To decide the “best” of New York rap would only tell half the story. Instead, we invited a team of writers to rank a new type of local canon: 100 songs that capture a bigger picture of the sound of the city
Photo-Illustration: Stevie Remsberg Hip-hop started out in the parks and traveled around the globe and back, picking up new accents and flavors in every region and 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 City, changing alongside the advancing generations.
97. A$AP Rocky, “Peso” A$AP Rocky, a known lover of Houston’s chopped-and-screwed scene, used his outside influences to create “Peso,” a song that plays off the trillness of his “Purple Swag.” While reppin’ Harlem, the pretty motherfucker laid out what the A$AP Mob was about: high-end designers, smoking sections, and getting to the money. —Eric Diep
93. Beastie Boys, “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” A turning point not just for rap locally but culturally, Licensed to Ill married rock and rap more organically than “Walk This Way” had done earlier in the year. MCA, Mike D, and Ad-Rock were a trio of white dudes from the then-lesser-loved Brooklyn borough who had punk in their blood but a natural sensibility for hip-hop — refined by Def Jam sensei Rick Rubin and the group’s first manager, Russell Simmons.
89. Fat Joe ft. Ashanti and Ja Rule, “What’s Luv?” Some songs just sound so indisputably 2002. Although Terror Squad’s “Lean Back” is often remembered as Fat Joe’s commercial crossover, its flirty, lighter predecessor “What’s Luv?” put Fat Joe on the map well beyond the Bronx two years earlier.
85. Jay-Z ft. UGK, “Big Pimpin’” The ’90s ushered in both the rise of the South, which demanded acknowledgment of its contributions to hip-hop, and the emergence of the video vixen. It was only natural, then, that the Roc-A-Fella duo of Dame Dash and Jay-Z would extend an olive branch to UGK, one of the fastest-rising duos from Texas at the time, to collaborate on the biggest single of Jay-Z’s fourth album, Vol. 3… Life and Times of S. Carter.
81. Ultramagnetic MCs, “Ego Trippin’” An uncredited producer on Boogie Down Productions’ Criminal Minded and a direct influence on the Bomb Squad’s Public Enemy work, Ced-Gee kept that same energy for his own crew’s music. As if that weren’t enough, this single introduced the world to the inimitable and individualistic cult rap icon Kool Keith, whose esoteric lyrical technique would serve him well in a lengthy underground solo career.
77. Salt-N-Pepa, “Push It” Salt-N-Pepa popped rap’s macho bubble the moment they entered the metaphorical ring. It was the first time a group of women had entered the mainstream as rappers — and they had a girl DJ in tow, also rare. Sugar Hill Records had previously tried to launch an all-girl rap trio, the Sequence, in the late ’70s, but that was a short-lived endeavor. “Push It” broke through during a time when only male rappers had begun dominating the charts.
Pop Smoke, whose real name was Bashar Jackson, in Brooklyn, Aug. 11, 2019. Photo: Ryan Lowry/The New York Times/RYAN LOWRY/The New York Times/Re 73. Black Sheep, “The Choice Is Yours ” Hearing the nursery-rhyme-esque lyrics “Engine engine No. 9 / On the New York transit line / If my train falls off the track” probably 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!” with all your might.
69. Jay-Z and the Notorious B.I.G., “Brooklyn’s Finest” A complementary and competitive exchange from two of hip-hop’s most skilled lyricists, “Brooklyn’s Finest” appears on Jay-Z’s debut album, Reasonable Doubt, and shows the then-rising rapper earning his spot next to a star. The MCs traded unwritten bars with a similar style of genius. —Ivie Anie
65. De La Soul, “Me, Myself and I” 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 of individuality, proved they were in a category of their own. In the music video, they portrayed students who refuted the rigidity of a classroom before walking out — a fitting analogy for one of hip-hop’s most experimental acts. —William E.
61. Special Ed, “I Got It Made” Special Ed was still in high school when he wrote this song. The Flatbush representative’s blunt lyrics , coupled with Howie Tee’s percussive production, created a classic tale of New York swag that still holds up. —Starr Rhett Rocque 57. The Notorious B.I.G. & Lil’ Kim , “Get Money” Junior M.A.F.I.A. was a hip-hop collective of young adults from Brooklyn who were brought together and molded by the visionary eye of the Notorious B.I.G. and made their own mark with their debut album Conspiracy. They also introduced the world to Lil’ Kim — a young woman with magnetism and a commanding flow that consistently placed her toe to toe with her male peers.
