Brooklyn BattlesMasta Ace
Brooklyn Battles
1990
Marley Marl looped an Eddie Kendricks record; Ace, co-producing his own debut, made Brooklyn sound like a place to watch.
★ 3.0
The Songs canon
Sourced and sung.
Every song chosen by hand, with the recording to play it.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
The Gangsta, The Kill and the Dope Dealer
1996
Ice Cube, Mack 10 and WC trading verses, from a debut album that reached number two and went platinum.
★ 3.2
How We Do
2004
50 Cent wrote the chorus, liked it enough to take a verse, and Dre's beat carried Compton nationwide.
★ 4.7
Thuggish Ruggish BoneBone Thugs-n-Harmony
Thuggish Ruggish Bone
1994
DJ U-Neek's beat, Shatasha Williams on the hook, and the harmonized Cleveland flow Eazy-E had to be talked into releasing.
★ 5.8
How I Could Just Kill a Man
1991 · From Cypress Hill
Muggs looped Lowell Fulson's 1967 "Tramp" for the guitar and bass, and B-Real's nasal whine arrived fully formed.
★ 6.0
Check Yo Self
1993 · From The Predator
Predator-era Cube with Das EFX in tow; the remix rode the Message beat to number one R&B.
★ 6.0
Definition
1998
Hi-Tek loops Boogie Down Productions while Mos Def and Kweli revive KRS-One's demand that the violence stop.
★ 6.4
Welcome to Jamrock
2005
An Ini Kamoze sample under it, Stephen Marley at the desk, and verses answering the postcard version of Jamaica.
★ 6.5
Memory Lane (Sittin' in da Park)
1994 · From Illmatic
Nas was twenty and already writing memoir here, over DJ Premier's loop of a Reuben Wilson organ.
★ 6.5
Boyz N' Tha Hood (Eazy-E)Eazy-E
Boyz N' Tha Hood (Eazy-E)
1987
Ice Cube wrote it for a New York group who walked out; Dre pushed Eazy-E to rap it himself.
★ 6.7
One Mic
2002 · From Stillmatic
Chucky Thompson looped Phil Collins, and Nas rises from a murmur to a roar and back, verse after verse.
★ 6.8
Regulate
1994 · From Regulate...G Funk Era
Warren G looped four bars of Michael McDonald in a Long Beach bedroom, and Nate Dogg sang his half.
★ 7.3
Street Fighting ManThe Rolling Stones
Street Fighting Man
1968 · From Beggars Banquet
Richards cut the acoustic into a Philips cassette recorder until it distorted, Watts drumming on a 1930s toy kit.
★ 7.4
Shook Ones Part II
1995 · From The Infamous...
Havoc built the beat in his Queensbridge bedroom from a slowed Herbie Hancock piano figure and a Daly-Wilson drum break.
★ 8.1