THE CITY AND THE BEATS
100 songs that tell the story of New York rap, ranked.
hip-hop started out in the parks and traveled around the globe, picking up accents and flavors in every time zone, rubbing elbows with other genres and cultures, and adapting to new climates and temperaments.
But the spark that inspired the early bombers, breakers, DJs, and rappers to revolutionize art, dance, fashion, music, and language endures in New York. When kids in the Bronx needed party music to distract from the tumult of the ’70s, DJ Kool Herc figured out how to extend the climaxes of funk records, making long and euphoric vamps out of sweet seconds of ecstasy. Drummachine fanatics took after auteurs like Prince and Miles Davis, assembling clattering
percussion parts that would lead to early-’80s gems like Run-D.M.C.’s “Sucker M.C.’s (Krush-Groove 1).” A happy studio accident in the late ’80s inspired Queens native Marley Marl to invent the art of sampling, setting the stage for the plush jazz-rap stylings of acts like A Tribe Called Quest and the abrasive kung fu rap of the Wu-Tang Clan in the ’90s as well as the Diplomats and Jay-Z in the next decade. As regionalism in rap began to ebb, stars like 50 Cent—and later Nicki Minaj—dominated via annexation, picking and choosing popular sounds and fashions to graft onto their formidable arsenals.
To decide the “best” of New York rap would only tell half the story—an uneven one—so instead, we invited a team of writers to rank a new type of local canon: 100 songs that capture the sound of the city. Old heads will tell you that New York rap is a distinct sound rooted in the thunder-andlightning interplay between kick and snare drums in an East Coast boombap track, but really, it’s an attitude, a way to be. The ongoing spirit of New York hip-hop is unbridled confidence, limitless audacity. You can see it in the aspiring musicians boosting sound systems during the 1977 blackout, then turning into professional DJs seemingly overnight; in Run-D.M.C. securing the first rap endorsement deal after repping shell-toe Adidas in their music; in a 14-year-old Roxanne Shanté flaming UTFO in “Roxanne’s Revenge”; in Raekwon’s mob epics and Ghostface’s psychedelic crime stories; in Bobby Shmurda’s gravitydefying hat and Pop Smoke’s guttural snarl. The spirit of New York hip-hop springs eternal. Real heads know.
1. Mobb Deep, “Shook Ones, Pt. II”
(1995) Havoc was sitting alone at his mother’s apartment in the Queensbridge housing projects, reeling from the flop of his debut album, when he warped a piano line from Herbie Hancock’s “Jessica” to sound like it was beckoning the listener into hell. The song transformed Mobb Deep’s career and New York rap writ large, throwing floodlights into the city’s darkest corners. Every word uttered on “Shook Ones, Pt. II” has become iconic, from Prodigy’s opening ad-libs (“To all the killers and a hundreddollar billers”) to Havoc’s desperate self-examination (“Do I deserve to live?”), from the warm hearts turned cold to the nose bones turned shiv. It’s a note-perfect mission statement for one of the genre’s greatest acts, referenced ad nauseam but never replicated.
2. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, “The Message”
(1982) Co-produced by Sugar Hill’s in-house hitmaker Clifton “Jiggs” Chase, this was written by Melle Mel and another Sugar Hill mainstay, Duke Bootee, and would go on to become the defining track of hip-hop’s first wave. A vivid storytelling masterpiece that effectively captures the nervous energy of Reagan-era NYC streets.
3. The Notorious B.I.G., “Juicy”
(1994) NYC is the birthplace of hip-hop, but when Death Row Records was dropping recordbreaking albums in the early ’90s, L.A. had the hot hand. As he’d say years later, the Notorious
B.I.G. wanted “to sell records like Snoop”—and with “Juicy,” he made his mark. Before signing to Bad Boy Records, he had sold drugs, his mama had cancer in her breast, and his first child was on the way. “Juicy” is hip-hop’s definitive declaration of the American Dream: Biggie’s perseverance through crime, unpaid bills, and disparaging teachers to achieve wealth and appreciation of his talents. As much as his own success, the song celebrated hiphop’s arrival as an artistic and cultural force. “Juicy” peaked at
No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100, and Ready to Die went double platinum a year after its release. Biggie was King of New York, and “Juicy” was his soundtrack.
