Welcome to part two of the impossible experiment. In case you missed part one, just click here. Part two provides the meat of the rankings. I also probably thought about the middle 50 the least amount, because - like I said in part one - it doesn't make much difference to me what is 44th and what is 69th. The top songs are usually clearer and the back songs are easier because you kind of know what barely made the cut when trimming the list down to 100. The middle 50 are too in between for me to obsess over specific rankings. I'll make myself go crazy if I worried about that.
Since I have so many songs, I'll just get right to it.
#79 "Kill You" - Eminem
Album: The Marshall Mathers LP
Year: 2000
Eminem came out of nowhere and got huge from The Slim Shady LP. He pissed off a lot of people. People wondered if he was a fluke and what he would do for his second album. This is the first song off The Marshall Mathers LP. It is literally a song designed to piss people off and say as many vile things as possible. He's so transparently trolling people that it's obvious he doesn't mean it. Of course, it pissed people off and the controversy allowed him to get bigger than he was before, because people took the bait - hook, line and sinker. (This was hardly a new thing in rap. Ice T, Geto Boys, and others have all gotten MORE famous because people complained about their lyrics, which only made people interested in those lyrics.)
#78 "Chief Rocka" - Lords of the Underground
Album: Here Come the Lords
Year: 1993
Even when I'm not putting a new Ready to Die song on here, I'm technically putting a Ready to Die song on here. What's that you say? How is this a Ready to Die song? It's not, but "Machine Gun Funk" samples this song and uses "I live for the funk, I die for the funk" as its chorus. That's not why I put this on here though, because this is a fantastic song on its own. CHIEF ROCKA
#77 "Paper Trail$" - Joey Bada$$
Album: B4.DA.$$ (What an obnoxious album title)
Year: 2015
I've listened to a few Joey Bada$$ songs. Not a lot. I had no indication he was capable of a song like this. He is helped by possibly the greatest hip hop producer ever, DJ Premier, and yes I think he's better than Dr. Dre. (I may try to run a tally of how many DJ Premier beats land on this list, but it's definitely up there.) The topic of the song is easily explained by his twisting of C.R.E.A.M. by saying cash ruins everything around me.
#76 "Bring the Noise" - Public Enemy
Album: It Takes a Million to Hold Us Back
Year: 1988
Well I'll say this: #77 brought maybe the worst album name I've ever seen and It Takes a Million to Hold Us Back is maybe one of the best. "Bring the Noise" is Chuck D ranting against critics, the radio stations that won't play him, and media.
#75 "Living in the World Today" - GZA
Album: Liquid Swords
Year: 1995
Judging by the song title, you could be fooled what this song is about. It's important to listen to the second part of the hook: "If you living in the world today, you be hearin' the slang that the Wu-Tang say." So it's basically about showing GZA's superiority lyrically to other rappers. Sometimes I feel like the Wu-Tang are just on another level because that's essentially what every song of theirs is about (some exceptions) and yet it never fails to prove true.
#74 "Take it in Blood"- Nas
Album: It Was Written
Year: 1996
Two Nas songs and still none from Illmatic? Don't worry it's coming. As you can imagine, I feel Nas gets a bad rap with his non-Illmatic albums. It Was Written is certainly criminally underrated. The title refers to the fact that if you're going to take money from Nas, you're going to need to take it in blood... which is how he ends the song. (Though "MCs are crawling out every hole in the slum, you be alright like blood money in a pimp's cum" is a better finishing lyric in the same song. I do understand why he didn't name the song Blood Money in a Pimp's Cum.)
#73 "How Could I Just Kill a Man" - Cypress Hill
Album: Cypress Hill
Year: 1991
If I'm being honest, this song is on this list because the beat coupled with the chorus is highly addictive and awesome. Despite having a lame rap name - B-Real really? - he's pretty good lyrically on this song and that was all I needed to put this song here.
