Our Favorite Rap Verses of All Time
Coming up with this list was harder than choosing our majors.
By Robert Gaudio, Julian McKenzie, Stephanie Smalling & Elliot C. Williams
Rob Gaudio: Kanye West— “Looking For Trouble” ft. Pusha T, CyHi The Prynce, Big Sean, J. Cole (Verse 4— Big Sean)
I know, I know, I know… I picked a Big Sean verse. The guy whose biggest selling hit is called “A$$”. But in 2010, Big Sean was Kanye’s most promising protege, and after hearing MBDTF, I was all in on anything Yeezy.
Now— this isn’t my favorite verse of all time because it’s lyrically genius, “I’m just a Westside lover/I leave females in my sheets and all my feelings in a rubber,” or even because it’s the BEST verse I’ve ever heard (it wouldn’t even crack my top 20), but because in 2010 Big Sean was 22 years old and sounded like he had more confidence than anyone in the world.
“Greet me wit’ a middle finger when you see me
It’s cool, ’cause I can’t see yo’ ass from this side of the TV”
Sure, rappers say absurdly confident things all the time, but Sean is raw, excited, and genuinely grateful to be on this huge posse cut. This manifests itself in a flood of swag and braggadocio. I mean, he literally compares himself to Biggie. BIGGIE. He knows he’s not THAT good, but Kanye gave him a platform and he had to make an impression.
The verse never fails to brighten my mood. At the end of the day it’s a mic drop verse, and I guess I’m just a sucker for that sort of thing.
Honorable Mention: A Tribe Called Quest— “Award Tour” (Verse 1— Q-Tip). Tip at his best, “See, lyrically I’m Mario Andretti on the MOMO / Ludicrously speedy, or infectious with the slow-mo.”
Julian McKenzie: A Tribe Called Quest — “Check The Rhime” (Verse 1-Q-Tip/Phife Dawg)
In another life, I’d be growing up as a teenager in the early 1990s. I’d rock a cold snapback with my favorite sports team, Zubaz pants (They were the shit in the 90s. *Semi-related note, Randall Cunningham, third from right in the linked photo, would probably be my favorite football player at the time because Bo Jackson’s gone off to play baseball). And I’d be right next to my boombox repeating the opening verse of “Check The Rhime” from A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory.
“Check The Rhime” is a fun ditty that allows Q-Tip and Phife Dawg to riff off one another. They start off each others’ verses by trading bars and gassing each other up before each ripping off bars on their own. The duo are at their best at the beginning as both rappers spit before the funky five-footer Phife takes over.
Heh, okay, you on point Phife? (All the time, Tip)
You on point Phife? (All the time, Tip)
You on point Phife? (All the time, Tip)
Well, then grab the microphone and let your words rip
Q-Tip’s verse is fine, but Phife’s flow is consistent and way more fun to rap along with. Yeah, I said it. “Tell your mother, tell your father, send a telegram”.
Now here’s a funky introduction of how nice I am
Tell your mother, tell your father, send a telegram
I’m like an energizer ’cause, you see, I last long
My crew is never ever wack because we stand strong
Now if you say my style is wack that’s where you’re dead wrong
Honorable mention: Kanye West — “Diamonds From Sierra Leone” (first verse). It features, arguably, Kanye’s greatest opening line of his career (Close your eyes and imagine/feel the magic/Vegas on acid/ Seen through Yves St. Laurent glasses)
Stephanie Smalling: Jay-Z — “Public Service Announcement” (Verse 1)
Anyone who really knows me is probably shocked I didn’t pick Kanye for this. If this were “Our Favorite 5 Rap Verses of All Time,” three of them would have been Ye contenders. But it’s about one verse, and when it came down to it, I had to go with a verse that I know word-for-word. One I have rapped (screamed) along with three times in concert, nearly blacking out the last time. It’s the one that reaches under my skin and gives me chills every single time — that opening verse from Jay-Z’s “Public Service Announcement.”
First off this isn’t even a full song, it’s an interlude, which gave it the perfect length for Jay to pop off on every. single. line of the verse.