4. Nas, “N.Y. State of Mind”
(1994) The first full song from Nas’s 1994 album, Illmatic, shows why hip-hop saw him as the
’90s successor to ’80s architect Rakim. While outsiders may associate NYC with the glitz of Times Square, Nas thinks of crime: shoot-outs with police, armed robberies in broad daylight, zombified drug addicts. A prodigious 20-year-old Nasir Jones dropped a different image or adage for survival (“I never sleep, ’cause sleep is the cousin of death”) in seemingly every line of his extended verses. DJ Premier’s beat, a grim soundbed with a lurking bass line, a haunting piano key, and a Rakim sample, is an equally bleak match for Nas’s rhymes. It’s one of the earliest images of the NYC that rappers would chronicle for decades with both desperation to escape and pride for home.
5. Wu-Tang Clan, “C.R.E.A.M.”
(1994) The acronym stands for “Cash rules everything around me,” and it didn’t become lingo for money just because it rolls off the tongue. The brainchild of producer-rapper RZA came with a gritty, dungeon-dwelling sound and a crew of rappers who describe their lives of crime with candor, sharpness, and a diverse assortment of personalities. This song and the album Enter the
Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) set the stage for a flood of street rappers from NYC to build on Wu-Tang’s successes, while the group itself would divide and conquer, creating solo stars before coming back together to continue its collective preeminence.
6. Bobby Shmurda, “Hot N----”
(2014) As Shmurda finishes a lengthy seven-year sentence for gang conspiracy and gun charges, New York DJs have made sure he’s remained relevant. “Hot
N----” is influenced by Chicago drill and southern trap, with the kind of rhythmic and lyrical aggression typified by GS9, the East Flatbush gang Shmurda’s a part of. It’s a song that fits with the Brooklyn drill movement happening now: menacing and boisterous, taking it to the
pavement instead of the high-rises.
7. & 8. MC Shan, “The Bridge” & KRS-One, “The Bridge Is Over”
(1986/1987) You can’t talk about seminal beefs in hip-hop without mentioning these songs, and you can’t talk about one without the other. Regional pride in hip-hop always comes with a side of ego, so when MC Shan released “The Bridge,” his point was to tell the world where he was from: the notorious, sprawling Queensbridge Houses. However, people in the city are territorial, and KRS-One, who hails from the South Bronx, vented his frustrations on “The Bridge is Over,” calling out MC Shan, as well as several other members of the Juice Crew, and asserting his dominance. And that is how the Bridge Wars were born. They’ve long since been (mostly) squashed, but they live forever in hip-hop history books.
9. M.O.P., “Ante Up (Robbin Hoodz Theory)”
(2000) Despite this song’s unapologetic ode to armed robbery and the Brownsville, Brooklyn, duo M.O.P. being the furthest thing from mainstream rap stars, “Ante Up” became ubiquitous: It has appeared or been sampled in films and TV shows, was adopted as a superstar wrestler’s theme song, and even prompted a performance by Anna Kendrick on Ellen. Hip-hop is all about taking what’s yours, and no song in the genre embodies that spirit more.
10. Roxanne Shanté, “Roxanne’s Revenge”
(1984) There is no discussion of rap without the notorious Roxanne Wars, which ran from 1984 to
1985. As history tells it, Brooklyn rap group UTFO put out a viral (by 1984 standards) song that chastised a young woman named Roxanne for not giving them the time of day. Enter a then-14-year-old rap prodigy named Roxanne Shanté, who dragged the group to hell and back using a sample of their own record. Famously freestyled and recorded in one take, “Roxanne’s Revenge” birthed a culture war that inspired anywhere from 25 to 100 response records as word of the assassinating track spread through the boroughs. You could say it invented rap’s diss economy. The track led to UTFO’s label claiming the copyright to the sample—one of the earliest cases of rap getting litigious—and forcing Shanté to remove it (and her many expletives) from later releases.
