september14–27, 2020| newyork 67
PHOTOGRAPH: MICHEL DELSOL/GETTY IMAGES (BEASTIE BOYS)
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 allureas
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 laid-
back 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 thelight
thanks to Da Beatminerz’
grimy but smooth production.
45.
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
“Streets of NewYork”
(1990) G Rap is thefather
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-a-
bottle moment in hip-hop.
Foxy—a spitfire outof
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 Joeand
Jadakiss, “NewYork”
(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’smost
respected vets, Fat Joeand
Jadakiss, for an anthem
that paid homage to the
hardcore hip-hop thatruns
through the city’s veins.
49.
Black Star, “Definition”
(1998) When the burgeoning
shiny-suit era had somehip-
hop fans disenchantedinthe
late ’90s, the Black Starduo
of Mos Def and Talib Kweli
represented a return towhat
made the art form specialin
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 hip-
hop, few did so with such
respect for the source
material. Anchoredby
late-’70s Jazz Messengers
bassist Dennis Irwin’s
groove, the trio’s rhymes
propagated downtown cool
with an Afrocentricaim.
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 aseries
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,
b n.
m
5
Raekwon, “Ice Cream”
(1995) A classic sex cut.
Rae, Ghostface Killah, and
Cappadonnaeachspit
theirgameatladiesas
MethodMancompares
themtoice-creamflavors.
54.
AzealiaBanks,
“212”
(2011)Harlem-raisedBanks
wrotethishitinreference
toManhattan’spremier
threedigitswhilelivingon
Dyckman.Sheburst onto
thesceneasa boundary-
breakingforce,interpolating
herskillfulrapswith
beatstructuresemerging
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 ofstreet
life in a rougher version
of Brooklyn, when Myrtle
Avenue was knownby
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 Run-
D.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 duetwith one
rytellers in hip-
iggie himself.
58.
Kurtis Blow,
“The Breaks”
(1980) While a clear
outgrowthofrap’s roots
infunkanddisco,thefirst
hip-hopsongtogogoldalso
evokestheblueswithtalesof
theIRSandsleazyadulterers.
59.
CannibalOx,
“IronGalaxy”
(2001)A counterculture
alternativetoshiny-suit-era
ex cess,VastAireandVordul
Megagavevoicetothe
open-micciphermisfitswho
coalescedaroundvenueslike
theNuyoricanPoetsCafe.
60.
Black Rob, “Whoa!”
(2000) An iconic Buckwild
sampling production that
still gets played outof car
speakers during Harlem and
Bronx summers. Black Rob’s
biggest hit as a leadartist to
date, filled with stream-of-
consciousness 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 hip-
hop 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 faceof 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
earlytone-setterfora city
anda genrethat madeits
markbyrefusingtoapologize.
64.
TheAlchemist,
“HoldYouDown”
(2004)TheAlchemist
securedruthless verses
fromProdigy and Illa Ghee
tosandwichhis bars. He
wouldworkclosely with
theMobbDeep MC for
anotherdecade, building
anenviablestreet canon.
65.
DeLaSoul,
“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.
Beastie
Boys
in Times
Square,
1986.
and the BeatsThe City
