Rapper's Delight
1979
Big Bank Hank auditioned outside the pizzeria where he worked, rapping lines borrowed from Grandmaster Caz's notebook.
★ 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.
Nuthin' But a G Thang
Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg
1992 · From The Chronic
Dre built G-funk on a Leon Haywood sample, handed Snoop the mic, and gangsta rap reached number two.
★ 8.9
Voodoo Child (Slight Return)Jimi Hendrix
Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
1968
Cut May 3, 1968 with an ABC film crew rolling, and it became Hendrix's only British number one, posthumously.
★ 7.8
The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)
1997
Timbaland flipped Ann Peebles into stuttering space, and Hype Williams shot Elliott in an inflated suit through a fisheye.
★ 7.8
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
Scenario
1991 · From The Low End Theory
Five MCs passing the microphone, and Busta Rhymes at nineteen turning a guest verse into an entire career.
★ 7.6
Sucker MC's
1983 · From Run-D.M.C.
An Oberheim drum machine, a few scratches, and two voices. Everything before it suddenly sounded old school.
★ 7.6
Who Am I (What's My Name)
1993 · From Doggystyle
Dre stacked Atomic Dog over Parliament and Funkadelic, and Snoop's debut single walked straight into the top ten.
★ 7.6
Bo Diddley
1955 · From Bo Diddley
Jerome Green's maracas, a tremolo guitar shaking like heat haze, and the beat that took Bo Diddley's name.
★ 7.6
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
Uptown Funk
2014
Six studios, eighty-two takes at the guitar part, Ronson collapsing in the studio, and fourteen weeks at number one.
★ 7.5
Bad
1987 · From Bad
Scorsese shot eighteen minutes in a Brooklyn subway station, and the brass hits point straight back at James Brown.
★ 7.4
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
I'm a ManBo Diddley
I'm a Man
1955 · From Bo Diddley
One chord cut at Chess in March 1955, and Muddy Waters answered it with Mannish Boy by May.
★ 7.3
Eric B. is President
1986 · From Paid in Full
By Eric B.'s account he paid Marley Marl to engineer it in Queensbridge; Rakim arrived rapping like nobody before.
★ 7.3
Can I Kick It?
1991 · From People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
A borrowed Lou Reed bassline that reportedly took all the royalties, and a call-and-response hook the crowd finishes.
★ 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
Insane in the Brain
1993 · From Black Sunday
A diss aimed at Chubb Rock, by B-Real's account, over a squealing hook DJ Muggs still won't explain.
★ 7.2
Rosa Parks
1998 · From Aquemini
Andre 3000's stepfather, Reverend Robert Hodo, plays the harmonica breakdown; the woman in the title sued.
★ 7.1
Thunderstruck
1990 · From The Razors Edge
Angus called it a little guitar trick; Malcolm added the rhythm underneath, and it lands before Johnson sings a word.
★ 7.1
Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)
1992
Butler built it from an Art Blakey bassline in his father's jazz records, three voices making cool sound effortless.
★ 7.1
Award Tour
1993 · From Midnight Marauders
Q-Tip flipped a Weldon Irvine bassline, Trugoy took the hook, and the chorus name-checks cities from New York to Tokyo.
★ 7.0
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
I Know You Got SoulEric B. and Rakim
I Know You Got Soul
1987 · From Paid in Full
A Bobby Byrd loop that sent every producer digging for James Brown, and Rakim rhyming coolly off the beat.
★ 7.0
Forgot About Dre
1999 · From 2001
Eminem wrote the verses as a reference for Snoop Dogg, by Dre's account, and Dre kept the guide vocal.
★ 6.9
Who Do You LoveBo Diddley
Who Do You Love
1957 · From Bo Diddley
Jerome Green's maracas, Jody Williams on lead guitar, graveyard imagery, and a shuffle that skips the Bo Diddley beat.
★ 6.9
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
Jackson
1967 · From At Folsom Prison
Wheeler got the idea from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and Cash and Carter trade the taunts like they mean them.
★ 6.8
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
The WandererDion
The Wanderer
1961
Ernie Maresca offered it to Nino and the Ebb Tides first; buried as a B-side, it went to number two.
★ 6.7
Let Me Ride
Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg
1992 · From The Chronic
A Mothership Connection sample, RBX writing Dre's verses, and the Grammy win that turned it into a hit.
★ 6.7
It Takes Two
Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock
1988
The Think break from a 1972 Lyn Collins single, and two Harlem kids made the party record of 1988.
★ 6.6
Ready Or Not
1996 · From The Score
Uncleared, the Enya sample nearly brought a lawsuit; she heard the finished record and chose to settle instead.
★ 6.6
Jump AroundHouse of Pain
Jump Around
1992
Cypress Hill could not write to Muggs's beat and Ice Cube passed on it; it reached number three anyway.
★ 6.6
ATLiens
1996 · From ATLiens
OutKast were booed at the 1995 Source Awards and answered with a title splicing Atlanta and aliens over echo-heavy dub.
★ 6.6
Back Door ManHowlin' Wolf
Back Door Man
1961 · From Howlin' Wolf
Dixon's title was blues code for adultery, cut by Wolf at Chess and reopened by the Doors in 1967.
★ 6.6
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
No Sleep Till Brooklyn
1986 · From Licensed to Ill
Slayer's Kerry King plays the solo, the title bends Motorhead's, and Rubin welds rap to metal without apology.
