The 20 Best Rap City Freestyles of All Time
Big Tigger didn't really have bars like that, but at least he went off the dome.
Image via Complex Original
This past Wednesday, Eminem singlehandedly revived a ghost of culture's past that had died too young: the third greatest hip-hop TV show of all time (peace to Uncle Ralph and Yo! MTV Raps), BET's iconic video mixshow, Rap City: Tha Basement. The show originally started in 1989, helmed by Chris “The Mayor” Thomas for the first two years. Later, a colorful Big Lez would hold it down from 1994 to 1999, alternating as host with Joe Clair during those same years until Big Tigger came onboard before the millennium. When he became host, Rap City became Rap City: Tha Basement, and it was the physical demarcation of the booth as the place where rappers would freestyle that sparked the segment’s popularity.
Whether it was with Freestyle Fridays or Rap City, BET had a solid grip on what their audience wanted around the turn of the millennium. (Freestyle Fridays even spawned a Ruff Ryder signing in the Chinbese-American rapper, Jin.) Sure, you could see Eminem or Nelly or Busta on TRL, but they wouldn't spit an exclusive verse like they would in The Booth. Before the Internet popped off, rap fans now in their 20s remember rushing home from school to catch whichever artist was on that day deliver their freestyle at the end. Timing was crucial! If you didn’t get home in time, you might never see that segment again. Some rappers would drop sly disses, others would actually come off the dome. One Harlem hero even wore all pink and counted stacks of money while he spit. Time stood still in that neon-lit recording booth.
Now the show is gone. Cancelled in leaving only a ghost of it’s memory in the form of the Backroom freestyles on 106 and Park. Eminem took us back to the times of guest DJs and animated freestyles this past Wednesday. (Much like he did for Relapse back in 2009.) But that wasn’t enough for us, so we excavated footage of the most timeless Rap City Freestyles of all time to keep the nostalgia flowing. The parameters are simple: writtens can’t be avoided, but verses from album cuts get no shine. Basically, if you've heard the lyrics elsewhere, we (mostly) didn’t include it. So excuse Big Tigger's soggy cereal bars as we rewind our VHS tapes and reminisce about the good ol' days with The 20 Best Rap City Freestyles of All Time.
Written by Max Weinstein (@dubmaxx)
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20. Redman and Method Man (2000)
Meth got away with spitting an old written verse from the song with Street Life and Inspectah Deck on the Next Friday soundtrack. But the Funk Doc comes all the way off the dome something crazy here, flicking words off the tip of his tongue in just the nick of time. Kool G Rap's "Ill Street Blues" is as funky as beats come, and seeing how Red is always having fun, his rhymes were entertaining and on point the whole time. Either Rap City was in a transitional phase when they filmed this, or the camera was in a different place than usual, because something seems different about the booth they're in. Also: Redman may or may not be holding a blunt while he raps.
19. Juelz Santana (2003)
Always next in the line of the Dipset hierarchy, skills-wise, Juelz Santana, would, every so often, show-up his mentor Cam'ron in the rap department. This apperance of Rap City for example. Juelz, a.k.a. "Human Crack in the Flesh," kept it to his hustle here. "I'm so used to dishing the bird out," he rhymed, "I bought a crib in the trees so I could live in the birdhouse." Later on, he spits what might be the most memorable quotes of his rap career, comprised of one word repeated twice, "Tato, tato!" (Dominican slang meaning "Alright, alright!") solidifying his status as an invaluable member of Harlem's rap history and making himself a part of Rap City's.
18. Buckshot (2000)
"Freestyle" is a word with different meanings to different people. To some people, it doesn't necessarily mean that a rapper is coming up with the rhymes on the spot. It's more in the tradition of "free verse" poetry, where there's no guiding rhyme structure or pattern set in stone—the style itself is free of limitation.
The Black Moon's Buckshot Shorty understands this perfectly as he kicks some free-flowing bars in the dead of night. While he spits about "still rocking Pumas," and giving his rivals tumors, The Twin Towers loom in the background, reminders of a simpler time for the world. Excellent bonus footage: Smif N Wessun trading rhymes over En Vogue's "Hold On" up at the radio station five years prior.
