What's the deal with Hip-Hop and Rap artists using 80s beats?

The other day in the gym, I heard the familiar beat of Video Killed the Radio Star play over the sound system. Instead of the 1980s song however, the beat accompanied strange new lyrics courtesy of will.i.am and Nicki Minaj. The song is called Check it Out and throughout the entire "song" the beat to Video Killed the Radio Star plays.

Never forget what the Aerosmith/ Run DMC collaboration meant

This continues a trend I've noticed -- and one that I plan on writing about as an official entry here -- as 'original beats' are something Black people do not like. Yes, Black people are gifted at rhythmically utilizing words that, when meshed with synthesizers and bass, induce people to 'act a fool' and 'freak dance'.

Lately though, rap is going soft. No homo soft. With the collapse of the record industry, recording artists are relying on iTunes sales (because only stale old white acts from the 1960s, 70s and 80s draw big concert crowds and gate receipts) to pay the bills. Rappers are bringing back beats from the 1980s and laying down their verbiage to familiar tunes in a bid to play upon not only nostalgia, but white peoples love for the decade of the 80s.

Keeping rap and hip-hop acceptable within the white community is vital to its continued financial success. As long as white girls like to dance to rap, then white guys will tolerate listening to music from rappers and hip-hop artists that constantly denigrate them.

Such classic 1980s beats such as Alphaville's Forever Young have been utilized by a Black "musician/producer" in a bid to stay relevant. Jay-Z and Mr. Hudson used that songs beat in a song entitled Young Forever.

Perhaps it was Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Diddly P or what Sean Combs is calling himself these days that started this trend. In the 90s, he used the beat to The Police's Every Breath You Take for the song dedicated to the slain rapper, The Notorious BIG. Entitled I'll be Missing You, the song relied on the haunting beat that Sting made famous.

Puff Daddy would use the talents of Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin for the song Come with Me, which heavily sampled Kashmir. The merits and artistic quality of the song where questioned by actual musicians:

This collaboration was number twenty-seven on VH1's "Least Metal Moments"in a segment subtitled "It's All About the Zeppelin", because many metal fans and musicians didn't like the remake. Nick Menza formerly of Megadeth called the Puff Daddy/Jimmy Page collaboration "a blasphemy".

In 1998, Brett Scallions of the band Fuel (who had also offered a song for the soundtrack to Godzilla) said that the "Kashmir" remake put him off the entire film, saying: "It seems like anyone can take a classic rock song from the '60s, '70s or '80s and rap over the top of it and make a million bucks."

Stuff Black People Don't Like asks this question: How many rap, hip-hop or R&B songs utilize samples/beats from 80s songs? White people love the 80s and smart music producers hoping to keep their record company in business will capitalize on this knowledge.

What other songs from the 1980s have had their beats used in rap or hip-hop songs now? We're trying to compile the ultimate list of Black people incapable of coming up with original beats and relying on popular samples from 80s songs to garner a bunch of iTunes purchases.

Are all rappers going for their Run DMC/ Aerosmith moment?:

The 1986 music video for "Walk This Way" symbolically placed a rock band (assumed to be Aerosmith) and Run-D.M.C. in a musical duel in neighboring studios before Tyler literally breaks through the wall that separates them. The video then segues to the bands' joint performance on stage. The highly popular video was the first rap hybrid video ever played in heavy rotation on MTV and is regarded as a classic of the medium.

The # posts start again next week, but first we need your help to compile this list.