11. A Tribe Called Quest, “Scenario”
(1992) This is peak NYC Golden Era hip-hop. A Tribe Called Quest and Leaders of the New School deliver a dizzying array of lyrical acrobatics in a way that was still new to hiphop at that time, showing limitless possibilities with flows and rhythms.
12. Craig Mack, “Flava in Ya Ear” Remix
(1994) The formidable additions of labelmate the Notorious B.I.G., upcoming rappers Rampage and Busta Rhymes, and OG LL Cool J to Craig Mack’s “Flava in Ya Ear” turned remixes into an event, poised B.I.G. for launch, and handed a still new Bad Boy the crown.
13. Public Enemy, “Fight the Power”
(1989) Chuck D dissing Elvis and John Wayne, coupled with Flavor Flav’s ad-libs and a frantic yet brilliant Bomb Squad production, made a powerful statement. This track’s addition to the Do
the Right Thing soundtrack cemented its status as one of the greatest protest anthems.
14. Terror Squad, “Lean Back”
(2004) After Cuban Link and Triple Seis departed from Terror Squad acrimoniously, the reconstituted Bronx squadron leaned into Fat Joe’s pop tendencies and pulled out a chart-topping smash. The beat from Scott Storch energized the city and did big things for the producer, who subsequently made hits for 50 Cent and Jadakiss.
15. DMX, “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem”
(1998) Ruff Ryders established themselves as the direct opposite of Puff Daddy’s Bad Boy: They ditched the shiny suits for motorcycles, bandannas, and pit bulls. “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem” took that rugged aesthetic to a whole new level.
16. Big Pun ft. Joe, “Still Not a Player”
(1998) Among the many gifts with which Christopher Rios, better known as Big Pun, blessed New York City, dropping the biggest Latinx hip-hop anthem of all time, addressing the Boricuas and Morenas with shout-outs and swagger, ranks highest.
17. Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz, “Déjà Vu (Uptown Baby)”
(1997) There’s a sense in which “Déjà Vu” is the commercial promise of hip-hop realized: Lord
Tariq and Peter Gunz lift a Steely Dan song nearly wholesale, rap pridefully about how the Bronx can’t be fucked with, and end up with a top-ten hit. It still signals the arrival of summer from open car windows.
18. Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh, “La Di Da Di”
(1985) Doug E. Fresh was already a name when he plucked a young Bronxby-way-of-Britain rhymer named MC Ricky D to join his Get Fresh Crew. This single highlights their chemistry and announced the storytelling talent of the MC soon to be known as Slick Rick.
19. Gang Starr, “Mass Appeal”
(1994) “Mass Appeal” sounds like you’ve made it to the final level of a video game and the big boss simply wishes you had some dignity. Gang Starr member Guru was one of the most self-possessed rappers to ever touch a mic.
20. Onyx, “Slam”
(1993) Before Onyx, Queens representatives such as LL Cool J were swaggy and cool. But then this group from South Jamaica came storming in with baggy jeans, Timberlands, bald heads, and infectious mosh-pit energy.
21. Pete Rock & CL Smooth, “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)”
(1992) Pete Rock and CL Smooth dedicated this
Tom Scott–sampling song to the late Trouble T Roy, celebrating family and friends, immortalizing their fallen comrade, and elevating the Mount Vernon duo to legend status.
22. Ol’ Dirty Bastard, “Brooklyn Zoo”
(1995) Rhyming “Midol” with “Lysol” for probably the only time in rap history, Wu-Tang’s rowdiest MC created a haven for eccentrics in the city’s rap landscape.
23. Method Man ft. Mary J Blige, “I’ll Be There for You/You’re All I Need to Get By”
(1995) Rap’s preeminent love song started as a grimier product on Method Man’s
Tical. By adding Mary J Blige, mixes from both RZA and (then) Puff Daddy added softness to balance the edge, broadening the appeal from the slums to the suburbs.
