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
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.
Hold On (Pusha T)
2013
A Duralcha loop, Hudson Mohawke and Kanye West on the boards, and Pusha weighing his dealing past against rap money.
★ 4.3
Move that Dope
2014
P-Nasty and Mike Will Made It's beat, verses from Pharrell and Pusha T, the hardest thing on Honest.
★ 4.7
The Pusher
1968
Hoyt Axton's mother held the publishing back over its language; Easy Rider then made Steppenwolf's version unavoidable.
★ 4.8
Gone Till November
1998
A hustler's goodbye scored by the New York Philharmonic, Sonny Kompanek conducting, with Bob Dylan cameoing in the video.
★ 5.1
Hustlin'
2006
Produced by the Runners in 2005, it drew bids from Bad Boy and Murder Inc. before Def Jam won.
★ 5.8
Copperhead Road
1988
Three generations of moonshine, Vietnam and the drug trade, named an official Tennessee state song in 2023.
★ 5.9
What You KnowT.I.
What You Know
2006
DJ Toomp turned a Roberta Flack interpolation into a synth fanfare, and T.I. won a Grammy for the performance.
★ 6.4
Pusherman
1972 · From The Anthology 1961-1977
Master Henry Gibson's percussion over Lucky Scott's bass, Mayfield indicting the drug trade where the film saw only glamour.
★ 6.5
Dead Presidents IIJay-Z
Dead Presidents II
1996 · From Reasonable Doubt
Ski looped Lonnie Liston Smith under a Nas vocal, and Jay-Z made money sound like a weary confession.
★ 7.1
Izzo (H.O.V.A.)Jay-Z
Izzo (H.O.V.A.)
2001 · From The Blueprint
A Jackson 5 chop, an arena chant, and Jay-Z's first solo top ten, courtesy of a young Kanye West.
★ 7.3
Superfly
1972 · From The Anthology 1961-1977
The soundtrack took three days at RCA Chicago; Johnny Pate arranged, Henry Gibson's rototoms set the strut.
★ 7.3
White LinesGrandmaster Flash
White Lines
1983
Doug Wimbish replayed Liquid Liquid's Cavern bassline, Melle Mel wrote the warning, and Flash's name went on the label anyway.
★ 7.3
Drop It Like It's Hot
2004 · From R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece
The Neptunes built it from tongue clicks and almost nothing else, and it gave Snoop his first number one.
★ 7.6
Waterfalls
1995 · From CrazySexyCool
Organized Noize's horns, a million-dollar F. Gary Gray video, and the first number one record to confront AIDS.
★ 7.6
I'm Waiting for the ManThe Velvet Underground
I'm Waiting for the Man
1967 · From The Velvet Underground & Nico
Recorded in Hollywood with Cale on piano, the rhythm pushing like a subway train under Reed's flat delivery.
★ 7.7