I’m a huge fan of old-school hip-hop music and have wanted for some time to put down some kind of ranking of my favorite songs from that era. I’ve been working on this post since late February, but it’s finally done now that the draft crush and our summer east coast swing are over. It started out as a top 40, then a top 50, then 75, after which I figured I’d just push it to 100. <\/p>\n
This is list is entirely my opinion, and maybe 90% of it is just about how much I personally like the songs, with the other 10% reserved for the song’s influence or importance in hip-hop history. And it’s about how the songs have held up over time, not which songs I liked when they first came out or how they fared on the charts. <\/p>\n
I’ve limited the list to songs released, either as singles or on albums, prior to 1996. That cutoff means no Jay-Z or Eminem and virtually no Nas or Outkast, to pick a few examples, but with one exception (a song recorded before the deadline but released afterwards) I stuck to the deadline for all tracks. Enjoy.<\/p>\n
100. “Check Yo Self” – Ice Cube<\/p>\n
Samples an early hip-hop classic, “The Message,” that was already dated before the 1980s ended, with guest vocals by Das Efx on the chorus. Ice Cube’s lyrics often led to controversy – something I doubt he minded since even bad publicity sells records – but I don’t think the anti-gay lines in this song would fly today like they did in the early ’90s. (Corrected on 7\/7 – added this song to remove an ineligible song from higher on the list.)<\/p>\n
99. \u201cGotta Get Mine\u201d – MC Breed featuring 2Pac<\/p>\n
No disrespect to MC Breed, who died of kidney failure when he was 38, but 2Pac is the main attraction here, one of five appearances for him on this list. Snoop Dogg references this song at the beginning of the second verse of \u201cGin and Juice.\u201d<\/p>\n
98. \u201cBlack Steel in the Hour of Chaos\u201d – Public Enemy<\/p>\n
Perhaps the greatest opening lines in the history of hip hop: \u201cI got a letter from the government\/The other day\/I opened, and read it\/It said they were suckers\/They wanted me for the army or whatever\/Picture me givin’ a damn, I said never.\u201d<\/p>\n
97. \u201cFuck tha Police\u201d – NWA<\/p>\n
I always wondered if this was mostly a publicity stunt (that worked). I’m not doubting the anti-police sentiment behind it, but the title is so clownishly incendiary that it was a lock to get negative attention in the mainstream media, which would sell more records. In that sense, it’s brilliant. The song was surpassed by its own marketing.<\/p>\n
96. \u201cWalk This Way\u201d – Run-DMC<\/p>\n
More here for its importance than the quality of the rhymes. It’s hard to express their mainstream influence unless you lived through it; they had street credibility but were inoffensive enough to be marketed to white, suburban audiences. Unfortunately most of their catalog sounded dated within a decade of its release.<\/p>\n
95. “The Humpty Dance” – Digital Underground<\/p>\n
It was written as a novelty, it became a hit as a novelty, and like most novelty hits it wrecked the artist’s career when they couldn’t produce another song just like it. That’s too bad, because they were one of the most interesting acts of the late ’80s\/early ’90s, but between this and the forgettable \u201cKiss You Back\u201d their run was good for about an album and a half.<\/p>\n
94. \u201cHoly Intellect\u201d – Poor Righteous Teachers<\/p>\n
No shot of crossover success for a group that rapped almost entirely about their Islamic faith, but the speed and quality of the rhyming here is remarkable.<\/p>\n
93. \u201cAin’t Sayin Nothin\u201d – Divine Styler<\/p>\n
Remember House of Pain’s line in \u201cOn Point\u201d about how \u201cI used to rap with the Divine Styler?\u201d He was actually a hell of an MC, and just about anything from that first album is worth listening to. His second disc was a wildly experimental jazz\/rap\/ambient fusion that was way ahead of its time, and he took a long break before coming back with a late-90s disc after his conversion to Islam that had one standout track, \u201cMake It Plain.\u201d<\/p>\n
92. \u201cChief Rocka\u201d – Lords of the Underground<\/p>\n
These guys came along a little too late, when the west coast scene was paramount and east coast groups had a harder time breaking through even if their sound was more overtly commercial.<\/p>\n
91. \u201cExpress Yourself\u201d – NWA<\/p>\n
I love hearing Dr. Dre rap about how marijuana causes \u201cbrain damage\/and brain damage on the mike can’t manage\u201d about five years before creating his magnum opus and naming it after the drug.<\/p>\n