24. Pop Smoke, “Dior”
(2019) Pop Smoke’s tragic death earlier this year shook N.Y. harder than his meteoric impact on the scene had done. His borderless Brooklyn drill sound became the defining music of New New York. This summer, “Dior” has become the city’s movement music, finding its way from dance floors to the protests’ front lines.
25. Lil’ Kim, “Crush on You”
(1996) “Crush on You” made it clear Lil’ Kim’s role was not to follow a blueprint but to stencil a new template— joining forces with stylist Misa Hylton to pair her and Lil’ Cease’s lavishly bawdy verses with richly pigmented ensembles and visuals, down to matching wigs. With one video, Kim melded street fashion with hip-hop on the mainstream stage.
26. Audio Two, “Top Billin’ ”
(1987) Simple track, simple rhymes: the components of a foundational classic. The “Impeach the President” flip has remained a no-miss sample over the years.
27. The Diplomats, “I Really Mean It”
(2003) Roc-A-Fella’s Just Blaze was among the producers revolutionizing the sped-up soul samples that became popular in the aughts. The Diplomats owned this sound, and “I Really Mean It” is Harlem’s rallying cry to rep your hood proudly.
28. Puff Daddy ft. Lil’ Kim, the LOX, and the Notorious B.I.G., “It’s All About the Benjamins (Remix)”
(1997) The jiggy era dealt in brain-freezing excess—from motorboat chase sequences in music videos to samples of disco hits that must have cost a small fortune. “It’s
All About the Benjamins (Remix)” epitomizes this in its barrage of threats, big-money bragging, and that clever Jackson 5 flip. It’ll light any tristate-area party on fire to this day.
29. Eric B. & Rakim, “Paid in Full”
(1987) When Marley Marl invited precocious teenager Rakim into his home studio and suggested he rap more animatedly, the young MC held firm, insisting that steely cool was his greatest asset. He was right: The title track from Paid in Full is a study in poise—and in the labyrinthine internal rhymes Rakim pioneered.
30. Juice Crew, “The Symphony”
(1988) A mic battle royal. “The Symphony” established the Juice Crew’s dominance as a rap collective, but producer Marley Marl created a new rap art form: the posse cut.
31. Nas, “Ether”
(2001) Jay-Z vs. Nas was a legendary war of words. When Jay dropped “Takeover” and Nas responded with “Ether” (which debuted on Hov’s birthday), the exchange marked two great MCs battling for N.Y. supremacy. Thanks to Nas, no beef is won unless you “ether” them.
32. LL Cool J, “Mama Said Knock You Out”
(1991) The Queens legend was accused of being out of touch in the era of Public Enemy and N.W.A. LL fired back with this Marley Marl–produced bomb, a declaration of dominance and creative focus as a new decade dawned.
33. Cardi B, “Bodak Yellow”
(2017) After beating out Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop (That Thing)” to have the longest-running No. 1 by a solo female rapper on the Hot 100, Cardi B signaled a new era for rap: There could be more than one female superstar at the top.
34. The Diplomats, “Dipset Anthem”
(2003) Jaws works because you don’t see the shark right away. Similarly, “Dipset Anthem” is massive, propulsive, driven by two near-percussive verses. But it’s Cam’ron’s turn in the third verse—sly, playful, sinister—that makes this one of the most iconic records of the early aughts.
35. Lost Boyz, “Jeeps, Lex Coups, Bimaz & Benz”
(1995) Lost Boyz mastered the art of balancing grimy street appeal with infectious hooks, and they showcase their winning formula on this classic single. It’s pure Queens.
36. MC Lyte, “Ruffneck”
(1993) Salt-N-Pepa normalized women who rap, but Brooklyn’s own MC Lyte came marching at you from a rooftop overlooking the Manhattan Bridge, rapping about needing a “dude with a attitude” who’ll “‘smack it, lick it, swallow it up’ style,” dressed from head to toe exactly like one of the boys she’s trying to bed. Its superior swag and male-gazing set the standard for what women were “allowed” to rap about, and generations of New York rappers followed her lead.