#72 "South Bronx" - Boogie Down Productions
Album: Criminal Minded
Year: 1987
For some reason, "The Bridge is Over" is more highly regarded and famous of the BDP's diss songs in the Bridge Wars between them and the Juice Crew. This song is much better. For one thing, "The Bridge is Over" is a bunch of words that amounts to just "You guys are so gay" while South Bronx actually effectively does what it is trying to do: assert the dominance of South Bronx in hip hop, first by making fun of MC Shan's style (which has not aged well at all), by detailing the history of South Bronx in hip hop, and then finishing him off with "I didn't hear a peep from a place called Queens." Also this was the beginning of KRS-One's career as in he literally did not have one before this song happened.
#71 "Forgot About Dre" - Dr. Dre
Album: 2001
Year: 1999
Did naming your album a future year - as in if I made an album and called it 2020 - used to be cool? Because I find that hard to believe, and yet I'd have to think that because Dr. Dre did that very thing. This entire song was penned by Eminem and funny enough the weak part of it is Eminem. My guess is that he didn't want to show up Dr. Dre and ended up overcompensating by making a clearly inferior verse to the two around him. Still a great song.
#70 "Who Am I? What's My Name" - Snoop Dogg
Album: Doggystyle
Year: 1993
Snoop Dogg gets away with a lot of shit on his lyrics that other rappers can't pull off. (Also murder) Like I'm starting to think he's just not that good of a lyricist, and has been coasting by on charisma and flow this whole time. Nobody else would be able to get away with spelling their name on half their songs for 20 years. Here, where it would be most appropriate, he does NOT spell his name. He does repeat it a bunch, but the point of the song is to introduce the world to Snoop Dogg and boy was that a success. Also, give George Clinton like 90% of the credit for this song being awesome and if you don't know what I mean listen to all of "Atomic Dog."
#69 "I Got 5 On It" - Luniz
Album: Operation Stackola
Year: 1995
This particular song is probably considerably higher than your average hip hop top 100 list, if it's even on that list. But I love this song a lot. Also how do you not add a song whose lyrics include "I take sacks to the face whenever I can?" (Surely he could have come up with a different term for weed)
#68 "Harlem Streets" - Immortal Technique
Album: Revolutionary Vol. 2
Year: 2004
A song about the reality of living life in Harlem has a haunting beat and a great hook: "Homicide Harlem, BLAOW, what's the problem?" Essentially, things that aren't normal have become normal and accepted, hence the sarcastic "What's the problem?"
#67 "Renegade" - Jay-Z
Album: The Blueprint
Year: 2001
This song is well-known for playing a key part in the Nas/Jay-Z rap battle, when Nas says "Eminem murdered you on your own shit" in "Ether." While Eminem has the better verses, Jay-Z nearly matches him. There's certainly an argument to be made that I have this song way too low, since it's two of the best at the top of their games over a great beat.
#66 "Bring the Pain" - Method Man
Album: Tical
Year: 1994
Method Man is not the best Wu-Tang member, but he is clearly distinct from the other members so that you instantly know it's Method Man when he starts rapping. Not all the members have that. So it's not particularly surprising that he released the first solo album of any Wu-Tang member. "Bring the Pain" is a solid example of what he brings to the table, though my favorite thing he ever did was his work on The Wire (pretty big spoiler there).
#65 "Award Tour" - A Tribe Called Quest
Album: Midnight Mauraders
Year: 1993
Oh how I wish there was A Tribe Called Quest equivalent in 2016. They may have been the face of alternative hip hop back in the early 1990s. They were certainly the most influential. "Award Tour" is a fine example, in both sound and lyrics, of the appeal of A Tribe Called Quest. But in all seriousness, is there a more dated 90s lyric than "Coming up with more hits than the Braves and the Yankees?" Both epitomized success in the 90s and now... not so much.
#64 "Hip Hop Saved My Life" - Lupe Fiasco
Album: Lupe Fiasco's The Cool
Year: 2007
An impeccably told story about a rapper who gives up drug dealing for rapping, which is apparently about Slim Thug? Who knew? Anyway, it's not clear if he even "made it," because the end of the song is just that his freestyle got played on the radio, which is cool, but not necessarily an indication of anything.
