What’s your favorite rap song of all time?

Question

One of my favorites is “LOVE” by Kendrick Lamar ❤️..

WhiteSteve · Accepted Answer

I have a long, long, LONG history with rap/hip-hop, so I would have to subcategorize to even get like a dozen different Top 100s “in no particular order.” As always, LOL at the haters; I’ve been dealing with them all my life😝 You should’ve seen how it was being a White rap fan BEFORE Eminem came out. That was MY struggle growing up, lmfao; “champagne problems” though, relative to real ones🤷‍♂️

But in my experience, about 80% of the time, the detractors are just racist/“culturist” on some level, and associate it with Black folks, and some negative impression they have. And that’s very, VERY fucking lame. I’ve been called racial slurs that don’t even apply to me, lmfao, just for music I listen to; these people are too much🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤣🤣🤣 The rest are easily-offended squares or haughty music purists/amateur critics. I’m unbothered by all the aforementioned groups, lmao. Lighten up and have a beer🙄 If any kind of music bothers you THAT much, that’s squarely a YOU-problem.

Anyway….. lmao…given that I’d need all day to detail the ins-and-outs of the criteria of what makes a song “my favorite”, before I even got to the task of deciding on something, I think I should give you a few songs that were standard-breakers for me. These were songs that I heard for the first time, and I was just like “OH…. well, this changes EVERYTHING.” Sort of like hearing Nirvana or Green Day when they first came out; it was a brand new sound that I didn’t even know I was looking for, and it rendered prior sounds substandard and rudimentary.

I’d say the first big one was Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg, when Nuthin’ But A G Thang dropped. Day One of The G-Funk Era, hahaha. NWA was somewhat hidden from me at the age I was at, so I kind of got it all at once with their various solo projects. Just that whole first Dre album, at the time it dropped, right after the Rodney King bullshit and ensuing LA riots…. it was more powerful than you could understand if you weren’t there for it in its time. But this really kicked off the West Coast run of the 90s…

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ne_hVxwEGCg

This song, the video…. this just profoundly AFFECTED ME, lmao. I was just like “if it’s not in THIS vein right here?; then I don’t want to hear it.” That slow, smooth beat; that entrancing high-pitched synthesizer noise; that West Coast khaki suit clothing style, the low-rider classic cars…. it all blew my mind; and never experienced anything so cool.

Back here in the East, a few songs changed the course of rap on this side. New York City was the birthplace of the genre, and had their own answers to this newfound LA style. A Tribe Called Quest came out, and it was this amazing new brand of jazz-infused rap, and if you didn’t like the gangsta stuff, these guys were all part of a “conscious” rap movement. “Check The Rhime” kind of ushered in that sound. And MAN, do I miss wearing baseball jerseys, lmao, that was an elite style😝

https://www.youtube.com/embed/1QWEPdgS3As

Wu-Tang Clan’s “C. R. E. A. M.” was another one. These guys were just different in a way I couldn’t quite describe. Gritty, raw, but a whole new style of lyricism. And there were like nine of them, lmao, you had to be able to find at least a few rappers you liked. These guys were really influential to my fashion style as a teenager, much to my parents’ dismay😂

https://www.youtube.com/embed/PBwAxmrE194

And of course, there was Nas. This guy just raised the bar lyrically. Hip-hop was coming out of its early years, this guy Rakim had taken us out of the elementary stages of basic rhymes and developed a less choppy flow, and was actually SAYING SOMETHING. He walked so Nas could run. The first time I heard Nas’ Illmatic, I was blown away. Still one of the greatest masterpieces of the genre to this day.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/2U9bQbRrsV0

The next, and maybe greatest-in-the-moment mind-blower was Eminem, who I discovered through Emerson College radio’s hip-hop show a couple years before he blew up. I hyped him to SO MANY people, and no one listened to me. Then the same people called me up to tell me about this new white rapper who I’ve gotta hear🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️😂😂😂 But anyway, this was the first song I ever heard from him (on the radio…. i didn’t know he was a fellow white dude for over a year, lmao)…

https://www.youtube.com/embed/RtFR0yof930

🎶I’m buzzin’, Dirty Dozen, naughty-writin’ rhymer/Cursin’ at you players worse than Marty Schottenheimer🎶

I was like “bro…Marty Schottenheimer? MARTY SCHOTTENHEIMER? That’s CRAZY. I’m sold.”🤣🤣🤣

Shortly after Em came along, I was in college and got on my hipper-than-thou underground rap kick, and BlackStar (Mos Def & Talib Kweli, with guest Common) took me to a different level…

https://www.youtube.com/embed/eeTnog5RRQo

DipSet got me back on my gangsta shit in the early 00s, and got me into the Just
Blaze style of beats, with the pitched-up soul samples…