37. Mobb Deep, “Quiet Storm (Remix)”
(1999) “Quiet Storm” appeared on Mobb Deep’s
Murda Muzik, but the remix is an all-time great. Havoc’s cavernous production is a perfect canvas for his and Prodigy’s crime bars, and Lil’ Kim spits one of her most no-nonsense verses ever.
38. Busta Rhymes, “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See”
(1997) You can’t discuss Busta Rhymes without talking about the music videos. Inspired by the song’s African-sounding drums, Busta pays homage to the Eddie Murphy film Coming to America with
tribal glow paint and ornate décor. The visuals for this single are a masterpiece.
39. Jadakiss ft. Styles P, “We Gonna Make It”
(2001) “We Gonna Make
It” comes from the height of Ruff Ryders’ domination, serving up an iconic Jada opener: “Fuck the frail shit, ’cause when my coke come in / They gotta use the scale that they weigh the whales with.” White-linen music.
40. Public Enemy, “Rebel Without a Pause”
(1988) Public Enemy has bigger songs, but no track is more quintessentially
P.E. It’s like a siren announcing a coming crisis.
41. Jay-Z, “Dead Presidents II”
(1996) The finest example of Hov’s early allure as a mafioso rapper who could create a gritty atmosphere in his pursuit of material possessions.
42. Big Daddy Kane, “Ain’t No Half Steppin’”
(1988) Kane in full laidback mack-daddy mode, offering some of his most nimble rhymes.
43. Slick Rick, “Children’s Story”
(1989) The foundation of storytelling in hip-hop, a casual tale of cops and robbers that could be placed in any of the five boroughs. In these four minutes with no chorus, a 17-year-old is pulled into a life of crime before facing the consequences.
44. Black Moon, “I Got Cha Opin” Remix
(1994) This track sounds like bubble coats, Avirex jackets, Polo Ranger boots, and Timberland 40 Belows. Black Moon made underground hip-hop that unintentionally found its way to the light thanks to Da Beatminerz’ grimy but smooth production.
45. Kool G Rap & DJ Polo, “Streets of New York”
(1990) G Rap is the father of NYC street rap, and no song captures the essence better. The legendary rhymer sets a blueprint for gritty storytelling, and the production set a standard for ’90s hardcore.
46. Foxy Brown, “Ill Na Na”
(1996) A lightning-in-abottle moment in hip-hop. Foxy—a spitfire out of
Brooklyn who stunned with her verse on LL Cool
J’s “I Shot Ya (Remix)” as a teenager—and Lil’ Kim were still friends, and women were going platinum off sales on their debut albums.
47. Nas, “The World Is Yours”
(1994) The lyrics to this would look impossibly dense written down; on record, they spring to life like nearly everything Nas made in that blessed early period.
48. Ja Rule ft. Fat Joe and Jadakiss, “New York”
(2004) In 2004, hip-hop wrote off Ja Rule after 50 Cent’s assertions that he focused too much on radio songs. So for this single, Ja called on two of NYC’s most respected vets, Fat Joe and Jadakiss, for an anthem that paid homage to the hardcore hip-hop that runs through the city’s veins.
49. Black Star, “Definition”
(1998) When the burgeoning shiny-suit era had some hiphop fans disenchanted in the late ’90s, the Black Star duo of Mos Def and Talib Kweli represented a return to what made the art form special in the first place: empowering, thoughtfully crafted rhymes and kinetic energy.
50. Digable Planets, “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)”
(1993) Though not the first to fuse jazz and hiphop, few did so with such respect for the source material. Anchored by late-’70s Jazz Messengers bassist Dennis Irwin’s groove, the trio’s rhymes propagated downtown cool with an Afrocentric aim.
51. Cam’ron and Juelz Santana, “Oh Boy”
(2002) This stolen Just Blaze beat, originally made for Memphis Bleek, earned a No. 1 spot on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for five weeks and a series of remixes by the likes of Mariah Carey and Jay-Z.
