I was born in 1970, so the decade of the 80's stand out clear in my mind. When I think of the 80's images of breakdancers and funky fly fashions flash through my head. If you did not have a Jheri Curl, you were not cool. The longer and wetter the better. In the 80's urban music was known as Rap, not Hip Hop, but we did "Hip, hop, hippy to the dippy to the hip hip hop, you don't stop the rockin,' to the bang bang boogie up jump the boogie to the rhythm of the boogity beat".

Michael Jackson was black and he was "Bad". Prince was "His Purple Majesty" and you could still verbalize his name. Everyone had a rhyme to rap, a step to dance (or break) and everyone who was anyone had Guess ? on their chest or their behind.

I also remember the tragedies of the 80's and with a child's mind I remember worrying about world affairs with fear in my heart. I used to wonder about "the button" getting pushed and the threat of nuclear war.

I remember the first time I saw a missing child on the back of a milk carton and the fear of getting "snatched" or abducted. I would run home from school clutching that house key strung around my neck with a piece of yarn, tucked safely under my shirt, looking back hoping no strange person or car was following me to my destination.

I rememember rushing home from school to watch "Yo MTV Rap" for the first time and seeing my favorite groups on the TV screen live and in person! All of the girls on my block would gather in a circle on warm Saturday afternoons learning the choreography to the music videos, especially "Thriller".

If you were a girl, you just weren't cute if you did not have a key hanging from you earring, emulating the trend set by Janet Jackson (before she dropped the last name). If you were a boy on my block, you just weren't cool if you did not have a high top fade. Girls wore asymetrical hair cuts and dyed our hair with Kool-Aid. Cherry was da bomb!

The 80's, to me, holds very dear memories. In the 80's, I blossomed from a young child into an adult, all in the same decade. Oh, how I love the 80's!