90. \u201cTrue Fu-Schnick\u201d – Fu-Schnickens<\/p>\n
Total novelty act, but I admit, I love hearing how quickly Chip-Fu can drop rhymes. For a one-trick act, it’s a good trick.<\/p>\n
89. \u201cRock Box\u201d – Run-DMC<\/p>\n
Jam Master Jay really held this group together, as neither Run nor DMC were especially gifted rappers.<\/p>\n
88. \u201cRock the Bells\u201d – LL Cool J<\/p>\n
The low production values on a lot of early hip-hop classics, including Audio Two’s \u201cTop Billin\u201d and BDP’s \u201cCriminal Minded,\u201d makes them relatively hard to listen to today. This one survives because of the strength and ferocity of LL’s rhymes, which soon gave way to the Smoove B-like persona that dominated his later work (and set him up well for a career in Hollywood).<\/p>\n
87. \u201cHot Sex\u201d – A Tribe Called Quest<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard she likes a two-on-one like my man John Ritter.\u201d Never a big fan of Phife’s \u2013 Q-Tip carried all of the weight for the Tribe \u2013 but that’s among his best lines.<\/p>\n
86. \u201cEric B. is President\u201d – Eric B. & Rakim<\/p>\n
\u201cI came in the door\/I said it before\/I never let the mike magnetize me no more.\u201d There’s something about a debut single that makes an announcement that the artist has arrived, and the entire genre is about to get a swift kick in the ass. Rap’s greatest MC with one of its greatest DJs combine for a track that remains memorable even though it sounds like it was recorded on a handheld cassette recorder.<\/p>\n
85. \u201cAin’t No Half Steppin\u201d – Big Daddy Kane<\/p>\n
A poor cousin to his two real standout tracks, which are much further up the list.<\/p>\n
84. \u201cA Roller Skating Jam Named Saturday\u201d – De La Soul<\/p>\n
Speaking of self-immolation, why did De La Soul fight to shed the alternative-rap label that brought them so much success? I never understand artists trying to be less commercial. If you want to make less commercial music for artistic reasons, but deliberately flipping off your audience by creating less interesting content is insane.<\/p>\n
83. \u201cFunkin’ Lesson\u201d – X-Clan<\/p>\n
The Afro-centric rap movement died a quick and probably justified death, but these guys were pioneers in their heavy use of P-Funk shortly before that became the foundation for most west coast rap and the \u201cG-Funk\u201d movement.<\/p>\n
82. \u201cVapors\u201d – Biz Markie<\/p>\n
Biz Markie was a legitimate rapper before the novelty hit I won’t even deign to name here, and a pretty good beat-boxer as well.<\/p>\n
81. \u201cThe Formula\u201d – The D.O.C.<\/p>\n
The DOC appears on this list three times from his incredible and somewhat overlooked debut album, after which a bad car accident wrecked his voice and ended his hip hop career. The whole disc stands up well against The Chronic<\/i> and Doggystyle<\/i> even though it came out three years earlier, with similarly funky beats, clever wordplay, and plenty of weapon-filled boasting.<\/p>\n
80. \u201cRump Shaker\u201d – Wreckx-n-Effect<\/p>\n
Not Teddy Riley’s best track \u2013 that would be Blackstreet’s \u201cNo Diggity\u201d – but a worthwhile novelty hit with the raunchiest use of state names in rap history.<\/p>\n
79. \u201cNuttin But Love\u201d – Heavy D<\/p>\n
The Overweight Lover’s stuff hasn’t aged all that well either, although I admit a certain guilty pleasure in \u201cWe Got Our Own Thang;\u201d this track has his best rhyming by far and one of the most memorable lines in any video from the 1990s – \u201cYo, that’s that Noxzema girl!\u201d Heavy D was born in Jamaica but reggae was always a background note in his music before this album, where you could hear its influence more strongly.<\/p>\n
78. \u201cQuik is the Name\u201d – DJ Quik<\/p>\n
I remember seeing DJ Quik appear on the Billboard<\/i> top 200 albums chart and being completely confused. How the hell did someone I’d never heard of end up with a top 20 album out of nowhere? I hadn’t heard of him because west coast rap got very little airplay or even word-of-mouth on the east coast at that point; his success was regional at a time when rap was never heard on pop radio. <\/p>\n
77. \u201cOn Fire\u201d – Stetsasonic<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd rock and roll could never hip hop like this.\u201d The line that spawned an alternative classic from the 1990s by Handsome Boy Modeling School, one-half of which was Stetsasonic mastermind Prince Paul.<\/p>\n
76. \u201cWelcome to the Terrordome\u201d – Public Enemy<\/p>\n
