Gangsta rap
Stylistic origins	Hip hop, hardcore hip hop
Cultural origins	Mid-1980s, United States
Typical instruments	Vocals (rapping, beatboxing), drum machine, sampler
Derivative forms	Dirty rap, mafioso rap
Fusion genres
G-funk, Mobb music
Regional scenes
Southwest hip hop, West Coast hip hop, East Coast hip hop, Southern hip hop, Midwest hip hop, Chicano rap
Other topics
Horrorcore

The 50 best rap lyrics of all time: Complete list

By Noah Hubbell Thu., Mar. 14 2013 at 7:00 AM

Last week, we took a look at the fifty worst rap lyrics of all time. Going through all the dreck and drivel to get to the crème de la crème of crappiness was tedious and rather exhausting. This week, we even things out by taking a look at the other end of the spectrum and examining rap lyrics to find cleverness and wordplay worthy of being praised. Selecting the very best lyrics from a library of oh so many is a tough task. Is technical skill the prime consideration? Poetic quality? Historical significance? Keep reading for the full countdown to see which rhymes struck as some of the best of all time.
See also:
- The 50 worst rap lyrics: The complete list
- The 50 worst rock/pop lyrics of all time: The complete list
- The ten best storytellers in hip-hop
50. Mos Def - "Mathematics"
"Crack mothers, crack babies and AIDS patients/Youngbloods can't spell, but they could rock you in PlayStation."
Mos Def raises the stakes of this rhyme in the first line by presenting the challenges humanity faces in this day in age. He then pairs this with a commentary on the priorities of the day's youth, who are more concerned with video games than practical knowledge. When combined, the gap between what we need and what he have is clear and startling.
49. Wale - "Is There Any Love?"
"You niggas so-so like a seamstress."
Wale is a cool cat, and his wordplay here is seamless. The image of a seamstress sitting at her machine, running through mundane line after line, just seems to fit with a mediocre rapper, so the simile is so apt. And he makes it sound easy and fluent -- like a finger roll in basketball. It's tough to make it look so simple.
48. CL Smooth - "They Reminisce Over You"
"T to the R-uh-O-Y, how did you and I meet?/In front of Big Lou's, fighting in the street/But only you saw what took many time to see/I dedicate this to you for believing in me."
The whole purpose of this song, as indicated in the title, is to honor memory and reminisce about a friend who's passed. The story of how Troy and CL met may seem incidental, but it is those kinds of idiosyncratic specifics that make the story so genuine and the nostalgia so poignant. The believability of the meeting story makes CL's thank-you to Troy that much more powerful.
47. Lauryn Hill - "Zealots"
"And even after all my logic and my theory/I add a "Motherfucker" so you ignorant niggas hear me."
Lauryn Hill gives a taste of her biting wit and humor, commenting on the state of music -- hip-hop in particular. It's a great line, because the "motherfucker" does stand out in Lauryn's otherwise clean verse; it perks you up, but she's still using the word in an enlightened manner, thus getting the point across without compromising the quality of her lyrics.
46. Scarface - "No Tears"
"I got this killa up inside of me/I can't talk to my mother so I talk to my diary."
It's funny how it can be easier to talk to the world than to your own mother. Scarface's rap was his diary, and this song comes off his album named, that's right, The Diary. This line speaks to how important rap is -- how important any form of expression is -- to the artist as more than just a career or way to entertain. Some rappers pour their souls into their lyrics, and you can bet that a rapper like Scarface wouldn't dare use a potentially effeminate word like "diary" unless he was doing just that.

Email to Friend

Write to Editor

Print Article

We Recommend

Sponsor Content

57 comments

Newest | Oldest

David Zacher

Tupac, Little Wayne, and Nas totally ruined this list.

Heather Doozer

"I got a disease yeah, whatch you catch? it's an STD, but you aint never gonna nut cause it comes from a loan- niggas see you getting fucked" -The Coup still my favorite line of all times

Becca Feiner

Seriously, that 99 problems line tops out *anything* ever done by Disposable Heroes?

Isaac Loya

Where's Big L & Jeru Tha Damaja? This is a half ass list!

Xander Tailor

This article was such shit. No Pharcyde, De La, ATCQ. Just some assclown listing HIS 50 fav rap lines.

Ariel Livaudais

I love that Tupac is the image of this post....

Rob Strong Paw Ruby

Who the hell made this list??? Not one Guru/Gang Starr lyric on here...and the fact that Lil B even made the list is pathetic. FAIL!!!!!!!

Kyle Webster

Eddie Balistreri repppin wu and of course biggie and Pac are up there

Greg Bevacqua

#nastynas

Renee Lov

Outkast? Whodini? Cypress hill? Too short, lol Etc.. I didn't get chance to look at whole list.. I was in the generation, when break dancing started. So many.

Renee Lov

I don't agree with no. 1 or 2. And snoop #28? :( is. LL cool J on list? I'm going to faint, if they forgot bone thugz. Lol

Joe Cherry

Wutang has got thee hardest MCs in the game. They come hard as nails on the track. There's so many cat in the hat ass rappers on this list. Not one KRS line? Please. Where's Easy? What about Bone Thugs? No surrender is lyrical gold, and fast as hell. This list doesn't hit the mark for me.

armiller8

does anyone see that lil wayne i feel like dying is on this list twice? is there two versions of this song or is the list that horrible?

NERG

Dude.. cmon. You just listed a bunch of clear channel crap. Listen to real Hip Hop then you can make an article. WU TANG. WU TANG.