#63 "What They Do" - The Roots
Album: Illadelph Hallife
Year: 1996
Written at at the end of the golden age of hip hop and presumably prime in the thick of 2Pac copycats, The Roots wrote a song telling people to never do what "they" do, but to do your own thing. I'd say that's a pretty good message. It's aided by a smooth, heavenly beat.
#62 "Walk This Way" - Run-DMC
Album: Raising Hell
Year: 1986
"Walk This Way" is one of the most important songs in hip hop. It vaulted hip hop into the pop music world, proving that hip hop could have a place in pop. (It also revitalized Aerosmith's career) You have to give a lot of credit to Rick Rubin for this one, because neither Run nor D.M.C liked the idea of remaking the song. They eventually did it and the rest is history.
#61 "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe" - Kendrick Lamar
Album: good kid, m.A.A.d. city
Year: 2012
This song is a much more complex song than what it would appear to be, which is probably not a surprise since it's Kendrick Lamar. I won't go into its meaning, because it's not exactly clear, but he goes after any combination of music executives, other rappers, and molly. All of them kill his vibe. It's possible he is also referring to women, though I don't think so.
#60 "Da Art of Storytellin Part 2" - Outkast
Album: Aquemini
Year: 1998
Well, I wish more songs were about the apocalypse or at least had that sense of grandeur. Andre 3000 uses the premise of an apocalypse and then makes it have the double meaning of how we don't treat Earth well. Big Boi plays it more straightforward, although I do appreciate his commitment to the bit when his last few lyrics are about how he needs to finish the verse, apocalypse be damned.
#59 "Stray Bullet" - Organized Konfusion
Album: Stress: The Extinction Agenda
Year: 1994
This song is sung from the perspective of a stray bullet. Literally. Well judging by the occasional bangs interjected, it's a few stray bullets. I can't really blame him, because a stray bullet doesn't have that many places to go. It's similar to Nas "I Gave You Power" except this came two years earlier. It effectively shows what careless shooting has the power to do.
#58 "Til I Collapse" - Eminem
Album: The Eminem Show
Year: 2002
Is there a more effective pre-game pump-up song than this? I'm not sure that there is. It's almost more effective playing this before a game than what the song is explicitly about: how Eminem won't stop killing the rap game until he dies... except for that eight-year period between The Eminem Show and Recovery where he was not killing the rap game.
#57 "Don't Sweat the Technique" - Eric B & Rakim
Album: Don't Sweat the Technique
Year: 1992
In 1986, Rakim changed the way people rapped with Paid in Full, one of the first great hip hop albums ever (certainly better than everything that came before it). By 1992, his style had integrated itself fully across hip hop. This is essentially him re-asserting his dominance over the people who copied him since then.
#56 "You Got Me" - The Roots
Album: Things Fall Apart
Year: 1999
A classic love story told in the form of a hip song with unlikely lovers and a sense of destiny to boot. Again, The Roots band elevates this song and an Erykah Badu hook makes this quite a lovely listen.
#55 "Rather Unique" - AZ
Album: Doe or Die
Year: 1995
Any reasonably big Nas fan should know who AZ is already. He's the only guest verse on Illmatic and he actually has a better verse than Nas on that song so the man has some talent. He followed that up with Doe or Die, a generally solid album that was mostly ignored, because the beats weren't anything special. Lyrically though, not a lot of people are better than AZ (at least at the time) and this song is probably the best example of that.
#54 "Gimme the Loot" - Notorious B.I.G.
Album: Ready to Die
Year: 1994
As I've said before, I think pretty much all of Ready to Die has a case to be on here. So it's hard for me to separate songs personally from each other. Gimme the Loot might be my favorite track even if I don't consider it the best because of the interplay between current Biggie and younger Biggie. He's so good at distinguishing his verses that I wouldn't be surprised if you've thought Biggie was trading quips with a completely different rapper this whole time.
