Hiero Freestyles: The RealAudio Collection (1993-1999)
Stinke
Photography by Viviane Oh
An ancient Internet audio format is unlocked as we convert our archive of ’90s Hiero freestyles to MP3.
Modem sound
From the early 1990’s, the Hieros were well known for their battle raps and competitive off-the-dome lyrics. Fans recorded and traded cassette tapes of their radio appearances and bootlegged concert performances. Hieroglyphics freestyles even attained mythological status in the mid-1990’s when word spread about a rumored battle between affiliated Oakland crew The Hobo Junction, igniting debates on the internet about its authenticity. Did it really happen or was it just a legend?
At Hieroglyphics.com, we started receiving cassette tape donations from the community as soon as we went online in 1995. Over time, we built up a respectable collection of Hieroglyhics freestyles which we made available for free streaming in RealAudio. This technology was a breakthrough as it encoded sound at a low bitrate, making it possible to play back instantly rather than slowly download, even over the dial-up modems of the era.
RealAudio as an audio format was eventually replaced by MP3, which gained widespread adoption in the early aughts as broadband internet became increasingly prevalent, rendering the respectively slow 56k modems of yesteryear obsolete.
Real player
Today, playing RealAudio-encoded files on modern hardware is possible but not straightforward. For instance, you can’t just open a .ram or .rm file on your phone as your browser won’t support the native playback. While “do-it-all” media programs such as VLC can be a good option, they may not be the most convenient solution (your mileage may vary).
That’s why we have done the heavy lifting for you! 💪
The original RealAudio freestyle collection from Hieroglyphics.com has been converted to MP3 and is now available for streaming or downloading on modern browsers.