This song seemed like a major disappointment when it came out, because it had all of the urgency of It Takes a Nation of Millions…<\/i> without the same caliber of lyrics or music; it felt like PE had rushed the track (and album) out to capitalize on the late-blooming success of their previous album. But today the urgency of the track stands out, and it marked one of Chuck D’s last great lyrical achievements before the group faded into the hip-hop background.<\/p>\n
75. \u201cNappy Heads\u201d – Fugees<\/p>\n
Did any rap act every do less with more than the Fugees? The talent involved was enormous, and yet their biggest hit was a straight-up soul remake of an adult contemporary classic. Lauryn Hill had her one amazing solo album before releasing Lauryn Hill: Unhinged<\/i>, and Wyclef has had a strong solo career, but as the Fugees one plus one plus one (Pras) equaled something less than three.<\/p>\n
74. \u201cMy Philosophy\u201d – Boogie Down Productions<\/p>\n
A six-minute rant by the literate if rather preachy KRS-ONE. I’ve wondered how BDP’s legacy would differ if DJ Scott La Rock had lived; would it be greater because their music would have been better, or would it have suffered because so much of their fame came from that tragedy?<\/p>\n
73. \u201cHip Hop Hooray\u201d – Naughty by Nature<\/p>\n
Naughty by Nature pretended to be hardcore, but most of their singles were straight-up pop songs, designed to sell lots of records. I have no problem with that, but just be what you are, right?<\/p>\n
72. \u201cCheck the Rhime\u201d – A Tribe Called Quest<\/p>\n
I’m going to run out of things to say about the Tribe soon enough.<\/p>\n
71. \u201cDroppin’ Rhymes On Drums\u201d – Def Jef<\/p>\n
Def Jef was better known as a producer and as the rapper behind the disgustingly misogynistic song \u201cGive It Here,\u201d but this track is stronger all around \u2013 better rhymes, faster pinpoint delivery, and intense backing music that makes the whole thing sound like a sprint.<\/p>\n
70. \u201cDo the Right Thing\u201d – Redhead Kingpin & the FBI<\/p>\n
Recognizable within a second for that opening sample, and led by Redhead Kingpin’s laconic delivery that eventually became the hallmark of Snoop Dogg, but one thing bothered me about this song: He never actually says what the right thing is.<\/p>\n
69. \u201cFlavor for the Non-Believes\u201d – Mobb Deep<\/p>\n
I didn’t realize how successful this duo had been until I researched them for this list \u2013 their best track for me came from their original demo, although I think most people would argue for \u201cPeer Pressure\u201d or the crude \u201cHit It From the Back.\u201d<\/p>\n
68. \u201cDon’t Sweat the Technique\u201d – Eric B. & Rakim<\/p>\n
There’s something slightly off about this track; Eric B. dropped some of the fattest beats of his career, only to have Rakim deliver what was for him a subpar performance, with slower, less inspired rhymes, which in hindsight was a bad sign for his post-breakup future. \u201cI made my debut in ’86\u201d rapped at half-speed is just cringeworthy.<\/p>\n
67. \u201cO.P.P.\u201d – Naughty by Nature<\/p>\n
Ignore, for a moment, that this too was aimed squarely at mainstream pop audiences. The song is full of clever wordplay, from the disguising of the two p-words to \u201cthrow that skeleton bone right in the closet door\u201d to \u201cyou’re now down with a discount\u201d to the inscrutable \u201clook you to the stair and to the stair window.\u201d And it’s backed up by a sample from the Jackson 5. You can’t like old-school hip hop and dislike this song.<\/p>\n
66. \u201cWhat’s My Name\u201d – Snoop Doggy Dogg<\/p>\n
Yeah, Snoop, we got it. You only say your name twelve times in every song you record.<\/p>\n
65. \u201cU Don’t Hear Me Tho’\u201d – Rodney-O and Joe Cooley<\/p>\n
Released four or five years too soon, this was G-Funk before the term existed, layered on heavy samples of P-Funk music with the same gangster ethos that Dr. Dre would later mine for great profits. The lines \u201cTime for me to kick another fly funky verse\/and if I die, put a soundsystem in my hearse\u201d is one of my favorite from the entire era.<\/p>\n
64. \u201cLet the Words Flow (a.k.a. The Power)\u201d – Chill Rob G<\/p>\n
This is the song that Snap! ripped off for their own version of \u201cThe Power,\u201d featuring slightly better production and markedly inferior rapping by something called Turbo B. (Their original version contained Chill Rob G’s vocals, but he threatened to sue and they had to re-record them.) Hip hop has seen plenty of tracks saying \u201ceveryone else’s rhymes suck,\u201d but this is one of the few that seems to actually argue that everyone else should get better, rather than just boosting the ego of the rapper making the statements.<\/p>\n