Allow me to re-introduce myself
My name is Hov! OH, H-to-the-O-V
I used to move snowflakes by the O-Z
I guess even back then you can call me
CEO of the R-O-C, Hov!
What’s a more declarative and nonsensical sentence than “Allow me to reintroduce myself?” Can you name another song that ends its first three lines with acronyms? What other rapper uses more alliteration than expletives for evidence in their case that they are the greatest to live right now? What other song do you know of that producer Just Blaze introduces as a “living testament and recollection of history in the making during our generation?” I will freakin’ wait.
I once had “I check cheddar like a food inspector” in my “about” section on Facebook because I like the way it rolls off the tongue. Because, although I do not live the life Jay riddles about in this verse, the production mix of an electric keyboard echoing like a church organ with ego-pumping lines like “Flyer than a piece of paper bearing my name/ Got the hottest chick in the game wearing my chain,” can make anyone want to put on a “NY” hat cocked to the side, Rockafella chain around your neck, and spit this flow eyes closed, hands near your face: pure Hov style.
Honorable Mention: “Get Ur Freak On” — Missy Elliott (Verse 3). The only acceptable time to spit in public.
Elliot C. Williams: Nas — “Rule” feat. Amerie (Verse 1)
No, I’m not talking about “If I Ruled The World” feat. Lauryn Hill, although that is another great song by Nas. “Rule” is an equally profound politically-motivated song, released in 2001. Millennials might recognize this conscious rap from the Like Mike soundtrack. Hip-hop fundamentalists will be like, “Nah, I’m a real fan. I know this Stillmatic track because I’m just that great of a Nas fan.” Blah blah.
I would think I’m a part of U.S.A. and be proud.
Confronted with racism, started to feel foreign
Like, the darker you are the realer your problems
However you stumbled upon this treasure, you’ve been blessed, because few rappers have broken down politics and called for world peace better than Nas does in this first verse. Throughout the song, Nas raps from the perspective of a world ruler, confronted with the responsibilities and temptations of being someone in authority. With philosophical acrobats, he explains that from the projects to the White House, “everybody wants to rule the world.” And yet, it is this very desire that has led to mankind’s demise: “Must it go on? We must stop the killin’/ Tell me why we die? We all God’s children.”
This was the first verse I ever memorized as a kid. “Rule” — with its dreamlike guitar sequence and hard-hitting breakdance beat, layered with Nas’ street wisdom — is the reason I fell in love with hip-hop.
Honorable mention: Cozz — “Knock Tha Hustle” featuring J.Cole (Verse 4 — J.Cole): But love is wanting more for someone than they want for themselves/Deep, I guess I love a lot/Because the more I do my thang/ The more I feel the guilt and shame that my brother’s not.”
Unanimous Group Favorite: UGK — “International Player’s Anthem (I Choose You)” feat. OutKast (Verse 1— André 3000)
From the start of this discussion about our favorite verses, we all agreed that we would try not to replicate each other. But if there’s one verse that we all knew should be included on here, it was André 3000’s opening verse on this classic, cleverly titled, Underground Kingz jam (RIP Pimp C).
Released in 2007, there isn’t a hip-hop head who won’t squeal during André’s opening lines, and then join in like they’re continuing a conversation with a friend.
So, I typed a text to a girl I used to see
Saying that I chose this cutie pie with whom I wanna be
And I apologize if this message gets you down
Then I CC’ed every girl that I’d see-seed ‘round town
The intro seamlessly ties up a whole story of choosing to ignore your friends’ ways and committing to one girl, juxtaposing the later “player’s anthem” verses put forth by Pimp C, Bun B and Big Boi. The verse includes the perspectives of the nervous groomsmen and the concerned friends at this joyous affair.
We thank UGK for thinking of André to open this song. It’s a modern master class on word play and rhythmical storytelling, and a point blank case that André Benjamin aka André 3000 aka Three Stacks is way overdue for a solo album. The world needs it, we need it: “play your part … play your part.”