OnebelOfan

don't try and deceive me, you only deceive you,
what you thought was invisiblez

RealHipHopHead

I bomb atomically, Socrates’ philosophies
And hypotheses can’t define how I be droppin these
Mockeries, lyrically perform armed robbery
Flee with the lottery, possibly they spotted me
Battle-scarred shogun, explosion when my pen hits
Tremendous, ultra-violet shine blind forensics
I inspect view through the future see millenium
Killa Beez sold fifty gold sixty platinum
Shackling the masses with drastic rap tactics
Graphic displays melt the steel like blacksmiths
Black Wu jackets Queen Beez ease the guns in
Rumble with patrolmen tear gas laced the function
Heads by the score take flight incite a war
Chicks hit the floor, diehard fans demand more
Behold the bold soldier, control the globe slowly
Proceeds to blow swingin swords like Shinobi
Stomp grounds I pound footprints in solid rock
Wu got it locked, performin live on your hottest block

RealHipHopHead

This list is WHACK!! Come on man, No Canibus, No GZA, No Ghostface, No Outkast, No JayZ...Who ever made this list DOES NOT listen to HIPHOP!!!

m_cloyd

I like that hops in is on this list, but Lil Wayne and shit? HELL NAW. Ever heard of Tech N9ne or Potluck? This list was shit. ONLY good lyrics were hops in and 2pac. -_-

teababe27

Honestly, #6 is a witty lyric, but it makes me sad because Jay Z knows he doesn't have to try to be good anymore, and that saddens me. Because he used to be good. And like I, and other people, have said, just because you're aware of sucking, doesn't mean you're excused for sucking.

teababe27

Wow.

thumper19591992

Where's necro at!!!

sago2013

"you see a mouse trap, I see free cheese and a fucking challenge"
- Scroobius Pip

arianplatt

This list is very accurate, needs to be updated some, but accurate. :)

ghostt488

Temperatures rises
Niggaz blinded by my lyrical disguise
No time to plot retreats
Niggaz shiver and die
Multiple rounds found laced
In his body and face
Wrapped in plastic the acid, erased all traces
Criminal tactics the rap game
Became so drastic
Military mind mashed all the walls they blasted
If we bleed then they suffocate
Chokin in terror
So we strive singularize we reflect in the mirrors
The prophecy is clear
Niggaz lock n load disappear
Strategize with no fear
Waging war for years - (street fame)

And though my soul was deleted, I couldn't see it
I had my mind full of demons tryin to break free
They planted seeds and they hatched, sparkin the flame
inside my brain like a match, such a dirty game-(so many tears)
what y'all niggaz crazy-pac destroyed the rap game..

Robb Pierce

"all soft on your couch, now you got Siemens furniture"

Russ Hollar

Obama must have made this list.

Russ Hollar

Immortal technique. K rino. Canibus. Tech 9. These are real rappers not corporate puppets.

Tylr Tre

Wtf^ Jay z is the most lyrical mc ever to pick up a mic. If you dont at least consider him top 5 DEAD OR ALIVE besides being a idiot you know nothing about rap music.

Marcelino Casias

Who put this together, a bunch of 12 year olds? There is absolutely no way any contemporary talkers or Jay-Z should be anywhere near the top 10.

Craig Hawkins

Fat Boys

Tom Ballard

Rapper's Delight by the Sugar Hill Gang.

nemesisesq

There's several different level's to devil worshiping, horses heads human sacrifices, cannibalism candles and exorcism. Animals and having sex with them camels, mammals and rabbits but I don't get into that I kicked the habit....
I got a lion in my pocket I'm lying, I got a 9 in my pocket and baby I'm just dying to cock it.

Em's Verse from Dead Wrong was SICK

Audrey Reyes

What about, A Tribe Called Quest?! Dr. Dre?! "Why do I need I.D. to get I.D., if I had I.D. I wouldn't need I.D." - Common. Horrible list!

Ryan Dillon

HAHAHAHA "What's would you have added?"

Rich Carollo

I read this if I didn't have to go through 10 pages.

Nathan Kettner

Grammar?

Trevor Jacques

No Andre nickatina or del? Pshhhhh

Eric Smiles

No such thing.

Jim Kelly

When rap broke into the mainstream (more-or-less) in 1987 or 1988, it was urgent and had something important to say. It wasn't good music, but it was sort of an urban punk rock and I now appreciate it for being the CNN of the poor black community back then. The big three were Ice T, NWA, and Public Enemy, but it didn't take long for the entire genre to be watered down by the realization that there was a ton of money to be made, selling the overwhelmingly negative inner-city sound to upper middle class white kids. Now, it's just a parody of itself and the platform from which that obnoxious bass sound drones, for all intents and purposes dead as an ideal, murdered by its own greed.

Cody Todd

This is a sad tribute, probably penned by a writer born after 1985. If you were, in fact, born before then, I really and deeply feel sorry for you. For example, Lil Wayne is not a hip-hop artist. He is a performer. Why he places twice in this list is confusing and altogether false. The writer of this article is rather wrong and, to my mind uninformed.

Jason Dunn

Back before whoever wrote this was born, there was Eazy-E and N.W.A. and they threatened to unravel the fabric of civilization. -One sucker dead, LA Times, front page.

Jim Kelly

This document should be blank, since rap is intellectually, morally, and creatively bankrupt. Branding something "best rap lyrics" is like winning the Special Olympics.

Ngirchoeang Isimang

I'm kind of offended that OutKast wasn't even mentioned.

Skid Jarrett Gilmore

Meh. Whatever. "F*ck wit me, I'll putta foot in y'ass". End of article.

Jordana Sturaro

Not a single Outkast track? Really?

Jeremy Coss

I believe it. With so many songs about bitches and ho's and shooting up someone, I'm sure it's hard to find 50 rap lyrics that don't promote violence and mysogeny.