63. \u201cSouthernplayalisticadillacmuzik\u201d – Outkast<\/p>\n
One of the few hip-hop acts to hold my attention after the end of the Golden Era, Outkast just sneaked under the wire here with their first album, which came completely out of left field into a genre dominated by G-Funk at the time and that had never produced anything like the inventive music on their debut, a funky, sludgy sound that seemed to take the humidity of Atlanta summers and put it on wax.<\/p>\n
62. \u201cShake Your Rump\u201d – Beastie Boys<\/p>\n
The second-best track on one of the greatest albums in the histories of hip-hop and of alternative music (Corrected 7\/7).<\/p>\n
61. \u201cPassin’ Me By\u201d – The Pharcyde<\/p>\n
The record-buying public largely passed these guys by, a true alternative-rap act who didn’t have the commercial sound for major record sales but showed strong rhyming skills and a pervasive sense that they were having a great time laying down tracks.<\/p>\n
60. \u201cChanges\u201d – 2Pac<\/p>\n
Possibly cheating \u2013 this song was recorded in 1992, but wasn’t released as a single until 1998. But it belongs here, as it’s clearly of this era and genre and features some of 2Pac’s most intelligent and thoughtful lyrics. Discussing the plight of the black American underclass in rap lyrics without sounding trite is a major achievement when you consider how few other artists managed to pull it off. And consider these lines, written nearly twenty years ago: \u201cThere’s war on the streets\/And there’s war in the Middle East\/Instead of wary on poverty\/They got a War on Drugs so the police can bother me.\u201d Plus \u00e7a change, plus c’est la m\u00eame chose<\/i>.<\/p>\n
59. \u201cIt’s Funky Enough\u201d – The D.O.C.<\/p>\n
The fact that the samples all seem to be written in minor keys gives this song a sinister air that set it apart from most mainstream and alternative rap of the time. In the lyrics, the D.O.C. spends more time boasting about Dr. Dre’s prowess as producer than he does about his own rhyming skills.<\/p>\n
58. \u201cKeep It Underground\u201d – Lords of the Underground<\/p>\n
Not quite as campy as Onyx, but not quite as polished as Naughty by Nature, so they fell through the cracks as I mentioned above. But both of their songs on this list would have fit in well with the rap scene of the late 1980s before everything shifted with the rise of the west coast.<\/p>\n
57. \u201cStraight Outta Compton\u201d – NWA<\/p>\n
NWA’s press completely outstripped the quality of their output; they had two tremendous rappers in the fold, but their limited catalog was never as good as the hype or the controversy would indicate. They chose controversial subjects, which sold records and frankly was an important addition to a scene that had grown somewhat stale due to the lack of regional diversity. But that doesn’t make me more likely to reach for one of their records today.<\/p>\n
56. \u201cSame Song\u201d – Digital Underground<\/p>\n
The last gasp for these guys and the wax debut for 2Pac. I always loved that they named this EP release This is an EP Release<\/i>.<\/p>\n
55. \u201cLucas with the Lid Off\u201d – Lucas<\/p>\n
I believe I have two white rap artists on the list, and Lucas is one of them, although he used a sepia-toned video to obscure his race. The jazz-rap thing never really took off; there were scattered successes, a few of which are on this ranking, but as a movement it couldn’t sell enough records, instead producing more one-hit wonders like this one. Weird fact: Lucas’ father, Paul Secon, was a co-founder of Pottery Barn.<\/p>\n
54. \u201cI Got a Man\u201d – Positive K<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you a chef? Cause you keep feeding me soup.\u201d \u201cI’m not waiting, because I’m no waiter\/So when I blow up, don’t try to kick it to me later.\u201d \u201cAll confusion, you know I solve ’em\/You got a what? How long you had that problem.\u201d So many great lines, and yet never forced.<\/p>\n
53. \u201cWild Wild West\u201d – Kool Moe Dee<\/p>\n
One of the first rap songs to cross over in New York and get some time on MTV. It’s not Kool Moe Dee’s best rapping work, but the beat and (for the time) production values elevated it, and it inspired a remake and a film that we’d best pretend never happened.<\/p>\n
52. \u201cThey Want Efx\u201d – Das EFX<\/p>\n
The list of allusions in this song would make the Beastie Boys proud, and of course their \u201ciggedy\u201d style of rapping spawned a brief craze that died quickly, probably because few rappers could actually pull it off.<\/p>\n
