The Best Rap Songs of 1996

The year was prolific enough that picking just the 50 best rap songs of 1996 feels like settling on a puny fraction.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

This is part of Complex's The 1996 Project: Looking Back at the Year Hip-Hop Embraced Success.

In 1996, a thousand flowers bloomed. All across the U.S., rap crews assembled, flourished, and vied for prominence at the center of hip-hop culture. 2Pac and Too $hort held it down for California. The Geto Boys and UGK repped Texas. Bone Thugs held it down for Cleveland. Do or Die and Common established Chicago's rep. OutKast broke out of Atlanta. No Limit put New Orleans on the map. Redman and the Fugees both repped Jersey. TribeJeru, Busta, Jay ZNas, AkinyeleMobb Deep, and CNN all repped New York.

 No longer a provincial concern of just five boroughs, or a turf war between just two coasts, or a stalwart opponent of R&B, hip-hop hosted an unprecedented variety of styles, signatures, and influences. Rappers innovated like never before, with timeless results.

The year was prolific enough that picking just the 50 best rap songs of 1996 feels like settling on a puny fraction. So think of it this way: If we were to fill a modestly sized chest with music to cast down the Nile, these are the songs we'd most desperately want to preserve for later generations, and for our own sake. Here we present the 50 best rap songs of 1996.

50. Mad Skillz, "The Nod Factor"

Not Available Interstitial

49. Too $hort f/ Parliament-Funkadelic, "Gettin' It"

Not Available Interstitial

48. MC Lyte, "Cold Rock a Party"

Not Available Interstitial

47. Redman, "It's Like That (My Big Brother)"

Not Available Interstitial

46. B-Legit f/ Little Bruce & C-Bo, "Gotta Buy Your Dope From Us"

Not Available Interstitial

45. Common, "The Bitch in Yoo"

Not Available Interstitial

44. The Roots, "Clones"

Not Available Interstitial

43. Bush Babees f/ Mos Def, "The Love Song"

Not Available Interstitial

42. Royal Flush, "Worldwide"

Not Available Interstitial

41. O.G.C., "No Fear"

Not Available Interstitial

40. Large Professor, "I Juswanna Chill"

Not Available Interstitial

39. Dr. Octagon, "Blue Flowers"

Not Available Interstitial

38. Big Noyd f/ Prodigy, "Recognize and Realize"

Not Available Interstitial

37. Geto Boys, "The World Is a Ghetto"

Not Available Interstitial

36. Xzibit, "Paparazzi"

Not Available Interstitial

35. M.O.P., "Downtown Swinga '96"

Not Available Interstitial

34. Redman f/ Erick Sermon, "Whateva Man"

Not Available Interstitial

33. Makaveli f/ The Outlawz & Prince Ital Joe, "Hail Mary"

Not Available Interstitial

32. Tela f/ MJG & 8Ball, "Sho Nuff"

Not Available Interstitial

31. Nas, "Affirmative Action"

Not Available Interstitial

30. Jeru The Damaja, "Ya Playin' Yaself"

Not Available Interstitial

29. East Flatbush Project, "Tried By 12"

Not Available Interstitial

28. Makaveli, "Me and My Girlfriend"

Not Available Interstitial

27. Ghostface Killah f/ Mary J Blige & Popa Wu, "All That I Got Is You"

Not Available Interstitial

26. Crucial Conflict, "Hay"

Not Available Interstitial

25. The Roots, "What They Do"

Not Available Interstitial

24. Ras Kass, "Soul on Ice (Remix)"

Not Available Interstitial

23. Mobb Deep, "Front Lines (Hell on Earth)"

Not Available Interstitial

22. LL Cool J, "Doin It"

Not Available Interstitial

21. Camp Lo, "Luchini AKA This Is It"

Not Available Interstitial

20. Fugees, "Fu-Gee-La"

Not Available Interstitial

19. Lil' Kim f/ Puff Daddy, "No Time"

Not Available Interstitial

18. Master P f/ Mia X, "Bout It, Bout It II"

Not Available Interstitial

17. UGK, "Murder"

Not Available Interstitial

16. Akinyele f/ Kia Jefferies, "Put It in Your Mouth"

Not Available Interstitial

15. Do or Die f/ Twista & Johnny P., "Po Pimp"

Not Available Interstitial

14. Lost Boyz, "Renee"

Not Available Interstitial

13. Westside Connection, "Bow Down"

Not Available Interstitial

12. A Tribe Called Quest f/ Tammy Lucas, "1nce Again"

Not Available Interstitial

11. Capone-N-Noreaga, "L.A., L.A. (Kuwait Mix)"

Not Available Interstitial

10. Jay Z f/ Foxy Brown, "Ain't No N*gga"

Not Available Interstitial

9. 2Pac f/ K-Ci & Jojo, "How Do U Want It"

Not Available Interstitial

8. OutKast, "Elevators (Me & You)"

Not Available Interstitial

7. De La Soul, "Stakes Is High"

Not Available Interstitial

6. Busta Rhymes, "Woo-Hah!! (Got You All in Check)"

Not Available Interstitial

5. Fugees, "Ready or Not"

Not Available Interstitial

4. Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, "Tha Crossroads"

Not Available Interstitial

3. Jay Z, "Dead Presidents II"

Not Available Interstitial

2. Nas f/ Lauryn Hill, "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)"

Not Available Interstitial

1. 2Pac f/ Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman, "California Love"

Not Available Interstitial

Latest in Music