17. Jadakiss (2001)
2001 was the year of Jada's first solo album, Kiss Tha Game Goodbye, and back then Jada had an incredible amount of buzz coming out of the L.O.X. It was around this time that State Property/Roc-A-Fella and The L.O.X. had vehement beef with one another, and B.E.T. was actually letting them explicitly diss each other during Booth freestyles.
Jada hopped onto Rap City twice to promote the album, and it's hard to choose between nicks the size of Playstation cards and the Airs with the gummy sole. The first one wins over, though, for punchlines like, "Go to jail, whoever runnin' the block/Probably got Kiss in they Walkman and a blunt in the ox." It also might be the first ever instance of Jada's unforgettable trademark laugh (the best laugh in the rap game).
16. Common (2002)
Common might have been a hip-hop hero in the 90's, but by 2002, he was slowly becoming a different kind of rapper. It wouldn't have been unusual to find Common in Top 5 lists of rap listeners, but after Electric Circus, everything changed. Yet here he is right before that album dropped, still rocking a b-boy tracksuit top (not Gap) and rhyming off the top like he still loved H.E.R. He does something that few other rappers on Rap City could do—not only does he have fun, but he also transmits that fun to his raps, and he makes the whole process look as effortless as a grin.
15. Jay-Z (2003)
Of course the only time that Jay-Z could ever muster an appearance for Rap City was when his "final" album was set to drop. What else did you expect? At least he made it—Nas never even came close. Yet on such a momentous occasion, when Jay was finally gearing up to actually kiss the game goodbye, he knocks off a well-known verse from "P.S.A." before reassuring Tigger that he's got something special up his sleeve.
He then pulls out yet another Nas diss, "You should know, if you gon' do something and you go to radio, we all know you fronting!" The quick verse became gold for mixtapes at the time, not only for it's antagonistic nature, but also because it was fucking tight. It was here where Jay summed up his stance on (explicit) beefs with a succinct bar: "Mobsters, opt to, not get in beef/There's no business in it, it only brings police." Ever the politician.
14. A Tribe Called Quest (1996)
Q-Tip is always hailed as the star of ATCQ. But Phife found the right times to shine, and Rap City was one of them. While Tip rocks something spontaneous over Heltah Skeltah's "Operation Lockdown" (an early Rap City favorite for rappers to rhyme over), Phife grabs the opportunity to one-up him with a more effective written, accepting the nom de guerre of "player hater" for himself while calling out phonies who claim Brooklyn but really hail from Lynbrook. There isn't much early footage of these guys together in the studio, so the footage is as rare for it's visual component as for it's music.
13. MC Lyte (2002)
Who knew that Big Tig could beatbox? He starts rocking a beat just as one of the greatest female artists to ever pick up a mic, MC Lyte, compliments his ability and then shoots right into a verse about life on the block. Lyte expounds on the people who she makes her music for, whether it's those in b-boy clothes, cholos chillin in front of their dojos, or chicks who ain't on that Hollywood tip.
Lyte's career proved her to be a heavier player in the game than many might have thought, but the concise use of words and the home-y feel of her descriptions lends a degree of utmost comfort to her delivery. It sounds like she's just walking around the neighborhood, seeing who's around, who inspired her to get into rap music. Her verse conveys a lot more in a few words than many rappers try to get across on entire albums. Act like you know.
12. Eminem (2009)
What was the one thing that Eminem's press run for his new album that was missing? Controversy, hit singles, drug issues. All those were conspicuously absent, but fans got cheated out of another confounding round of freestyles like we got for Relapse in 2009. He blessed Westwood with a classic before coming to BET and laying it down with the presence of a veteran: "Whoa nelly, tell Angelina Jolie I'm ready with petroleum jelly to smear it all over me belly." The first time you hear that rhyme, is does laps around your mind, the way Em hits syllables like keys on a piano.
Incredibly, the verse continues to build in strength until it's crescendo, "Animal instinct, cannibalistic, I just ran out of lipstick, man I'm a twisted/Sick, sadistic, son of a bitch, 666, broke his crucifix made out of sticks, then fixed it." It was the kind of showing that got ripped, bootlegged, downloaded, and listened to millions of times away from the original video source, all because of Em's alien-like handle on the human language.