★ 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
RawBig Daddy Kane
Raw
1987 · From Long Live the Kane
Marley Marl on the beat, Kane's debut twelve-inch in 1987, and a rapid-fire delivery that reset the bar.
★ 6.5
The Fat Man
1949
Cosimo Matassa's J&M studio, December 1949: Earl Palmer's backbeat, Domino's wordless wah-wah, and a million copies sold.
★ 6.5
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
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
Definition
1998
Hi-Tek loops Boogie Down Productions while Mos Def and Kweli revive KRS-One's demand that the violence stop.
★ 6.4
The JokerSteve Miller Band
The Joker
1973
A lyric lifted from "Lovey Dovey", a misheard doo-wop coinage, and a Levi's ad that made it Britain's number one.
★ 6.3
The Choice Is Yours
1991
An upright bass loop, a playground chant for a hook, and a remix that so eclipsed the original nobody plays it.
★ 6.3
So What'cha Want
1992 · From Check Your Head
Vocals barked through a karaoke microphone, Money Mark's organ underneath, the Beasties back on their own instruments at G-Son.
★ 6.3
Peter Piper
1986 · From Raising Hell
Bells lifted from a Bob James record, nursery-rhyme characters conscripted, and Jam Master Jay finally getting his own showcase.
★ 6.3
Let Me Blow Ya Mind
Eve and Gwen Stefani
2001
Ninety beats a minute, Dr. Dre and Scott Storch on the track, Gwen Stefani's hook, Eve at number two.
★ 6.3
Sixty Minute ManThe Dominoes
Sixty Minute Man
1951
Bill Brown's bass voice, not McPhatter's tenor, carried fourteen weeks at R&B number one past nervous radio programmers.
★ 6.2
Return of the Mack
1996
Tom Tom Club's Genius of Love beat rebuilt as smooth British R&B, and Morrison sounding utterly unbothered about being wronged.
★ 6.2
Got Your Money
1999
Neptunes production at its bounciest, with Kelis on the hook a month before her own debut single.
★ 6.1
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
Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)
2014 · From Run the Jewels 2
El-P's beat, de la Rocha recruited a day after a chance encounter, and the fiercest track on the album.
★ 6.0
The Humpty DanceDigital Underground
The Humpty Dance
1990
A Sly Stone drum loop, a fake nose, and Shock G inventing Humpty Hump, the funniest alter ego in rap.
★ 6.0
You Gots to Chill
1988 · From Strictly Business
More Bounce to the Ounce plus a Jungle Boogie sample, cut in West Babylon, and EPMD sounding utterly unhurried.
★ 6.0
U Can't Touch This
1990
Rick James sued over the Super Freak riff and settled for a co-writing credit; Hammer's pants did the rest.
★ 6.0
Don't Sweat the Technique
1992 · From Don't Sweat the Technique
Cut at the Hit Factory for their final album together, Eric B.'s jazz loops under Rakim's most unhurried flow.
★ 6.0
Top Billin'
1987
Milk Dee built the beat from the Impeach the President break; over 300 records borrowed it since.
★ 5.9
Milkshake
2003
A darbuka drum, finger cymbals, and almost nothing else; the Neptunes' emptiest beat became Kelis's biggest hit.
★ 5.9
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
Mercy
Kanye West and Big Sean
2012 · From Cruel Summer
An old dancehall toast opens it, the beat switches mid-song, and 2 Chainz walks off with the whole posse cut.
★ 5.8
Hold It Now, Hit It
1986 · From Licensed to Ill
Rubin piled samples where everyone else looped one, and the title itself comes from Kurtis Blow's Christmas Rappin'.
★ 5.8
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
I Get Around
1993
Shock G's beat was meant for Digital Underground, and by his account Shakur wrote Shock's verse for him.
★ 5.8
Hustlin'
2006
Produced by the Runners in 2005, it drew bids from Bad Boy and Murder Inc. before Def Jam won.
★ 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
Blow the Whistle
2006
Lil Jon's beat never cracked the Hot 100, yet it became Too Short's signature, later borrowed by Drake and Saweetie.
★ 5.7
6 Foot 7 Foot
2010 · From Tha Carter IV
Bangladesh built the beat around Harry Belafonte's Day-O, and Wayne released it six weeks after leaving jail.
★ 5.7
Started From The Bottom
2013 · From Nothing Was the Same
Mike Zombie's beat samples a Bruno Sanfilippo ambient piano piece; the title came out of a Future studio session.
★ 5.7
Flava In Ya Ear
1994
Easy Mo Bee built that beat for Apache, who was on tour; Mack took it and made 1994's sparest hit.
★ 5.7
Flawless (Remix)
Beyonce and Nicki Minaj
2014
Dropped without warning on a Saturday in August, an Outkast sample underneath, Minaj arriving to claim the rap crown.
★ 5.6
0 to 100/The Catch Up
2014
Boi-1da, Vinylz and Frank Dukes built the boast; Nineteen85 and 40 flip a James Blake sample for the reckoning.
★ 5.6
Keep Their Heads Ringin'
1995 · From Friday (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Dre and Sam Sneed rebuilt The Sequence's Funk You Up as G-funk, Nanci Fletcher singing the hook to number ten.
★ 5.6