51. \u201cBop Gun\u201d – Ice Cube<\/p>\n
The best of all of the George Clinton-inspired rap songs, in part because he appears on the track. Always liked Ice Cube holding up four fingers in the video when saying \u201cNineteen-ninety-THREE\u201d (since the video came out in ’94). Cube’s a better technical rapper than he gets credit for, but he was best known at the time for violent, hate-filled lyrics that once caused Billboard<\/i> to question whether one of his albums went beyond the boundaries of free speech.<\/p>\n
50. \u201cThe Mighty Hard Rocker\u201d – Cash Money & Marvelous<\/p>\n
Just a vintage mid\/late-80s east coast hip hop track, overlooked perhaps because they were only the second most-popular MC\/DJ combo in Philly (and unlike the other pair, in this case the DJ was the central figure rather than the MC). It also didn’t help that the record label decided to market the Fresh Prince-like \u201cFind An Ugly Woman,\u201d which didn’t showcase the skills of either member \u2013 and, worse, wasn’t funny, either.<\/p>\n
49. \u201cIt Takes Two\u201d – Rob Base & DJ EZ-Rock<\/p>\n
Hearing this song triggers a Pavlovian response in me where everything smells like Drakkar Noir. <\/p>\n
48. \u201cI Left My Wallet in El Segundo\u201d – ATCQ<\/p>\n
The best example I know of a rap song that tells a single story from start to finish, with Tribe’s trademark humor and weirdness. I actually own a limited edition 12-inch of this track on clear green vinyl. <\/p>\n
47. \u201cI Get Around\u201d – 2Pac<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I don’t know why\/Your girl keeps pagin’ me.\u201d Shock G and Money B of Digital Underground appear, but 2Pac makes it clear he was the best MC in the DU posse. The way his death was paired with Notorious B.I.G.’s as equivalent musical losses always bothered me \u2013 there’s no comparison, with 2Pac a top-5 all-time MC \u2026 when he wanted to be. Maybe in another universe he lived to see his mid-30s, stopped the \u201cThug Life\u201d front, and became hip-hop’s most literate MC. Or maybe not.<\/p>\n
46. \u201cSteppin’ to the A.M.\u201d – 3rd Bass<\/p>\n
These guys always felt like they were trying too hard to establish their street credibility, as if they couldn’t wreck a mic without thinking, \u201cWe’re white.\u201d I mean, I heard P.W. Botha never recovered from getting the gas face from MC Serch.<\/p>\n
45. \u201cLet Me Ride\u201d – Dr. Dre<\/p>\n
\u201cBodies being found on Greenleaf\/With their fuckin’ heads cut off\/Motherfucker, I’m Dre.\u201d Talk about making your impression felt. Love the Ice Cube cameo in the video.<\/p>\n
44. \u201cCan I Kick It?\u201d – ATCQ<\/p>\n
Answer: Yes, you can.<\/p>\n
43. \u201cI Got It Made\u201d – Special Ed<\/p>\n
A lot of early hip-hop tunes came in for criticism because most of their songs were about nothing more than how talented the MCs in question were, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t better boasts and worse ones. The best rappers could drop clever rhymes to make the point for them, even if the music and production weren’t anything special. The sequence of lines in \u201cI Got It Made\u201d that includes \u201cWhen I got too hot, I found a spot in the shade\/And when my dishes were dirty, I got Cascade\u201d seemed like a challenge of how far Special Ed could take the same basic rhyme and structure before he ran out of things to rhyme about.<\/p>\n
42. \u201cProtect Ya Neck\u201d – Wu-Tang Clan<\/p>\n
Wu-Tang are one of a handful of acts that ushered me out of hip-hop fandom; their style is very loose and unmetered, unlike the tighter rap style of 1980s east coast rap. You could argue that it’s almost improvisational, like a lot of jazz, but I never got into jazz either. This one track from their debut album is transitional, resembling the more structured rap hits that probably influenced these guys but with hints at the explosion that their next album would cause in the genre. My favorite Wu-Tang solo track came from my favorite Wu-Tang member on Twitter \u2013 Ghostface Killah’s \u201cDaytona 500.\u201d<\/p>\n
41. \u201cPotholes in My Lawn\u201d – De La Soul<\/p>\n
Absolutely hated this song when it first came out because it was so different from what I knew and liked of hip-hop up to that point. The problem wasn’t with the song, which boasted bluesy music and the great imagery that showed up all over 3 Feet High and Rising<\/i>, but with the closed mind of a 15-year-old. <\/p>\n
40. \u201cI Go to Work\u201d – Kool Moe Dee<\/p>\n
