The 100 Greatest Hip-Hop / Rap Songs Of All Time (20-01)
Oct 12 '09 (Updated Oct 15 '09)
The Bottom Line The 100 Greatest Hip-Hop / Rap Songs Of All Time (20-01)
At last, this is it. The last call, the final chapter, the GRAND FINALE!
The 20 Greatest Rap songs ever. What made the list?
Well I am sure most of you will be shocked, amazed, and many will not agree. The point is folks, it doesn't matter who has the most potent production or who has the sickest rhymes, even though those things ARE important, it's only minute. It's about how the songs make you feel inside. How many times can you really play back the songs and enjoy them just as much as you did the first time? This is why these songs were chosen. In some way or another, these compositions have either given me great glee, joy, or have been songs that I have truly felt from start to finish. They burrowed into my soul and remain there for infinity.
Without further a-dooooo... the final list.
20. 2pac – Changes - This song… I don’t know what else to say. I know people who despise rap, I mean completely crap on hip hop night and day who love this song and consider it a diamond in the rough. Well it is certainly a diamond. Sampling Bruce Hornsby “The Way it is” and well – what else can I say? There is nothing left to say.
19. The Pharcyde – Runnin - Yes, this song is #19 and with damn good reason. It’s tough to find any hip hop song that managed to meld so many styles and so many powerful topics into one song like a Reese’s peanut butter cup. Basically, the song is about standing up and being somebody, and with it’s beautiful piano medley, DJ scratches, and legendary hook, it’s just wow. STOP SLEEPING ON THE PHARCYDE! BUY Labcabincalifornia NOW!
18. Eminem – Stan - It’s hard to find the words to describe these last few songs on the top 100, specially this one. What can I say that hasn’t been said. The Dido sample/hook, the story about a troubled and obsessed fan, the letter-writing format, the haunting piano production. I can’t say more. Won the man a Grammy.
17. Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg - Little Ghetto Boy - The best song from The Chronic, bar none. The production is pure bonafied G-Funk and just sounds clean and gorgeous. These, to me, are Snoop and Dre most passionately written lyrics on the album and they drop the blunts, 40s, and rides to speak cautionary tales about being a reckless youth on the streets and how it can lead to your downfall.
16. Mobb Deep f/ Big Noyd - Give Up The Goods (Just Step) - Speaking of cautionary tales about reckless youths – ha. Try to touch this song? This is one of the best songs, not just in hip-hop, but music. Three awesome performances added to Havoc’s most moving piece of production ever and top-notch 90s mafioso rhymes. Jeez, this is orgasmic rap.
15. The Roots f/ Musiq - Break U Off [Album Version] - Some big Roots fans may not agree, but this is the best Roots song ever made. Unless you can relate to this song, you might not love it as dearly as me. Who hasn’t had a girl or known a girl who was with a real and you wanted to snatch her away from junior and make her yours because she’s too fine and too great of a person and you feel she was put on this planet to be with YOU! Yeah, Black Thought did it. If you’re going to listen to the song, be sure that you listen to the full 7 minute album version as opposed to the 3 and a half minute single version. The full version has an extra verse that is simply spectacular and makes the song PLUS a four minute neo soul fade out.
14. Public Enemy - Shut Em Down - A lot of you were wondering which P.E. song made highest on the list – well this is it. This song is THE most powerful song that PE has ever done. Chuck D legitmately sounds angry as he lets the folks in charge have it for racial equality and is probably THE anthem representing racial pride.
13. Showbiz & A.G. - Next Level Nyte Tyme Remix - All I see is blinking lights, trackboards and phat mics, 950s, SP-12s, MP-60s. Need I say more?
12. Outkast - Elevators (Me & You) - To deny that ATLiens is one of the best rap albums ever released is foolish and stupid – it’s like denying the existence of dumb people on Earth. They’re out there. Andre 3000 and Big Boi have never EVER sounded this smooth (even though they came close) and this is the pure classic from that album. I was fighting between this and Rosa Parks as the best Outkast song, but this wins. It’s just perfect hip hop.
11. AZ - Rather Unique - Sugar Hill may have been the centerpiece from Doe or Die, but this is the masterpiece. The greatest song of AZ’s career and a seminal piece of hip hop brilliance that perfectly captures an impeccable flow, thought-provoking lyricism, and a cosmic rhyme-scheme. The song screams and defines the word "confidence" and wraps evereything together in a hugely delicious bean burrito of hip-hop that create farts of pleasure. Ugh yeah. Performance of a lifetime here.
10. Coolio - Gangstas Paradise - It shocks me that, of all the rappers ever throughout history, that COOLIO would make the top 10. I’m sorry but, this song… I mean come on, you’ve heard it. You can call him a one hit or two hit wonder all you want but DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN – what a hit. Coolio takes a classic Stevie Wonder song (Pastime Paradise) and adds LV’s unforgettable chorus and crafts it as one of the most engagingl and inspirational rap songs of the 90s. I know certain folks who, when they think rap, they think of THIS song.
09. The Fugees - Fu-Gee-La - Yes, I like this more than Ready Or Not. Fu-Gee-La had the most engaging, potent rhymes from all three members of the supergroup and it has that signature bounce that made the 90s the best decade ever. This song is pure, unadulterated mid-90s classic hip hop; an era that will NEVER return. …*cries*
08. Nas - The World is Yours - The centerpiece and masterpiece of Illmatic. Every time that Large Professor and Nas team up, it’s always excellence and this is no different. Nas’ pimp swag and confident flow is the stuff dreams are made of and is welcoming to all, including those who aren't familiar with all of the New York slang terminology. LP’s pianos are just untouchable as well. Jay-Z claims that he took a hot line from THIS SONG and made it a hot song, but the fact is, this song is volcanic in every way. Hip Hop perfection.