#53 "Put it On" - Big L
Album: Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous
Year: 1995
Big L did not have a long rap career. He released his debut album when he was 20-years-old and wasn't able to release a second album before he died four years later at the age of 24. (He did have a few posthumous albums released). However, he was very well-respected in the short time he made his impact. This particular song doesn't attack any new subjects in rap, but his trademark flow is on full display here.
#52 "The Nigga Ya Love to Hate" - Ice Cube
Album: AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
Year: 1990
Ice Cube left NWA in December of 1989. He came out with his solo debut album five months later. That's nuts. I'm sure he had written some of it before leaving the group, but he didn't finish it the day before the album was released. At a minimum, he finished a month before the album was released. This was his first real song off that album. I'm not sure you can come up with a much better first song after breaking away from a group.
#51 "Lose Yourself" - Eminem
Album: 8 Mile
Year: 2002
Written from the perspective of B Rabbit in 8 Mile, this song could be inserted as a personal message to anyone who wants to make it in whatever field they are in. Take advantage of your opportunities and don't blow your shot. Honestly, if it wasn't for the upbeat beat, it's the type of the song that could hypothetically make you more nervous because of what he's actually saying. You may never get another shot. Well shit that's a lot of fucking pressure.
#50 "Uncommon Valor" - Jedi Mind Tricks
Album: Servants in Heaven, Kings in Hell
Year: 2006
I listen to a lot of rap music. Not many artists nor songs stray too far from the usual topics. Jedi Mind Tricks went back 30 years and talked about Vietnam. Seeing as hip hop was mostly a party genre until the late 1980s with a few notable exceptions and that most hip hop artists begin their career really young, there is essentially zero crossover between Vietnam vets and hip hop artists. Nonetheless, Jedi Mind Tricks and R.A. the Rugged Man imagine as if they were. R.A. the Rugged Man's verse (second verse) is fucking insane like listen to it now insane. Do it.
#49 "None of Your Business" - Salt-N-Pepa
Album: Very Necessary
Year: 1993
Not "Push It?" "Whatta Man?" "Let's Talk About Sex?" I actually don't know if "None of Your Business" became famous or not - although it is the 5th most played song on Spotify, but that could easily just speak to its quality and not how famous it was. Anyway, this is an extremely feminist song in a genre that... lacks that (that's about the most generous way I could phrase that.) Salt-N-Pepa are laying down the law telling people it's none of our business what their sex life is like. Just asking for a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Obviously the content matters more, but this song is also catchy as hell.
#48 "What More Can I Say?" - Jay-Z
Album: The Black Album
Year: 2003
Nothing Jay-Z. There's nothing else you can say. Also, you clearly had nothing else left to say after The Black Album because damn you dropped far. The song is clearly about how Jay-Z has reached the top of the rap game and there's nothing else for him to do but retire. Because The Black Album was supposed to be his last album.
#47 "Bring Da Ruckus" - The Wu-Tang Clan
Album: Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Year: 1993
"Shaolin shadowboxing and the Wu-Tang sword style" is the perfect intro in the The Wu-Tang's near perfect first album. It just gets you in the mood for what's about to come. The Wu-Tang aimed to have a song announce their style and there's just about no better introduction than "Bring Da Ruckus." Each of the four verses are good, but I'm a particular fan of Inspectah Deck's.
#46 "Gin and Juice" Snoop Dogg
Album: Doggystyle
Year: 1993
Party songs don't come much better than this. The beat is majestic, Snoop's verses provide the atmosphere, and the hook is one of the catchiest hooks ever. You might succeed in not singing along to the chorus, but if you're drinking and you're at a party, game over.
#45 "I Seen a Man Die" - Scarface
Album: The Diary
Year: 1994
I told you I loved Scarface. This is a reflective song where Scarface is slow and clear in order for us to take in everything. The beat is haunting, setting the mood. It's a somber reflection on the violent life people choose to live through the eyes of a recently rehabilitated young man who just got released from prison.
