I think that hip hop is one of the most, if not the most, misunderstood genres of music. In this playlist, rather than focusing on one artist or one type of hip hop, I tried to give examples of a bunch of different artists with songs ranging from the early 90's all the way up until 2017. The songs are in no particular order and the sounds cover a very broad spectrum. Some of them are pretty damn explicit, so I wouldn't necessarily throw this playlist on if there are kids around. I provided the lyrics to each song, the sub-genre that I'd put the artist in (very rough), and a brief description. This playlist is not by any means meant to be comprehensive and in many cases doesn't necessarily represent the artist's "best" song, but instead aims at exposing you to some of my favorite artists and hoping you might do some further exploration on your own.
Here's a link to the playist on Spotify. There are three songs ("Blessed" by Schoolboy Q, "Control" by Big Sean, and "Song Cry" by Jay-Z) that Spotify doesn't have, so I just provided the youtube links to them.
https://open.spotify.com/user/zeeman901/playlist/4BqoSsC59XpcOD3QHRVYIN
Enjoy!
subgenre: contemporary, west coast, conscious, creative
This is the final track on Kendrick's most recent album, DAMN.. I thought it was the most masterful track of the album,
showing off Kendrick's story-telling chops and his ability to slip in and out of beats so smoothly.
subgenre: old school, west coast, gangsta
Dre is a hip hop legend, both for his record producing and for his rapping (not to mention finding Snoop, Eminem, and Kendrick, among others). 2001 is an incredibly dope album, and this is among the best on it. This is hands down my favorite workout song of all time.
subgenre: old school, east coast, gangsta
Biggie's flow is ridiculous and he is absolutely on the rap Rushmore. It's a damn shame he only made two studio albums, but both of them are gold and this is one of my favorites. The theme of the song is older biggie (deeper voice) cruising around with his younger self (higher voice).
subgenre: contemporary, west coast, gangsta
In my opinion, Schoolboy is one of the top rappers out right now. He has an unmistakable gangster rap feel to him, but his flow and vocabulary raise him above the rest.
subgenre: contemporary, grime
Skepta is a Grime artist, which is a sub-genre of rap out of the U.K. that tends to be more upbeat. Drake picked him up and he's getting decent visability in the U.S. these days.
subgenre: contemporary, gospel, creative
It's hard to choose one Kanye song to put on a list like this because the dude has had such a ridiculous range of music. I opted for the opening track off his latest album (which is great) because I thought there would be a better chance of people listening to something recent, but his first two albums are absolutely amazing and well worth checking out. Chance kills it on this song.
subgenre: contemporary, conscious, soul, gospel, creative
This song is off Chance's latest album. Chance is a super intellectual rapper and there is definitely often a message behind his songs. This album had a very gospel vibe to it, but his first mixtape, Acid Rap, put him on the map and is super fun to listen to.
subgenre: contemporary, conscious
J. Cole is recognized as one of the best current rappers. I like him because he's a pretty conscious rapper who takes on some pretty interesting topics. In this song he talks about losing his virginity and how nervous he was, which I found to be a refreshing counter to the typical badboy persona you usually associated with rappers talking about sex.
subgenre: old school, gangsta, east coast
Nas is near the top of anyone's list of best rappers of all time. This single is probably the most famous off of his most famous album, Illmatic, which is at the top of a lot of "Best Rap Album of All Time" lists.
subgenre: contemporary, conscious, old school beats
At 22 years old, I think Joey Bada$$ is one of the most promising hip hop artists coming out of NY today. He's got a bit of an old school sound, but has a definite conscious element to his music.
subgenre: old school, west coast, gangsta
This song is half of the equation of the infamous beef between 2Pac and Biggie. Two of the most recognizable rappers ever, they were murdered within 1 year of each other in 1996 and 1997 after a viscious beef. Both of them epitomized gangster rap, and this as good of an example as any (very explicit).
subgenre: old school, west coast, gangsta
This is one of Snoop's most famous songs, and he's made a ton of them. He started his career in 1992 and is still going strong today. I've always enjoyed him more when he's featured on things rather than his own stuff, but this is a classic.
subgenre: contemporary, conscious
Another U.K. artist, this kid is 18 right now and insanely impressive. He's a super conscious rapper with an excellent vocabulary and superb flow.
subgenre: 2000s, lyricist, violent
Eminem's vocabulary is probably the most impressive of any rapper I know. It was super hard for me to pick one song of his so I just went with this one, but if you want to hear something a little more recent, listen to Rap God.
subgenre: contemporary, conscious, creative
Gambino is a modern rapper who is very conscious and intellectual. He recently released a funk album that is absolutely fantastic. In addition to his musical pursuits, he is also a successful actor and comedian... very talented dude.
subgenre: contemporary, southern, gangsta
This is probably my favorite track off of my favorite Weezy album, The Carter II. Wayne might have more material than anyone else on this list, so it was hard for me to choose one song.
subgenre: 2000s, funky
Andre 3000, the front man of OutKast, has a super unique voice and style. The group won a grammy for this song, and it is still amazing almost 20 years later.
subgenre: contemporary, pop rap, well produced
This remains my favorite Drake song ever. The beat is so dope and Jay Z kills his verse. Drake can really rap when he wants to, but it unfortunately kind of seems like he's resolved to make chart toppers and pile up the money at this point (purely my opinion).
subgenre: contemporary, lyricist
Out of Detroit, Big Sean is among of the top of the litter when it comes to current rappers. This song actually made the biggest waves because of Kendrick's verse, but Big Seans holds his own for sure.
subgenre: east coast, gangsta, old school
Jay-Z is one of the greats of all time, great flow, intricate lyrics, and just comes across as a very real dude. He's an icon for his many various contributions to the genre, but he's a legend on his musical resume alone. He's super protective over his music and into plugging his music service, Tidal, so none of his songs are on Apple music or Spotify at the moment. I've provided the youtube link but it's unfortunately censored ¯_(ツ)_/¯.
subgenre: rap-rock, 90's
After initial review of the playlist, a friend pointed out it's crazy for the Beastie Boys not to have any representation on this list, and I tend to agree with him. Another group where it is pretty hard to choose just one song for a playlist, but ultimately went with this because I feel like it's impossible not to get pumped up listen to it.