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ecEGcCHpbr0

Kanye West came out around the same time, with that same style of beats. If I had to settle on one style of instrumental for the rest of my life, those soul sample beats would be it…

https://www.youtube.com/embed/uvb-1wjAtk4

A coworker, at Hollister of all places, lmao, got me out of my disdain for Southern rap and put me onto LiI Wayne, who would end up being one of my favorites of the decade…. but he was at his best with Mannie Fresh on the beats…

https://www.youtube.com/embed/q9W0lhsdyp4

🎶I’m on hot, I adjust in different cli-mates/That inner animal keep on runnin’ with my pri-mates/You ain’t did it til you done it like in five states/Weezy hustle, no blubber, I put on weight/And in a drought I go on a diet a stretch more/Lose all that weight, leave a 🥷 with stretch marks/You ain’t even come up to 🥷 chest, pa/Subpar, what the fuck they play that in the club for?/Real shit I’m duckin’ bombs from a drug war/No religion but the cops swear that I’m a drug lord🎶🔥🔥🔥😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

I heard that and I was like “Aight, my bad; I was trippin’. Wayne’s nice.”

We entered some dark times after that. I guess I sort of “discovered” Drake early, and he was alright, but not like “oh wow, this guy has got something I’ve never heard before. I missed Kendrick in real time, I think I heard Swimming Pools and then it was this current decade when I finally heard more.

The only music I’ve gotten really excited about the last ten years is Griselda, between Conway The Machine, Benny The Butcher, and Westside Gunn. Huge catalogue, so it’s like 80% of what I listen to. Daringer makes great beats, and I love the return to grimy New York gangsta rap. I stumbled across “Lemon” on maybe 2018 or 2019, by Conway, with my old friend from back in my day, Method Man of Wu-Tang Clan. I heard this, and given how much I thought less desirable mumble rap had just taken over completely, I was “We are SO BACK!”

https://www.youtube.com/embed/9I7IJtgk2xM

Hopefully you like some of these😊👍

abc3643 · Accepted Answer

The original cross-over rap hit: From 1979, Rapper's Delight

https://www.youtube.com/embed/rKTUAESacQM

Without this song, rap does not become popular. Before this song, no one outside of the small rap community knew that rap existed.

The closest thing was Blondie's "Rapture" from 1980; not exactly a rap song - or maybe it is - but perhaps should be included in the discussion because it's practically as important as "Rapper's Delight". The members of Blondie did know about rap and the people involved which is why their names are referenced in the song. Debbie Harry rapping in this song was something of a shock. For those unaware of "Rapper's Delight", this was their first exposure to rap.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/pHCdS7O248g

Note: MTV did not exist when both these songs were released. So, the first exposure to them was likely only through radio.

choco-latte · Accepted Answer

Just try to ignore Diddy in the background like the annoying bug he is

Nikki1989 · Accepted Answer

I hate rap with a passion, even more so than country, which is really saying something.

Cinematic Lily · Accepted Answer

“LOVE” is such a gorgeous pick, that song feels like floating at night in L. A. lights ✨

My all‑time favorite is “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst” by Kendrick Lamar. The storytelling, the production, the emotion, everything feels like a little indie film in sound form. I still get chills every time I listen with good headphones in the dark 🎧❤️

Anonymous · Answer

That's hard to narrow it down to just one. As many of them represent different times in my life. But if i had to pick just one it's be "California Love". DRE & PAC

AviatorTom · Answer

My favorite rap song is the MUTE button.

OlderAndWiser · Answer

The original rap song was written and sung by an old white boy, James Taylor.

llorando · Answer

Not a fan of rap, but don't mind some Weird AL rap. That said, White and Nerdy is my favorite.

6942Dantheman · Answer

What do candy and music have in common? You throw away the wrappers.

Still-alive · Answer

hell yeah! by the way im definitely way more of a Picard person than a Kirk. (see the song lol)

MrChinaski · Answer

Things white people like...

Zack-Bann · Answer

I love so many of them that now I just listen to rap mashups which transition from track to track 😂

Staximus · Answer

I have a few

Iron_Man · Answer

I didn’t know you liked rap music. This is not my favorite song, but this is what I felt like right now

Hispanic-Cool-Guy · Answer

2pac: Bury me a G I think that's the best rap song ever. Classic.

canamlusciouslad73 · Answer

You've Got To Fight For Your Right To Party,"The Beastie Boys.

tiredpanda · Answer

Oof, hard question since there are too many good rap songs, but I'll go with Been On by G-Eazy.

Mountein · Answer

All Eminem music

BCRanger10 · Answer

The Lonely Island - I'm On A Boat!

FunkyMonkee · Answer

Any of them that have been erased.

Paige2006 · Answer

Let me think... none of them!

_Jenny_ · Answer

I don’t like Rap

iCandice · Answer

The Way I am - Eminem

TonyMetal___1986 · Answer

I have many, cannot pick only one...

Plantlover44 · Answer

Not a fan of crap music

fish5505_87 · Answer

Heavy D - Nothin'but love for ya.

Bklynbadboy12 · Answer

Favorite all time or my favorite right now

Sickworld · Answer

I hate rap

FrodoSkywalker007 · Answer

Eww rap

Anonymous · Answer

Rap god

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