07. Blackstar - Brown Skin Lady - I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the Blackstar album. It has songs that just make me light up in excitement, but perhaps no song makes me smile as much as this one. Mos Def and Talib Kweli tribute the brown skinned fruitful, beautiful, smart, lovable, huggable ladies out there. I like all kinds of meat and can certainly appreciate the darker kind, but it’s the overall groove of the song and the sing-song performances that make it so important in my life, specially since the album this is on is a bit of a more traditional hip hop record; this song just breaks the mold confidently and has the style and sizzle needed to be considered one of the greatest modern masterpieces of music that makes you smile. Indeed, even my conditioning has been conditioned.
”I don't get many compliments, but I am confident
Used to have a complex about, gettin too complex”
06. TLC – Creep - I know a lot of people are shocked to see this so high. Fact is folks, you will NOT find a finer saxophone solo anywhere else in hip hop or find a song as REAL as this one. TLC makes a song that deals with a VERY real issue that almost everybody has to go through; a cheating spouse and the temptation to return the favor. I love how this song manages to cleverly merge the various emotions we go through when involved in a relationship, including the passion for our partner, the jealousy when they attain affection from another, the selfishness we display in wanting to get them back, but also the deep down caring in the fact that we don't want to hurt them, despite them hurting us. This song is a complex mix and perfectly details the emotions of pain and love; specifically from the female side of things (despite us dudes feeling it too). A true testament to the songwriting skills of the late Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes and THE definitive TLC jam of the millenium and I have no shame in bumping a song despite it being a tad bit pro-fem. Is it pop? Sure? Is it a classic? Without question. Listen to it on the 22nd AND 23rd of loneliness.
05. DMX – Slippin - ”See, to live, is to suffer, to survive, well, that’s that's to find meaning in the suffering.”. ANYBODY who is a close friend with me knows that this story mirrors certain aspects of my life. The constant roadblocks that life throws at you are covered by DMX here as well as the ability to fully understand that at times all you can do is brush yourself off and continue to move forward with your problems and learn from them. Dark Man X never made a finer song. Ever. P.S. The album has the edited version, FIND the uncut one online!
04. 2pac - So Many Tears - Just wow. I mean, is there a word stronger than perfection? Come on now folks… don’t deny it. This is like #5, except an even finer piece. This song is better than 90% of your music collection.
”Back in elementary, I thrived on misery
Left me alone I grew up amongst a dyin breed
Inside my mind couldn't find a place to rest
until I got that Thug Life tatted on my chest”
Only three remain...
03. Jay-Z f/ Mary J Blige - Can't Knock the Hustle - Here we go again. Musical Nirvana. No song, even the ones ahead of this, intertwines and melds itself as smoothly as this. Mary’s sombre and confident hook and Jay’s liquidy flow and out of this world rhyme-scheme is just… wow. I man I am legitimately speechless in describing why this is so high on the list except for the fact that it’s a song that I can play 1,000,000 times and it never gets old. Ultimately - that's more important than any sort of "creative concept".
02. 2pac – Temptations - It’s difficult for me as a writer to describe how this song makes me feel. Nearly every lyric in this song somehow describes a time in my life or a thought that I have had, specifically with the opposite sex. Lines like "and even though I'm known for my one night stand - I wanna be an honest man" are situations that many of us face daily. We love the physical nature of sexuality, but the mental nature is perhaps even more stimulating. One thing about Pac, like him or hate him, he can actually write SONGS and doesn’t just do random ridiculous battle/brag raps to fill out an album. Specially with Me Against The World, he conveyed more human emotions than almost any other hip hop record. The hook on here is the most dangerous and passionate, hell, ever. Fact is though, this song screams confidence and happyness and makes me smile each and every time that I hear it.
I knooooooooooow you've been searchin for someoooooone
To make you happy, and get the job doooooone
You say you needed, a man with moooooooney
But I can't be there, and will you still care?
And now… the NUMBER ONE Greatest Hip Hop song ever made is……….
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01. Notorious B.I.G. f/ 112 - Sky's the Limit - Indeed. This IS the Big D anthem. I have yet to find a song that describes me in one swoop than this one (the combined Black Album is about the closest thing, but that’s a whole album). I went from ashy… to classy… this is my life. I went from wearing crappy clothes and getting picked on to standing up to myself and becoming the person I became today. I was certainly “Gettin larger in waist and taste” and “Prayin God forgive us for being sinners, help us out”. Was I a drug dealer? Of course not, but you don't have to be. To be a "hustler" and achieve the top of ANYTHING in life is to have confidence in your ability and to visualize yourself as what you want and although it may not turn out the way you originally planned, your body of work and what you believe in is all that counts and all that keeps you sane. If you don't truly love yourself, you should not expect somebody else to. The best rapper of all time? It’s tough to argue when you write the manuscript for my life.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: when I die, I want this played at my funeral.
But until then…
See you chumps on top.
The 100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs Of All Time
The Foreword / Honorable Mentions
100-81
80-61
60-41
40-21
20-1
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Disagree? Agree? Wanna talk about it? You will get your chance this week!
We talked about this list on my critically acclaimed radio show Superfriends as we present Superfriends 037 - The 100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs where we discuss this in detail. We'll be joined by the MCHeadcase, an emcee from North Carolina with the ferocious appetite for emcees and cheeseburgers with cheese and ketchup as well as the great Dayo "The Warlord" Akinwande, music journalist and from Examiner and the Washington Post to pick his brilliant mind about hip hop and whether or not he agrees with the list, whether he would add to it, detract from it, and all of that.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Superfriends or you can stream the audio http://www.angrymarks.com/index.php?ArticleID=8481 also please check out http://superfriendsradio.blogspot.com for updates on the show!
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