#44 "Yesterday" - Atmosphere
Album: When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold
Year: 2008
This song hits me like not many other songs do. The picture he paints throughout the song of a relationship that didn't end well and he can't fix it. You get on bad enough terms with someone you love that you don't talk anymore. Then that person dies and you cannot reconcile your issues. And you wish you could have, but you will never get that chance. That shit gets to me. That's not something you can just "get over." It will be with you for the rest of your life. Anyway, the song is powerful, because at first it seems like a fond memory for a typical relationship, but the ending reshapes the whole song.
#43 "Brenda's Got a Baby" - 2Pac
Album: 2Pacalypse Now
Year: 1991
Here is a well-detailed story about a mother who throws her newly born baby in the trash heap. That would seem to be a wholly unsympathetic person, but throughout the story we find out why. She's not smart, she has an absent mother, drug-addicted father, she has no role models, she's 12, and she got molested by her older cousin. I mean damn. This is all the more depressing for how plausible it is.
#42 Spottieottiedopaliscious - Outkast
Album: Aquemini
Year: 1998
A song that sounds like no other hip hop song, it features Andre 3000 and Big Boi talking - not rapping - about the night life of Atlanta and how it both provides an escape and sometimes is the cause of problems because of fights that break out at 3 am. Big Boi provides the title of the song with his Spottottiedopaliscious, which in his own words (though not on this song), describes a woman who is superfine, sexy, intelligent and jazzy all the same. It's a long song, but it's easy listening.
#41 "U.N.I.T.Y." - Queen Latifah
Album: Black Reign
Year: 1993
For as long as hip hop as been a thing, misogyny has been a problem. No where is this more evident than in the consistent and near universal use of the word bitch. This has predictably spread towards the listeners of hip hop, as hearing women casually called bitch all the time has made men think it's ok to call them that. Well Queen Latifah is fed up with that. This is her standing up for women and telling men to stop doing this.
#40 "Paul Revere" - Beastie Boys
Album: Licensed to Ill
Year: 1986
Holy shit. I just learned Licensed to Ill was originally titled Don't Be a Faggot. How fucking terrible of an idea would that have been? The record company thankfully refused to release the name under that title - for all the shit record companies get about this type of thing, they were absolutely, 100 percent correct here. Anyway, I could have gone a few different ways in choosing a Licensed to Ill song, but what better song than the song that describes the creation of the Beastie Boys itself?
#39 "Dance with the Devil" - Immortal Technique
Album: Revolutionary Vol. 1
Year: 2001
Well, I did not expect Immortal Technique to have two songs on this list before I started this project. But here we are and this one is quite something. It's a narrative rap where he describes a young man who had huge dreams of making a ton of money from hustling drugs. He is so eager to earn respect that he unknowingly rapes his mother (Listen to the song if this makes no sense to you.) This song is not to be taken literally as I'm assuming he's making the point that you shouldn't rape anyone because imagine if it was your own mother. A little blunt, but effective. Anyway, basically don't dance with the devil is the point overall.
#38 "Things Done Changed" - Notorious B.I.G.
Album: Ready to Die
Year: 1994
Biggie sets the stage for Ready to Die with "Things Done Changed," the first actual full-length song of the album. Back in the day, fights were settled with hands and people could actually go into the streets and play games. Now, everybody uses guns to settle disputes. Also it sets the mood of the album because the fact that things done changed has him stressed and presumably tired of it.
#37 "Lyrics of Fury" - Eric B & Rakim
Album: Follow the Leader
Year: 1988
I'm not sure there's a more appropriate title for Eric B & Rakim's second album than Follow The Leader, because he was the leader of the rap game at the time. Nothing shows off Rakim's lyrical skill better than this song off his second album. It also samples both James Brown and Funkadelic and you can't get much better than that.
#36 "Rewind" - Nas
Album: Stillmatic
Year: 2001
In this song, Nas tells an otherwise unremarkable, forgettable story of the fairly standard gangsta rap variety. Except for the part where he tells it in reverse. You just got to appreciate of how Nas is able to tell a Memento style story in a rap song.