If I worked in an MLB marketing department and wanted to put together a four-and-a-half minute highlight clip for a star player, this would be the backing track. The music is very James Bond, and Kool Moe Dee’s rhymes are faster and better than on his better-known \u201cWild Wild West.\u201d<\/p>\n
39. \u201cDre Day\u201d – Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg<\/p>\n
The consummate diss track, with a lowbrow comic video to match. But even better now is the shot at around the 3:52 mark of the video of the guy on his cell phone the size of a brick and the shape of a satellite phone. I guess that was cutting edge in 1993.<\/p>\n
38. \u201cI Ain’t No Joke\u201d – Eric B. & Rakim<\/p>\n
Pretty sure this is the origin of the phrase \u201cas serious as cancer,\u201d as well as the song to which Shaq was referring with his \u201cslam it \u2026 and make sure it’s broke\u201d line at the end of the regrettable \u201cWhat’s Up Doc (Can We Rock?).\u201d Vintage Rakim across the board.<\/p>\n
37. \u201cThe World is Yours\u201d – Nas<\/p>\n
Recently tweeted \u201cWhose world is this?\u201d and got a slew of responses involving lines from this song, more reasons why I love my readers. Illmatic<\/i> was another rulebreaking record that didn’t do it for me when it first came out, and even now I don’t reach for any Nas tracks when I’m in the mood for hip hop \u2013 I have to be in the mood for Nas.<\/p>\n
36. \u201cStrictly Business\u201d – EPMD<\/p>\n
A solid track in its own right, elevated for me by the twin samples (\u201cLet a sucker slide once, then I break his neck\u201d and \u201cI control your body\u201d) used in Styles of Beyond’s 1999 track \u201cKiller Instinct.\u201d And Ryu of Styles of Beyond is the rapper on Crystal Method’s \u201cName of the Game,\u201d which has nothing to do with EPMD but doesn’t fit in any other comment here.<\/p>\n
35. \u201cMama Said Knock You Out\u201d – LL Cool J<\/p>\n
I feel like LL’s stature as a rap icon has dimmed as he’s become a mainstream Hollywood star, but he was relevant for almost a solid decade in the rap scene. Not only was this a tremendous track in its own right (although it’s ironic that the guy who said \u201cI think I’m gonna bomb a town!\u201d is now part of a secret spy team in LA fighting bad guys \u2026 trying to bomb that town), but with this song he was the biggest rap artist to perform his tracks live, including on live TV, with a backing band rather than just a DJ.<\/p>\n
34. \u201cStrobelite Honey\u201d – Black Sheep<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you for your time honey but ho I gotta go.\u201d These guys were considered part of the Native Tongues group, but didn’t have the alternative vibe of De La Soul or the Tribe. They were, however, two-hit wonders, with this the funnier but less enduring of the two.<\/p>\n
33. \u201cI Get the Job Done\u201d – Big Daddy Kane<\/p>\n
That whole New Jack Swing movement didn’t last long and barely made a dent in the hip-hop scene, but this one collaboration between Kane and producer Teddy Riley, the top dog in the New Jack Swing arena (and the brains behind Wreckx-n-Effect and Blackstreet), was its finest moment. And Kane gave us lines like \u201cSo when your main course ain’t doing nothin’ for ya\/Just think of me as a tasty side order.\u201d<\/p>\n
32. \u201cRunnin’\u201d – The Pharcyde<\/p>\n
I’ve wondered if there’s a timing effect in our favorite songs by certain artists \u2013 the track you hear first becomes a standard against which you compare all future tracks from that artist, so it becomes your favorite or among your favorites by default. Or is it that you’re more likely to hear a top track first, because that’s how our music industry is (or, at least, has been) structured? Anyway, this was the first Pharcyde track I heard, and I’m pretty sure it’s their best. I think.<\/p>\n
31. \u201cFight the Power\u201d – Public Enemy<\/p>\n
Although this appeared on Fear of a Black Planet<\/i>, it was much more along the lines of the best tracks on It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back<\/i>, angry, loaded with powerful allusions and strong rhetoric, backed by a funky sample-filled music track that was among their best. I wonder if Chuck D still supports Tawana Brawley, whose claims of a violent assault by white public officials and police officers were discredited before the grand jury, and who appeared in the \u201cFight the Power\u201d video.<\/p>\n
30. \u201cPaid in Full\u201d – Eric B. & Rakim<\/p>\n
I use the opening drum loop as the alarm tone on my cell phone. Stick with the original rather than the Coldcut remix.<\/p>\n