52. The Notorious B.I.G., “Who Shot Ya?”
(1994) “Who Shot Ya?” sounds exactly like a track that accidentally launched rap’s biggest feud, between Biggie and Tupac. Dark, menacing magic.
53. Raekwon, “Ice Cream”
(1995) A classic sex cut. Rae, Ghostface Killah, and
Cappadonna each spit their game at ladies as Method Man compares them to ice-cream flavors.
54. Azealia Banks, “212”
(2011) Harlem-raised Banks wrote this hit in reference to Manhattan’s premier three digits while living on Dyckman. She burst onto the scene as a boundarybreaking force, interpolating her skillful raps with beat structures emerging from ballroom culture.
55. Smif-N-Wessun, “Bucktown”
(1994) This song sounds like riding the 3 train through Brooklyn in the early ’90s. A vivid description of street life in a rougher version of Brooklyn, when Myrtle Avenue was known by locals as “Murder Avenue.”
56. Run-D.M.C., “It’s Tricky”
(1987) Rick Rubin flipped “My Sharona” for this Über-catchy single, one of the standouts in RunD.M.C.’s oeuvre. The video was a fixture on MTV.
57. The Notorious B.I.G. & Lil’ Kim (Junior M.A.F.I.A.), “Get Money”
(1995) Junior M.A.F.I.A. introduced the world to Lil’ Kim, whose commanding flow consistently placed her toe to toe with her male peers. Nowhere is that more evident than on “Get Money,” an enthralling duet with one of the best storytellers in hiphop history, Biggie himself.
58. Kurtis Blow, “The Breaks”
(1980) While a clear outgrowth of rap’s roots in funk and disco, the first hip-hop song to go gold also evokes the blues with tales of the IRS and sleazy adulterers.
59. Cannibal Ox, “Iron Galaxy”
(2001) A counterculture alternative to shiny-suit-era excess, Vast Aire and Vordul Mega gave voice to the open-mic cipher misfits who coalesced around venues like the Nuyorican Poets Cafe.
60. Black Rob, “Whoa!”
(2000) An iconic Buckwild sampling production that still gets played out of car speakers during Harlem and Bronx summers. Black Rob’s biggest hit as a lead artist to date, filled with stream-ofconsciousness ad hominems.
61. Special Ed, “I Got It Made”
(1989) Ed was still in high school when he wrote this song. A classic tale of New York swag that still holds up.
62. DMX, “Get at Me Dog”
(1998) “Get at Me Dog” dropped during a time in hiphop when Diddy had taken over with designer labels and popping bottles. DMX was a welcome antithesis with his gravelly voice and rugged flow unlike anything that had been heard until that point.
63. LL Cool J, “I Can’t Live Without My Radio”
(1985) In many ways, LL Cool J was the first real rap star. As the face of the newly established Def Jam Recordings, he dripped with the bravado the genre was founded on. This song is a declaration of playing music loudly on a boom box, an early tone-setter for a city and a genre that made its mark by refusing to apologize.
64. The Alchemist, “Hold You Down”
(2004) The Alchemist secured ruthless verses from Prodigy and Illa Ghee to sandwich his bars. He would work closely with the Mobb Deep MC for another decade, building an enviable street canon.
65. De La Soul, “Me Myself and I”
(1989) Whether it was conventional B-boy posturing or being labeled as hippies, De La Soul hated being put into a box, and “Me Myself and I,” their Funkadelic-sampling anthem, proves they were in a category of their own. In the music video, they portray students who refute the rigidity of a classroom before walking out—a fitting analogy for one of hip-hop’s most experimental acts.
66. Big Daddy Kane, “Warm It Up, Kane”
(1989) In the three decades since Big Daddy Kane appeared, few, if any, rappers have managed to deploy such a gruff, guttural voice so nimbly. “Warm It Up, Kane” is virtuosic but cool enough to seem entirely off the cuff.
67. The LOX ft. Lil’ Kim and DMX, “Money, Power & Respect”
(1998) Lil’ Kim raps “Money, power, and respect,” laying out the three tenets of the rap game. With Puff Daddy orchestrating their introduction to the world, the LOX crafted a street anthem with mainstream appeal.
