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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.
Shook Ones Part II
Havoc built the beat in his Queensbridge bedroom from a slowed Herbie Hancock piano figure and a Daly-Wilson drum break.
Sabotage
Yauch's bass line started it, Ad-Rock turned a joke about their producer into a scream, and Jonze filmed the rest.
99 Problems
Rick Rubin's first rap production in years, a Billy Squier drum break, and a second verse about a traffic stop.
It Was A Good Day
DJ Pooh looped the Isley Brothers' Footsteps in the Dark, and Ice Cube spent four minutes on an uneventful day.
Work It
Timbaland's beat under a hook Elliott had reversed, a Run-DMC sample, and ten weeks parked at number two.
In Da Club
Dre's beat was offered to D12 and Rakim before 50 Cent wrote to it and held number one nine weeks.
The World Is Yours
Ahmad Jamal's piano figure, a hook Pete Rock sang himself, and the most hopeful stretch of Illmatic.
Jesus Walks
A marching ARC Choir sample, Rhymefest's co-write, and a label convinced nobody would play a rap record about God.
Still Dre
Jay-Z wrote every line of it, Scott Storch played the piano figure, and Dre's seven-year album silence ended.
Gin & Juice
Dr. Dre produced it, George McCrae supplied the sample, and Snoop's unhurried drawl became the West Coast blueprint.
Paper Planes
Gunshots and a cash register over a Clash loop, with Brixton kids singing a hook about immigrant stereotypes.
The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)
Timbaland flipped Ann Peebles into stuttering space, and Hype Williams shot Elliott in an inflated suit through a fisheye.
Doo-wop (That Thing)
Hill wrote and produced it herself, aimed one verse at women and one at men, and debuted at number one.
Mama Said Knock You Out
His grandmother told him to knock them out; Marley Marl looped Funky Drummer, and the Grammy followed.
M.A.A.D City
Sounwave and THC build the first half, Terrace Martin the second, and MC Eiht walks in from Compton's own past.
Mind Playing Tricks On Me
An Isaac Hayes loop from Tough Guys, three verses by Scarface, and a rap record about fear rather than swagger.
Protect Ya Neck
Eight MCs, a beat RZA scrapped and rebuilt, and a 12-inch the group pressed themselves before any label would.
Stronger
West cleared the Daft Punk sample through their manager, had Timbaland reprogram the kick drums, and hit number one.
Gold Digger
Foxx sang the Ray Charles hook fresh from his Oscar for playing him, and it held number one ten weeks.
Scenario
Five MCs passing the microphone, and Busta Rhymes at nineteen turning a guest verse into an entire career.
La Di Da Di
Two voices and no instruments at all: Doug E. Fresh's beatbox under Slick Rick's storytelling, sampled ever since.
Walk This Way
Rubin had to talk Run-DMC into it; Tyler smashed through the video's wall and Aerosmith got a career back.
Big Poppa
Chucky Thompson built it on the Isley Brothers' Between the Sheets, and Biggie made charm sound entirely effortless.
Mo Money Mo Problems
Kelly Price sang the hook uncredited over Stevie J's flip of I'm Coming Out, a posthumous number one.
Feel Good Inc.
Maseo's cackle, Danger Mouse at the desk, and a song Albarn dreamed up driving past California windmills toward Coachella.
International Player's Anthem (I Choose You)
A Willie Hutch loop left alone at the top, and Andre 3000's verse reportedly returned with the drums stripped off.
Niggas in Paris
Hit-Boy's beat, a Blades of Glory sample, and twelve straight encores of it one night in Paris.
Bring the Noise
First released on the Less Than Zero soundtrack, it opens with Malcolm X and never stops arguing rap's case.
Sucker MC's
An Oberheim drum machine, a few scratches, and two voices. Everything before it suddenly sounded old school.
Who Am I (What's My Name)
Dre stacked Atomic Dog over Parliament and Funkadelic, and Snoop's debut single walked straight into the top ten.
The Next Episode
Dre and Mel-Man built it on a David McCallum orchestral cut from 1967, arranged by Axelrod, and Nate Dogg closes.
Check the Rhime
An Average White Band loop, Q-Tip and Phife trading lines, and a Queens rooftop that Linden Boulevard still remembers.
Hypnotize
Herb Alpert's Rise looped into a strut, released five days before Wallace was killed, number one within weeks.
Drop It Like It's Hot
The Neptunes built it from tongue clicks and almost nothing else, and it gave Snoop his first number one.
Money Trees
DJ Dahi slowed Beach House's guitar intro and ran it backwards, and Jay Rock's verse steals the whole record.
Paid in Full
Coldcut took 700 pounds for the remix, added Ofra Haza, and Rakim's minute-long verse reset how rappers rhymed.
Life's a Bitch
AZ's first appearance on record, the only rapper Nas let onto Illmatic, and his father Olu Dara closing on trumpet.
Ether
Ron Browz's beat, handed over before he knew its target, and a release date set on Jay-Z's birthday.