29. \u201cMind Playin’ Tricks On Me\u201d – Geto Boys<\/p>\n
Aside from some confusion over the meaning of \u201cbastard,\u201d it’s a surprisingly thoughtful effort from a group better known for rapping about violence against women.<\/p>\n
28. \u201cDirty South\u201d – Goodie Mob
\nBefore Cee-Lo was dressing up as Big Bird and performing with Muppets, he was part of a pioneering Atlanta hip-hop act that gave the Dirty South subgenre its name. (And his departure spurred the greatest diss album title ever: One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show<\/i>.) This song and album just sneaked in under the wire, coming out in November of 1995, but the extent of social commentary and criticism under all the drug references harkened back to PE’s or Native Tongues’ best work from the late ’80s.<\/p>\n
27. \u201c93 ‘Til Infinity\u201d – Souls of Mischief<\/p>\n
The failure of the Hieroglyphics collective, which included Souls of Mischief and the next artist on this list, to find a mainstream audiences is one of the great commercial tragedies of hip-hop. Souls’ MCs, who were barely out of their teens when the album came out, had an easy, natural flow, and the production by Main Source and Gang Starr gave the album a jazzy feel without making it as inaccessible or distinctly noncommercial as a lot of jazz-rap tracks. Allmusic.com compared the album favorably to A Tribe Called Quest, but I think it’s more like a West Coast version of Tribe, harder lyrically and musically but with the same laid-back vibe.<\/p>\n
26. \u201cMistadobalina\u201d – Del the Funkee Homosapien<\/p>\n
Ice Cube’s cousin. And the rapper on Gorillaz’ \u201cClint Eastwood.\u201d I’m still not entirely sure what \u201cMistadobalina\u201d is about but it’s been stuck in my head on and off for about twenty years.<\/p>\n
25. \u201cDoowutchyalike\u201d – Digital Underground<\/p>\n
The album version, which runs about seven minutes, is like a playground for Shock G and his Humpty Hump alter ego, way too long for mainstream radio, but unlike most songs of that length, it varies enough to hold your interest right up to the end. This is the track for which they should be remembered, not \u201cThe Humpty Dance,\u201d although it hasn’t worked out that way.<\/p>\n
24. \u201cJump Around\u201d – House of Pain<\/p>\n
\u201cI got more rhymes than the Bible’s got Psalms\/And just like the Prodigal Son, I’ve returned.\u201d Best use of a Biblical reference to boast about one’s rhyming prowess, bar none. Their follow-up single, \u201cOn Point,\u201d couldn’t match this song’s pop appeal, but did have a great line from Danny Boy: \u201cWell, it’s the D to the A, double-N Y B-O\/Why? Cause I rock shit like Ronnie Dio.\u201d<\/p>\n
23. \u201cMicrophone Fiend\u201d – Eric B. & Rakim<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a fiend\/Before I became a teen\/I melted microphones instead of cones or ice cream.\u201d \u201cE-f-f-e-c-t\/A smooth operator, operatin’ correctly.\u201d \u201cCool, cause I don\u2019t get upset\/I kick a hole in the speaker, pull the plug, then I eject.\u201d And that’s all from the first verse. There was no one like Rakim before he came along, and there has been no one like him since.<\/p>\n
22. \u201cNight of the Living Baseheads\u201d – Public Enemy<\/p>\n
Chuck D knew how to grab the listener’s attention with his first line, didn’t he? \u201cHere is\/Bam\/And you say God damn\/This is a dope jam.\u201d I had always thought the sample played during the chorus breaks was something about a knife, but courtesy of Wikipedia and The-Breaks.com<\/a> finally figured out last year that it’s \u201cTwas the Night\u201d from Curtis Blow’s \u201cChristmas Rappin’.\u201d<\/p>\n 21. \u201cCalifornia Love\u201d – Dr. Dre and 2Pac<\/p>\n The best combo \u2013 can’t really call it a \u201cduet\u201d – of otherwise unconnected two rap artists in history, released on December 28th, 1995, just days before the cutoff for this list. The song’s chorus was sung by Roger Troutman of the group Zapp (\u201cMore Bounce to the Ounce\u201d) in his last major appearance before he was killed by his brother in a murder-suicide.<\/p>\n 20. \u201cGin and Juice\u201d – Snoop Doggy Dogg<\/p>\n We know what #whitewhines are, so what do we call \u201cWith so much drama in the LBC\/It’s kinda hard being Snoop D-O double-G?\u201d<\/p>\n 19. \u201cSo Wat Cha Sayin’\u201d – EPMD<\/p>\n These guys boasted about their rhyming skills well above their actual abilities, but this was both their best-performed track and their strongest musically, in part because the samples didn’t overwhelm the rhymes like they did on \u201cYou Gots to Chill.