Zanderjaz’s selection of the top 50 best hip hop songs ever
This top 50 best hip hop songs ever list is something that will never come to a unanimous agreement by the millions of hip hop fans around the world because we all have our own personal favorites. However, here are some of my absolute favorite, most influential and inspirational hip hop songs with accompanying videos for your listening and viewing pleasure!
Watch the YouTube playlist of the top 50 best hip hop songs
All of these hip hop songs are timeless classics and could be rearranged in practically any order, so please don’t behead me for not putting your favorite song first or higher in the list. I put a lot of consideration into the selection of this list and some of my main judging factors are the age of the song, recognition, influence on the hip hop genre, lyricism, beats and production, replay value, and overall messages and substance of the songs.
Finally, please forgive me for the Jay-Z – “99 problems” video embed. It seems like YouTube has completely removed the original song from their website for some odd reason, so I had to use a live performance version of the song instead.
Without further ado, here are the top 50 best hip hop songs ever!
The Sugarhill Gang – Rapper’s Delight (1979)
Grandmaster Flash – The Message (1982)
Afrika Bambaataa and The Soul Sonic Force – Planet Rock (1982)
Run DMC – King Of Rock (1985)
LL Cool J – Rock The Bells (1985)
NWA – Fuck The Police (1988)
Eric B. & Rakim – Paid In Full (1988)
Geto Boys – My Mind Playing Tricks On Me (1990)
2Pac – Keep Ya Head Up (1991)
Pete Rock & CL Smooth – They Reminisce Over You (1992)