Earliest examples of hip-hop songs with big pop/RnB hooks?

curious as to when this tactic really began, both 1) as a major chart phenomenon, and 2) as more of an underground thing that prefigured it going mainstream, if it didn't begin there.

the milestone people tend to point towards is The Chronic (dec. 1992), but surely things were already headed in that direction?

could be a newly sung hook or even just a sample serving as one, but I don't mean sort of sing-rapping, like you find in "rapper's delight" or "the message" (or even "2 legit 2 quit," where you have a shouted rap hook with a belter in the background). moreso real chorus melodies along the lines of "let me ride" (so samples are fine too), the kind of role nate dogg went on to serve, etc.

Beastie Boys to thread.

(not that any of them sing like Nate Dogg, but their stuff wasn't just an endless parade of verses...there were big sing-alongable choruses)

true. i guess stuff like "no sleep" and "girls" do have that kind of quality, even if they don't have a dedicated hook vocalist featured. were they the first ones to do it in that big anthemic way?

and either way, when did more proper singers get involved? is The Chronic really the first instance?

Even if The Chronic was ground zero for the kind of thing you're thinking about, Eminem forever ruined the idea with "Stan" in 1999 when he brought in Dido. That begat a lot of TERRIBLE shit which arrived at an all-time low with "Empire State of Mind".

The female chorus on "Bust A Move" should figure in here somewhere.

that's a great example of something on the way to where we're going, but even there, those female lines sound more like backing vocals given momentary prominence than a real pop hook. not much melody, very few actual lyrics, etc – but definitely getting there.

technically "let me ride" isn't even a great example, since while it's basically what I'm talking about, it really is just one sampled line over and over again. listening through The Chronic again for the first time in years, it's actually even less that kind of album I thought it was. The only song to have a real melodic, lyrical, fully developed "chorus" would be "The Roach" (which is entirely what I'm talking about).

there was a conventional wisdom that "It Takes Two" inspired a rise in sung hooks in rap singles in the late '80s, although obviously the number of those back then seems negligible compared to what followed in the '90s and 2000s