53. Raekwon, “Ice Cream” Wu-Tang Clan weren’t exactly known for their songs about women, but they made a classic sex cut with this group effort for Raekwon’s seminal solo debut, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Rae, Ghostface Killah, and Cappadonna each spit their game at ladies as Method Man compares them to different ice-cream flavors, all over a characteristically sparse soundbed by RZA. —William E.
49. Black Star, “Definition” When the burgeoning shiny-suit era had some hip-hop 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 so special in the first place: empowering, thoughtfully crafted rhymes and kinetic energy. —William E. Ketchum III
45. Kool G Rap & DJ Polo, “Streets of New York” It sounds like walking the block on a windy night in the winter. G Rap is the father of NYC street rap, and no song captures the essence better. The legendary rhymer sets a blueprint for grimy storytelling, and the production set a standard for ’90s hard-core. —Stereo Williams
41. Jay-Z, “Dead Presidents II” Jay-Z came out of the shadows of Jaz and Big Daddy Kane to boss up, forming his own label, Roc-A-Fella Records, in 1995 and releasing his layered debut, Reasonable Doubt, the following year. “Dead Presidents II” is the finest example of Hov’s early allure as a mafioso rapper who could create a gritty atmosphere in his pursuit of material possessions. —Eric Diep
37. Mobb Deep, “Quiet Storm, Pt. 2” “Quiet Storm” appeared on Mobb Deep’s Murda Muzik and the soundtrack for In Too Deep, 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 hardest, most no-nonsense verses ever. “My Brooklyn style speak for itself,” she righteously insists. —William E. Ketchum III
33. Cardi B, “Bodak Yellow” When Cardi B used Kodak Black’s “No Flockin” flow for “Bodak Yellow,” her magnetic confidence gave the song the edge it needed to blow up. After beating out Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop ” to have the longest-running No. 1 by a solo female rapper on the Hot 100, Cardi B signaled a new era for rap: one where there can be more than one female superstar at the top. —Eric Diep
29. Eric B. & Rakim, “Paid in Full” Rakim has never wavered. When Marley Marl invited the precocious teenager into his home studio and suggested Rakim 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. —Paul Thompson
25. Lil’ Kim, “Crush on You” Stepping out from Junior M.A.F.I.A. with the mentorship of the Notorious B.I.G., Kim sought to continue to subvert the expectations of women in rap with the unblushing, aggressive lyricism of her debut solo album, Hard Core.
21. Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, “They Reminisce Over You ” A timelessly winsome track that perfectly captures nostalgia: 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. —Stereo Williams
17. Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz, “Déjà Vu ” 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. Although the duo broke up just a couple of years after the song’s release, it still signals the arrival of summer from open car windows.
13. Public Enemy, “Fight the Power” Chuck D dissing Elvis and John Wayne, two American icons, coupled with Flavor Flav’s ad-libs and the frantic-yet-brilliant Bomb Squad production borrowing from James Brown, the Isley Brothers, and Syl Johnson, made a powerful statement: PE loved Black people and wanted to provoke a new generation of freedom fighters. They represented elements of their passion for the culture in the song’s sample choices, but also in the call out to “fight the power.
The track led to UTFO’s label, Select Records, copyright-claiming the sample — one of the earliest cases of rap getting litigious — and forcing Shanté to remove it from later releases. In one deadly line, Shanté turns the rap game on its head: “He said, ‘You call yourself an MC?’ I said, ‘This is true.’ He said, ‘Explain to me really what MCs must do.
6. Bobby Shmurda, “Hot N—–” When you watch the video for Bobby Shmurda’s “Hot Nigga” in 2020, it sounds like it could’ve been released yesterday. The Brooklyn rapper, with his undeniable charisma and star power, was going viral in 2014 before Fivio Foreign made it hip to say that. As Shmurda finishes a lengthy seven-year sentence for gang conspiracy and gun charges, New York DJs have made sure he’s remained relevant.
2. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, “The Message” 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 definitive track of hip-hop’s first wave. It’s a vivid storytelling masterpiece that effectively captures the nervous energy of Reagan-era NYC streets.
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