#35 "Mama Said Knock You Out" - LL Cool J
Album: Mama Said Knock You Out
Year: 1991
This song has the greatest opening 12 seconds in hip history. The rest of the song is good too, but that opening 12 seconds hits you like a monsoon (Listen to the bass go boom.) This song randomly pops in my head all the time, especially that opening 12 seconds. "Don't call it a comeback" has to be one of the most memorable one-liners ever.
#34 "Still Dre" - Dr. Dre
Album: 2001
Year: 1999
Speaking of memorable opening songs, THIS BEAT hits you like a brick to the head and is good enough that it does not change one bit throughout the song and never gets old. Quite simply, this song is Dr. Dre telling people that he is still Dr. Dre.
#33 "B.O.B." - Outkast
Album: Stankonia
Year: 2000
This song is intense. It has the feeling of high speed car cheese with its frantic and rushed beat. Despite the chorus repeating "Bombs over Baghdad," this song isn't really political and that's just used because Andre 3000 thought it sounded cool. Nonetheless, these are two great verses and that beat just sucks you into the song.
#32 "Straight Outta Compton" - NWA
Album: Straight Outta Compton
Year: 1988
"You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge." That opening to this song and to the album itself is a necessary warning. You know shit's about to go down when you hear that opening. Smartly, Ice Cube gets the first verse, because Ice Cube is by far the most talented member and because he coins memorable starting lines. All the famous NWA songs were begun by Ice Cube and all of them stay in your brain. NWA didn't invent gangsta rap, but they certainly popularized it. And "Straight Outta Compton" is an excellent example of the genre done right.
#31 "Children's Story" - Slick Rick
Album: The Great Adventures of Slick Rick
Year: 1988
1988 is a pretty underrated year for rap. You got NWA at their height, Public Enemy at their height, Rakim at his height, and Slick Rick. All of these guys had completely different styles and all of them were great. Slick Rick though had - and I would argue still has - the most unique flow ever. I'm not saying it's the best, but I can't imagine anyone can replicate it. No one even tried as far as I can tell. The content of this song is probably too mature for a children's story, but it certainly is a lesson children need to know: don't rob people.
#30 "Classic (Better than I've Ever Been)" - DJ Premier feat. Rakim, Nas, & KRS-ONE
Album: None as far as I can tell
Year: 2007
Ok so I cheated a little here. The actual song includes Kanye West, but there's a version on Youtube without him on the song. Honestly, he doesn't belong on the song. Nas, KRS-One, and Rakim are lyrical masters of hip hop. Kanye is a genius producer, but not even close to their level lyrically. And DJ Premier provides the beat. So there's really no need for Kanye. I'll admit this is probably not the 30th best song of all time, but I can't say no to the only song featuring Nas, Rakim, and KRS-ONE, at least as far as I can tell. AND it's a DJ Premier beat.
#29 "9mm Go Bang" - Boogie Down Productions
Album: Criminal Minded
Year: 1987
As you can see, NWA didn't create gangsta rap as this probably qualifies as a gangsta rap song. It's near unrecognizable from what gangsta rap would become, but it has the same themes. For one thing, the tone of the song is childish - purposefully so I think. It's like he's singing it from the perspective of someone who doesn't think twice about using the gun, because he doesn't understand the consequences. I mean he kills three people in this song and doesn't seem the least bit bothered by it and this is from a dude who a year later made a movement called Stop the Violence to stop the violence in hip hop. So I don't think it's a stretch to think he's mocking people rather than glorifying it.
#28 "Regulate" - Warren G
Album: Regulate... G Funk Era
Year: 1994
The G funk era sure was short-lived. I appreciate the effort though Warren G. This is a classic back-and-forth street tale where Warren G gets robbed and later saved by Nate Dogg and then Nate Dogg takes him to a group of women. For being a Warren G song, this sure sounds like Nate Dogg's show. He gets to save his friend and get laid while Warren G stupidly goes into a dice game where he immediately gets a gun pulled on him. You'd think he be smarter than that.