\u201d I’d prefer not to hear Erick Sermon try to sing Luther Vandross again.<\/p>\n 18. \u201cThe Choice is Yours\u201d – Black Sheep<\/p>\n \u201cEngine, engine, number 9\/On the New York Transit Line\/If my train goes off the track\/Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up!\u201d It’s amazing that Black Sheep could put out two unbelievable tracks, and then never put out another song of value after that debut album.<\/p>\n 17. \u201cGhetto Bastard\u201d – Naughty by Nature<\/p>\n Of course, the one time NBN puts out a song of social commentary it doesn’t sell as well as the party tracks, so they went back to rapping about drinking and sleeping around. I can’t blame them, but there’s this barely contained rage in this song and a pretty strong argument in favor of nurture over nature.<\/p>\n 16. \u201cGoing Back to Cali\u201d – LL Cool J<\/p>\n The first alternative rap song to break through as a mainstream hit at a time when LL was veering dangerously into rap-balladeer territory. The structure is so unconventional at a time when nearly every hip-hop single followed the same pattern and subject matter that it probably only found airplay because of LL’s existing fan base, but that same break from the norm is what made it an instant classic.<\/p>\n 15. \u201cStreets of New York\u201d – Kool G Rap & DJ Polo<\/p>\n One of two of my favorite tracks built off a sample of the Fatback Band’s \u201cGotta Learn How to Dance\u201d along with Groove Armada’s \u201cMy Friend.\u201d Kool G Rap’s mouthful-of-gold-teeth style can be a little offputting, like talking to someone with a giant plug of tobacco in his cheek, but like \u201cGhetto Bastard\u201d this song has a serious point, and there’s a certain raw simplicity to it \u2013 he’s setting the scene, but offering no prescriptions \u2013 that gives it power even when the New York he’s describing has changed for the better.<\/p>\n 14. \u201cAward Tour\t\u201c – A Tribe Called Quest<\/p>\n Do dat, do dat, do do dat dat dat.<\/p>\n 13. \u201cMe, Myself And I\u201d – De La Soul<\/p>\n So was the success of this song the worst thing to happen to De La Soul? They shied away from anything commercial on future albums, and what looked like a potential Hall of Fame career (because of their willingness to ignore the norms of hip-hop lyrics) ran off the rails after one album. Why didn’t they embrace their alternative-rap status and use it to move the genre forward? Or to at least just make themselves more money? Maybe they didn’t want to recreate 3 Feet High<\/i> again, but they made it clear they wanted no part of mainstream success, and twenty years on I still don’t understand it.<\/p>\n 12. \u201cPlayer’s Ball\u201d – Outkast<\/p>\n Apparently the Player’s Ball is a real thing<\/a>, at least according to Wikipedia, which we know is never wrong. Fortunately, the song isn’t about that but about growing up in what was about to be called the Dirty South, with this staccato, off-beat delivery that sounds like you’re about to tumble down a flight of stairs.<\/p>\n 11. \u201cRebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)\u201d – Digable Planets<\/p>\n The best song to come out of the jazz-rap movement \u2013 not that that’s a high standard \u2013 built on a slowed-down riff from jazz pianist James Williams’ 1977 track \u201cStretchin’<\/a>\u201d and a drum loop from the Honeydrippers’ \u201cImpeach the President<\/a>.\u201d The rhymes are surprisingly mundane, focusing again on the rappers’ skills, but the dark, descending bass line is the star of the show here.<\/p>\n 10. \u201cRaw\u201d – Big Daddy Kane<\/p>\n See, if you’re going to dedicate the entire track to telling me about what a great MC you are, you need to back it up like this. Kane found commercial success with the Smooth Operator persona, but his legacy should start with this track, one of the best straight-up bragging songs in hip-hop history. \u201cCause I’m at my apex and others are below. Nothing but a milliliter, I’m a kilo.\u201d<\/p>\n 9. \u201cT.R.O.Y.\u201d – Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth<\/p>\n Dedicated to Trouble T-Roy, a member of Heavy D and the Boyz who died after falling from a balcony, the song is MC C.L. Smooth’s tribute to people who mattered in his life, including his single mother, an uncle who filled the role of father figure, and T-Roy. It’s smooth (he at least lives up to that part of his name) and soulful but never maudlin, and the sax sample from Tom Scott will be stuck in your head for weeks.<\/p>\n 8. \u201cNo One Can Do It Better\u201d – The D.O.C.<\/p>\n