ROLLING STONE polled 33 artists and experts — from Rick Rubin to Big Boi, Mike D to Chuck D — to vote for their favorite hip-hop songs.
100 L’Trimm – “Cars With the Boom”
The first “Miami Bass” hit came from Lady Tigra and Bunny D, teenagers with strong personalities who met as dancers on a local TV show and had rhyming duels with boys in the school cafeteria. “When I sang ‘Grab it like you want it,’ I didn’t know what I was talking about,” Tigra recalled. “We were virgins!”
99 Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz feat. Ying Yang Twins – “Get Low”
“Get Low” was the number two hit that represented the peak of the high-energy, alcoholic, screaming movement known as “Crunk.” Ying Yang Twins brought the hook “to the windows, to the walls” (originally a black fraternity chant), and producer Lil Jon turned it into over-the-top party music.
98 MIA – “Paper Planes”
Maya Arulpragasam was a globally connected radical who became one of hip hop’s most innovative artists. “Paper Planes” was a clash-sampling attack on immigration-fearing Westerners, complete with the sounds of gunfire. In 2008 it became one of the most unlikely Top 10 hits ever. “It’s my underdog song,” she said, “but it’s become the biggest song.”
97 Jay Z and Alicia Keys – “Empire State of Mind”
This towering New York anthem began as a demo by Angela Hunte, who grew up in the same Brooklyn building as Jay Z, and Jane’t Sewell-Ulepic. With Keys’ vocals, the song took on an angelic power. “Even in the midst of all this darkness and despair, there is this underlying possibility that maybe you could make it,” Keys said. “That’s what the song is about.”
96 Brand Nubian – “Slow Down”
An Afrocentric group rapping about not dating crack addicts weren’t natural stars. But Brand Nubian were so good that it seemed like a given. Producer Sadat
95 Bone Thugs-N-Harmony – “Tha Crossroads”
One of hip hop’s most powerful mourning anthems put Midwest hip hop on the map. At the time, Bone Thugs had lost several loved ones, including Eazy E, who had signed them in 1993. “To this day, when we perform it,” Krayzie Bone said, “there will be about 20 people in the audience crying.”
94 Missy ‘Misdemeanor’ Elliott – “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)”
After years in the industry’s shadows as a producer-songwriter-guest, Elliott emerged as a unique figure in hip-hop with “The Rain.” Timbaland’s stop-motion digital syncopation and exuberant vocal acrobatics gave the song a playfully futuristic feel that Hype Williams’ groundbreaking video further enhanced.
93 Souls of Mischief – “93 ’til Infinity”
The Oakland collective’s only hit was a rousing explosion of youthful talent. Over cranked sax and marimba, A-Plus, Tajai, Opio and Phesto exchanged jaw-dropping, word-spilling scenes with incredible enthusiasm. “Now there are younger generations born in 1993,” Phesto said. “They say ’93 ’til infinity.’ It means so many different things to so many different people.”
92 BG feat. Big Tymers and Hot Boys – “Bling Bling”
“There’s no way we’re going to sell this album because all the songs are so street,” Cash Money producer Mannie Fresh said of rapper BG’s fourth album. “How do we get him to everyone?” The answer was “bling bling,” which tied a diamond-encrusted slang term to a synthetic bounce and put it in the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
91 Rick Ross feat. Styles P – “BMF (Blowin’ Money Fast)”
Teenage producer Lex Luger developed more than 200 beats in a week, one of which became the backdrop for Ross’ high-definition hustler fantasy “BMF.” Ross compares himself to drug lords like Chicago’s Larry Hoover and Detroit’s Big Meech, later calling the song “a priceless form of recognition and honor for me and the BMF family.”