Fight the Power
1989 · From Fear of a Black Planet
Spike Lee asked for a defiant anthem, and the Bomb Squad answered with layered samples and Branford Marsalis's saxophone.
★ 9.0
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.
C.R.E.A.M.
1994 · From Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
RZA looped a lonely piano figure from the Charmels, and Inspectah Deck's second verse became hip hop scripture.
★ 8.9
N.Y. State of Mind
1994 · From Illmatic
Premier built the beat on the spot; Nas nailed verse one in a take, muttering doubt into the intro.
★ 8.7
Juicy
1994 · From Ready to Die
Poke and Combs looped Mtume's Juicy Fruit, and Wallace told the rags to riches story that hip hop kept retelling.
★ 8.5
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
99 ProblemsJay-Z
99 Problems
2004 · From The Black Album
Rick Rubin's first rap production in years, a Billy Squier drum break, and a second verse about a traffic stop.
★ 8.0
The World Is Yours
1994 · From Illmatic
Ahmad Jamal's piano figure, a hook Pete Rock sang himself, and the most hopeful stretch of Illmatic.
★ 7.9
Mama Said Knock You Out
1990 · From Mama Said Knock You Out
His grandmother told him to knock them out; Marley Marl looped Funky Drummer, and the Grammy followed.
★ 7.7
Protect Ya Neck
1993 · From Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Eight MCs, a beat RZA scrapped and rebuilt, and a 12-inch the group pressed themselves before any label would.
★ 7.7
Big Poppa
1994 · From Ready to Die
Chucky Thompson built it on the Isley Brothers' Between the Sheets, and Biggie made charm sound entirely effortless.
★ 7.6
Bring the Noise
1987 · From It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
First released on the Less Than Zero soundtrack, it opens with Malcolm X and never stops arguing rap's case.
★ 7.6
Hypnotize
1997 · From Life After Death
Herb Alpert's Rise looped into a strut, released five days before Wallace was killed, number one within weeks.
★ 7.6
Life's a Bitch
1994 · From Illmatic
AZ's first appearance on record, the only rapper Nas let onto Illmatic, and his father Olu Dara closing on trumpet.
★ 7.5
EtherNas
Ether
2001 · From Stillmatic
Ron Browz's beat, handed over before he knew its target, and a release date set on Jay-Z's birthday.
★ 7.5
Big Pimpin'
1999 · From Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter
Timbaland looped a flute from a 1957 Egyptian record, and Pimp C nearly turned the beat down for sounding pop.
★ 7.4
It Ain't Hard To Tell
1994 · From Illmatic
Large Professor looped Human Nature into a hush, and Nas closed Illmatic with his most dazzling stretch of technique.
★ 7.3
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
Hard Knock LifeJay-Z
Hard Knock Life
1998 · From Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life
The 45 King looped an Annie showtune, and Jay-Z cleared it with a letter he admitted was a lie.
★ 7.2
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
Dirt Off Your Shoulder
2004 · From The Black Album
Timbaland's beat is all snap and space, and in 2008 a presidential candidate borrowed the shoulder-brush on a Raleigh stage.
★ 7.0
Ruff Ryders' Anthem
1997
DMX turned the beat down for sounding too rock; his uncles talked him into it, and Swizz Beatz arrived.
★ 6.9
Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta Fuck Wit
1994 · From Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
RZA cut it at Firehouse Studio on almost no budget, Method Man co-produced, and the chorus became the Clan's motto.
★ 6.8
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
South BronxBoogie Down Productions
South Bronx
1986 · From Criminal Minded
James Brown horns looped, an answer to MC Shan's The Bridge, and hip hop's birthplace claimed for the Bronx.
★ 6.7
Mass Appeal
1994 · From Hard to Earn
A joke about radio playlists, built on Vic Juris's "Horizon Drive," and it became Gang Starr's most recognizable record.
★ 6.6
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
My Philosophy
1988 · From By All Means Necessary
KRS-One produced it himself over a Stanley Turrentine loop, from the first album made after Scott La Rock's murder.
★ 6.5
Bring the Pain
1994
RZA's murk, Method Man's first single away from the Wu-Tang, and a title Chris Rock borrowed for his 1996 special.
★ 6.4
Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)Jay-Z
Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)
2001 · From The Blueprint
A Bobby Bland soul record from 1974, rebuilt by Kanye West, and Jay-Z sounding untouchable and unloved at the top.
★ 6.3
Ego Trippin'Ultramagnetic MC's
Ego Trippin'
1986 · From Critical Beatdown
First record to lift the Synthetic Substitution break, which hip hop never stopped using, with Kool Keith rhyming deliberately off-beat.
★ 5.8
They Want EFXDas EFX
They Want EFX
1992
EPMD signed them off a talent show they lost, and the iggedy style swallowed hip hop for two years.
★ 5.8
Oh Boy
2002
Just Blaze built the beat for Memphis Bleek, chopped a Rose Royce vocal, and Cam'ron took it to number four.
★ 5.6
Shut 'em Down
1991 · From Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black
Chuck D aimed it at corporations that profit off Black neighborhoods without reinvesting, and Pete Rock's remix outgrew the original.
★ 5.6
Still Not a Player
1997 · From Capital Punishment
Knobody flipped a Brenda Russell record, Joe sang the hook, and Pun became the first solo Latin rapper certified platinum.
★ 5.4
Moment of TruthGang Starr
Moment of Truth
1998 · From Moment of Truth
Premier's beat under Guru facing a gun charge, cut at D&D Studios and delivered as a sermon on perseverance.
★ 5.3
Hey Ma
Cam'ron and Juelz Santana
2002
DR Period built it on the Commodores' "Easy," and Cam'ron and Juelz Santana rode it to number three.
★ 5.2
Can't Nobody Hold Me Down
Sean Combs and Mase
1997
Grandmaster Flash's "The Message" under a "Break My Stride" hook, six weeks at number one, and Mase arrives.
★ 4.5
Breathe (Fabolous)
2004
Just Blaze cut it from Supertramp's Crime of the Century, and Fabolous raps it like a man being chased.
★ 4.4
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
Fuck Compton
1991
Ced-Gee of Ultramagnetic MCs built the track; a Bronx rapper aimed it at Compton and lit the coastal rivalry.
★ 2.9