68. A Tribe Called Quest, “Check the Rhime”
(1991) Q-Tip and Phife Dawg reminisce about kicking rhymes and practicing their stage presence on Linden Boulevard in Jamaica, Queens. Both are on point all the time, but Phife stands out with his memorable verse.
69. Jay-Z and the Notorious B.I.G., “Brooklyn’s Finest”
(1996) A complementary and competitive exchange from two of hip-hop’s most skilled lyricists, “Brooklyn’s Finest” shows the then-rising Jay-Z earning his spot next to a star.
70. MF DOOM, “Doomsday”
(1999) After the death of his brother DJ Subroc brought their rap group, KMD, to a tragic end, the rapper Zev
Love X rebuilt his image in mourning and, in the process, spawned a hooded supervillain. He acknowledges his past on the hook of this standout from while laying waste to anything in his path on the verses.
71. 50 Cent, “How to Rob”
(1999) Under the tutelage of Jam Master Jay, 50 Cent was poised to be the next sensation out of Queens. This stickupkid anthem is a hilarious ode to robbing celebrities. 50’s humorous name-dropping reenergized the game.
72. Eric B. & Rakim, “Juice (Know the Ledge)”
(1992) One of the best story raps from an MC, this was one of the final high points for a duo that reinvented hip-hop over the course of four albums.
73. Black Sheep, “The Choice Is Yours (Revisited)”
(1991) Hearing the nurseryrhyme-esque lyrics “Engine engine No. 9 / On the New York transit line / If my train falls off the track” signals you to get in a crouched position and be prepared to spring up and shout, “Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up!” That’s the power of this track even 30 years later.
74. Pop Smoke, “Welcome to the Party”
(2019) “Welcome to the Party” was proof that Pop Smoke’s grind was starting to pay off, and it put Brooklyn drill on the map.
75. Salt-N-Pepa, “Let’s Talk About Sex”
(1991) The trio don’t demonize sex, but they used their platform to educate and empower women—and their legacy is better for it.
76. N.O.R.E., “Superthug”
(1998) This single catapulted the still-obscure Virginia production duo of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo and created waves across genres. Pharrell would go on to lay his fingerprints across some of pop’s biggest hits.
77. Salt-N-Pepa, “Push It”
(1987) Salt-N-Pepa popped rap’s macho bubble the moment they arrived. They were fearless and feminine as they delivered new dance moves and endless style possibilities with skintight pants, bodysuits, and lopsided haircuts.
78. De La Soul, “Buddy” Remix
(1989) The “Buddy” remix and video are the centerpiece of the Africa-medallionwearing consortium’s legacy.
79. A Tribe Called Quest, “Electric Relaxation”
(1993) A song that came to epitomize the legendary Queens crew. Phife Dawg and Q-Tip’s laid-back genius coasts over a perfect Ronnie Foster sample.
80. The Firm, “Phone Tap”
(1997) “Phone Tap” is mob business. Sinister, tense, and seriously paranoid—courtesy of some of Dr. Dre’s finest production. It remains one of the truest sounds of the New York underbelly.
81. Ultramagnetic MCs, “Ego Trippin’ ”
(1986) An uncredited producer on Boogie Down Productions’ and a direct influence on the Bomb Squad’s Public Enemy work, Ced-Gee kept that same energy for his own crew’s music.
82. Jay-Z ft. Mary J Blige, “Can’t Knock the Hustle”
(1996) This is proto-blingera mafioso rap, the street hustler graduated to big boss, and a story told in a private room while drinking premium liquor as ’80s soul plays in the background.
83. Big Pun ft. Tony Sunshine, “100%”
(2000) More than the default soundtrack to the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade, this surfaced Pun’s dexterity in pumping out radio hits while channeling the pulse of the streets.
84. Wu-Tang Clan, “Protect Ya Neck”
(1992) Labels didn’t believe a rap group made of distinctive solo acts could work. “Protect Ya Neck” descended on hip-hop like the swarm of killer bees that Wu-Tang likened themselves to.
