Hip hop's "golden age" (or "golden era") is a name given to a period in mainstream hip hop—usually cited as between the mid-1980s and the early 1990s—said to be characterized by its diversity, quality, innovation and influence.
This music is considered the "Low" because these artist didn't rap about violence and had messages in their music. Messages for the "black" community and songs about rhyming.
There were strong themes of Afrocentrism and political militancy, while the music was experimental and the sampling, eclectic, there was often a strong jazz influence.