Sourced and sung.
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The Message
The record that proved hip hop could report and not just party, and the edge everyone's been close to since.
Lose Yourself
Written between takes on a film set, delivered like a man with exactly one shot at everything.
Rapper's Delight
Big Bank Hank auditioned outside the pizzeria where he worked, rapping lines borrowed from Grandmaster Caz's notebook.
Fight the Power
Spike Lee asked for a defiant anthem, and the Bomb Squad answered with layered samples and Branford Marsalis's saxophone.
C.R.E.A.M.
RZA looped a lonely piano figure from the Charmels, and Inspectah Deck's second verse became hip hop scripture.
Nuthin' But a G Thang
Dre built G-funk on a Leon Haywood sample, handed Snoop the mic, and gangsta rap reached number two.
Crazy in Love
Rich Harrison looped a Chi-Lites horn fanfare; Jay-Z turned up at three in the morning and improvised his verse.
Straight Outta Compton
Dre and Yella built it in a Torrance studio on almost no money, and Compton stopped being invisible.
Stan
The 45 King looped Dido under four letters, and Eminem's fan character ended up in the Oxford dictionary.
Ms. Jackson
Andre 3000 apologizing to Erykah Badu's mother, who liked it enough to buy a Ms. Jackson license plate.
N.Y. State of Mind
Premier built the beat on the spot; Nas nailed verse one in a take, muttering doubt into the intro.
Fuck tha Police
Structured as a mock trial with Dre presiding, and it drew a warning letter from an FBI assistant director.
Dear Mama
Pizarro built it from a Joe Sample loop and the Spinners' Sadie, and the Library of Congress later archived it.
Get Ur Freak On
Timbaland set a tumbi melody over tabla and left Elliott acres of empty space to fill.
Juicy
Poke and Combs looped Mtume's Juicy Fruit, and Wallace told the rags to riches story that hip hop kept retelling.
They Reminisce Over You
Pete Rock looped a Tom Scott saxophone line, and CL Smooth's eulogy for a lost friend still aches.
Planet Rock
Bambaataa welded Kraftwerk's Trans-Europe Express to a Roland 808, and Tommy Boy paid Kraftwerk a dollar per record.
California Love
Roger Troutman's talk box over a Joe Cocker sample, and Shakur's first single after Death Row sprang him from prison.
B.O.B.
Bombs Over Baghdad at 155 beats per minute, drum and bass colliding with a gospel choir and a guitar solo.