#27 "Triumph" - Wu-Tang Clan
Album: Wu-Tang Forever
Year: 1997
I'm not sure if there's another song like this. This song features all nine members and the unofficial tenth member, Cappadona, over 5 and half minutes of nothing but rapping. ODB is in the intro and has a minor interjection in the middle, but that it's. ODB doesn't actually get a verse, GZA gets a total of six lines, and Cappadona's verse pales in comparison to the others, but otherwise every verse is classic Wu-Tang.
#26 "Let Me Ride" - Dr. Dre
Album: The Chronic
Year: 1992
I give credit to songs for accomplishing exactly what they are trying to do. With this song, Dr. Dre set out to create a song that you could blast in your car. There are probably a few songs that are better driving songs, but it's got to be close to the best song to bump to in your car. This is supposedly ghostwritten by RBX and he comes through in this song.
#25 "Doo Wop (That Thing)" - Lauryn Hill
Album: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Year: 1998
A lesson for both men and women: we need to watch out for those that are only after sex, fame, whatever. The point is they are not out there for true love so you shouldn't fall for those people. She dedicates a verse for the women and a verse for the men. The men's verse is more directed for men to start acting like... well men and not children.
#24 "99 Problems" - Jay-Z (No link cause Tidal)
Album: The Black Album
Year: 2003
Jay-Z lines out all of the issues he has in his life, none of which involve women, because... you know he was dating Beyonce at the time. He goes after the usual suspects: critics, rappers out to take his throne, advertisers, the paparazzi, and "man-ho." He also has an entire verse where he gets pulled over by a cop who wants to search him, but Jay-Z shows off his smarts by refusing to comply, knowing his rights. This covers just about every typical rap subject in one song. Add in a Rick Rubin beat and one of the most memorable hooks in hip hop, and you got yourself a classic.
#23 "m.A.A.d. city" - Kendrick Lamar
Album: good kid, m.A.A.d. city
Year: 2012
This is Kendrick's masterpiece as far as I'm concerned. The beat begins as a panicked, fast-pace rush as Kendrick goes through what it's like to live in the hood, such as how he first picked up on a guy he knew probably murdering someone when he was 9-years-old and how his cousin was killed in gang wars. Then it switches to a West Coast beat where the experienced "hood gangsta" MC Eiht is intent on teaching Kendrick some lessons. MC Eiht was a good choice, because his most well-known song is "Hood Took Me Under."
#22 "No Vaseline" - Ice Cube
Album: Death Certificate
Year: 1991
Diss songs don't get better than this. Ice Cube left NWA and backed off - didn't say anything about them for his first album. It's not clear how it started, but NWA went after Ice Cube in their 100 Miles and Runnin' EP, saying he was a Benedict Arnold. So Ice Cube responded with "No Vaseline." The first minute is just Ice Cube psyching himself up with clips of NWA talking and consistent "Here's what they think about you." The message was clear. They have no love for him. It creates the sense that Ice Cube reluctantly is doing this song because he knows they are done with him. And then... three verses just destroying the three key members of the NWA. There's a lot of double entendres here, most of which is a homophobic reading and the other just saying it like it is: they got screwed over monetarily by Jerry Heller.
#21 "I Used to Love H.E.R." - Common
Album: Resurrection
Year: 1994
I love this song and the reveal at the end of it is great, but I do have one slight issue with it. I feel like it could be more effective if it wasn't written in the golden age of hip hop. Granted, this was released as a single in 1993 before Wu-Tang, Nas, or Biggie released their debut albums, but there was plenty of great rap in 1992 and 1993. A Tribe Called Quest had released a few albums, The Roots just released their debut, Common would love Arrested Development's debut judging by these lyrics, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube had done a few albums, and Rakim made "Don't Sweat the Technique" the year before. But the art of how he made the song - I got to appreciate that.
That takes care of part two. Part three might not be finished tomorrow. I am scheduled to recap the baseball game so I'm not sure I'll have time to finish the post because all of my attention will be on the baseball game for three hours and an hour dedicated to writing that post. But I would like to finish it tomorrow since this has consumed my time for a good month. I'm thinking about posting the Spotify playlist to this tomorrow if anybody is interested.
No comments:
Post a Comment