it with different records, and that’s when it became a scratch

The Cold Crush Brothers were an early Bronx rap group who were pioneers with their routines that included song parodies, fashion-forward outfits (they were doing circa-96 mob-style pinstriped suits in 1980 – see below), and the storytelling styles of Grandmaster Caz – the same person whose funny story rhymes got jacked for “Rapper’s Delight”

See Jim Fricke and Charlie Ahearn’s irreplaceable book Yes Yes Y'all: Oral History of Hip-Hop’s First Decade for the full Cold Crush Brothers story

Appropriate choice of music! Monk loved his weed and was even charged with possesion in 1954

While saying that weed will stunt your growth may be a good scare tactic, all indications are that it’s not true. However, a 2010 study said that “women who smoke marijuana during pregnancy may impair their baby’s growth and development in the womb”