85. Jay-Z ft. UGK, “Big Pimpin’ ”
(1999) The ’90s ushered in the rise of the South, which demanded acknowledgment of its contributions to hiphop. The Roc-A-Fella duo of Dame Dash and Jay-Z extended an olive branch to UGK, one of the fastestrising duos from Texas, to collaborate on the biggest single of Jay’s fourth album.
86. Chinx ft. French Montana, “I’m a Coke Boy”
(2012) In homage to underrated Queens rapper Royal Flush, the pair flip his “Worldwide” beat into a boastful paean to dope spots and strip joints.
87. Eric B. & Rakim, “I Ain’t No Joke”
(1987) There’s rap before Rakim and hip-hop after him. The God MC’s internal rhyme schemes showed new capabilities for lyricism, and this single changed the way rappers would rap.
88. Nicki Minaj, “Itty Bitty Piggy”
(2009) When Nicki Minaj’s rap reign started, New York was “returning” with an unlikely leader. In true NYC theater-kid, golden-era-rap, ’80s-baby fashion, the MC subverted a nursery rhyme into a bar-filled banger. This marked the start of Nicki’s decade of dominance.
89. Fat Joe ft. Ashanti and Ja Rule, “What’s Luv?”
(2002) “What’s Luv?” is as much an Irv Gotti story as anything—a testament to the Queens label mogul’s correct call that most 2000s hip-hop hits were going to need a winning combo of Fat Joe, Ashanti, and Ja Rule.
90. 50 Cent, “Wanksta”
(2002) 50 Cent’s entry into mainstream success came with the release of “Wanksta.” It also delivered a new word to the hiphop-culture lexicon.
91. Biz Markie, “Nobody Beats the Biz”
(1988) This Marley Marl production spurred a family tree of samples that reads like a list of hip-hop’s greats.
92. Run-D.M.C., “Peter Piper”
(1986) A Jam Master Jay master class, hip-hop as the originators intended: two dynamic MCs volleying like a tennis match over a classic breakbeat as the DJ cuts and mixes it up.
93. Beastie Boys, “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”
(1986) A trio of white dudes from the then-lesser-loved borough with punk in their blood but a natural sensibility for hip-hop. Inspired by nights at the famed Flatiron club Danceteria, this was an early sign rap could travel far but would always come home to NYC.
94. T La Rock, “It’s Yours”
(1984) The Def Jam origin story. The Bronx rapper’s sparse 808 kick caught talent manager Russell Simmons’s attention and inspired a 16-year-old LL Cool J to send his demo to the address he found on the LP sleeve.
95. Method Man, “Bring the Pain”
(1994) He’d broken out on Wu-Tang Clan’s first album, and this dark masterpiece announced Method Man as his own kind of star. The beat was gutter enough for the streets but hooky enough for the radio.
96. A$AP Ferg ft. A$AP Rocky, “Shabba”
(2013) Though Rocky seemed the likeliest member of the hip-hop collective A$AP Mob to succeed in the Harlem set, this dancehall-nodding single by his boisterous consigliere proved so popular it turned a mixtape drop into an album release.
97. A$AP Rocky, “Peso”
(2011) A$AP Rocky, a known lover of Houston’s choppedand-screwed scene, used his outside influences to create “Peso.” While reppin’ Harlem, he laid out what the A$AP Mob was about: high-end designers, smoking sections, and getting to the money.
98. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, “New York New York”
(1983) Melle Mel and his Sugar Hill cohort Duke Bootee speak bluntly about the criminality, poverty, and sheer desperation of being Black in the city in the 1980s.
99. Whodini, “Friends”
(1984) If the instrumental for “Friends” had come out today, it would still sound like it was beamed in from the future. It took the synthetic sounds of ’80s pop and reconfigured them to rattle your bones.
100. EPMD, “You Gots to Chill”
(1988) Erick and Parrish take the laid-back cool of Rakim and make it sound even icier on this coolerthan-thou classic. A timeless single that came to embody hip-hop’s golden age.