I've been on a rap music kick, and I heard Gaddafi in a an old Rakim and an old Nas song, and I think there was a third reference I can't remember.
The only thing I know about the guy is that he and Nelson -greatest person to have ever lived- Mandela were bros. and he and Idi Amin were bros.
Why was Gaddafi popular among these rappers? If I hadn't read about Mandela's life I would never have even heard about him until his recent downfall.
So why was he so well known?
For reference I'm 29 years.
Muammar el-Qaddafi was notorious in the 1980s (Ronald Reagan labeled him the "Mad dog of the Middle East") as the premiere state sponsor of terrorism. He was best known for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. A U.S. bombing of Libya in 1986 in response to Libyan terrorist attacks in Germany killed Qaddafi's daughter.
So yes, in the 1980s Qaddafi would be a well-known figure.
The other old reference to Gaddafi that you are not remembering may have been in the movie Back to the Future. Doc Brown is in possession of nuclear material that had been stolen by Libyans. They gave it to him so he could make a nuclear bomb for them, but he uses it to power his time machine, instead. When they realize he has double crossed them, they come after him.
Another pop culture reference to Gaddafi is in the awesome film Broadcast News, where a news story about Gaddafi is an important plot point.
And yet one more pop culture reference to Gaddafi is in Saturday Night Live of the time period. Tim Kazurinsky did a very funny sketch that became a periodic bit for him on Weekend Update in which he makes fun of all of the different spellings of Gaddafi.
Basically, in the 1980s, Gaddafi was one of the flash points for tension in the middle east. he was flamboyant and dangerous, frequently threatening violence and engaging in brinksmanship with the United States. He admitted to the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, and paid reparations for it, so it's not just something that was attributed to him.