11. Geto Boys (2005)
Here's a quick snapshot of what's going on at the time of this freestyle, both outside of the booth and in it. The Geto Boys reunited for the second time in 2005 for their last album, Foundation, on Rap-A-Lot Records. To promote the album they hit BET's Rap City to spit a couple freestyles. Scarface, rocking an uncharacteristic mink coat, Willie D, sporting a carefree disposition, and Bushwick Bill, playing the back until the mic gets lowered to his height, look like one hell of a motley crew together.
Scarface keeps it real about sticking to the streets while Willie D is silly, but Bushwick Bill has the best verse of everyone, rapping about love not being real, money as a numbing agent, and still smoking Newports. It might be the weirdest thing that an episode of Rap City has ever seen, but since Tigger's snickering self is gone, it works.
10. Killer Mike (2005)
Killer Mike pours his extra-large self into the microphone when he records music like this. Over Beanie Sigel's "Feel It In The Air" beat, Killer Mike lets slip that Rap City hasn't been the same since Big Tigger left before asking the DJ to cut the music so that he can rhyme acapella and say fuck C. Delores Tucker, Bill O'Reilly, and "Reverend what's his name." Mike spits the kind of rap to make you stand up and say something or keep you in your chair for days, but it's always stirring enough to feel something after.
9. Cam'ron (2005)
OK, this is not really a freestyle as Cam'ron used these words for "It's Nothin'", but it's just too good to leave off, seeing how we hardly ever hear Cam over Kanye these days. "Knots the sizes of Xboxes, Entenmann's cookies, and spaceships with the inside plasma, fam?" Unheard of. Cam made this freestyle sound better than it's original—if only we could get these two working together again, we'd all have Purple Haze Christmas trees and Dipset socks. This reminder of two genius minds remains the strongest argument for an all-Kanye produced Cam'ron album, but don't hold your breath.
8. Ghostface Killah (1999)
This is lifted from a little known verse on a Mathematics song called "...On The Radio," and Ghost destroys it. He talks about being fed up with the drug game, almost like a throwback to Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, before he takes the Rambo route while Rae counts the grams slow.
Ghost's visceral, cinematic abilities make it feel like there's a movie being shot in the booth—blood splattered walls, fiends sniffing rat poison. Everything the Wu did emanated authenticity, and this freestyle allows Ghost to bounce back from what is easily the most awkward episode of Rap City to ever air. Watch the whole thing if you've never seen it before, or if you just want a ton of laughs.
7. Canibus (1998)
If your kneejerk reaction to hearing Canibus spit is, "Damn, Canibus knows a lot of big words," then you're not alone. He picked up the mic alongside Philly's DJ Tat Money on Rap City in '98 and got super scientifical with it, talking about chemical substances, vaginal cream, G.E.D.'s, epiphanies, and epistolary symphonies. Not that Big Tigger usually outshines the other rappers, but his namby-pamby bars sound like Kidz Bop compared to Canibus' dissertations.
'Bus later returned to Rap City two years later to promote his album 2000 B.C., calling his first album trash and claiming that he'd been watching the show longer than anyone else there—ever since DC was swarming with cicadas, in fact. They probably didn't invite him back after that.
6. Killer Mike and Big Boi (2002)
This is unlike anything the Booth has ever seen. First, Killer Mike upstages one half of Outkast with an improvised first verse. He might even physically threaten Big Tigger, though it's not clear. Big Boi big ups Speakerboxxx/The Love Below and proceeds to kick it off the dome as well, but when Killer Mike comes back, he puts on a show. He scans the stickers on the door to the booth and begins rhyming about them, incorporating Slip-n-Slide Records and Scooby Doo, to name a few.
Then he ends his performance with an earnest admission: Someone better cut him off, because he's waited his while life for an opportunity to rap like this. Right on time, the video fades to black. It's hard to play regular old rap videos after Killer Mike just murdered a freestyle by rapping about stickers on a door.
5. Kool G Rap (2001)
There's one other instance of G Rap visiting the Booth, but it was in that wack new room when they were making everyone spit over new beats, and hearing him rhyme over Tony Yayo's "So Seductive" isn't exactly the best match (spoiler: He rips it anyway).
Big Tig cops to being shook in the presence of a rap deity before letting G Rap take over, and it's pure crack from the jump. 13 years after "The Symphony", Kool G still has that in-the-pocket flow with lines like, "You don't want me to come run up on that Mercedes black/Hit you and that pregnant chick and pop where the baby at." The Queens heavyweight tends to be forgotten amongst today's generation of Pac and Big lovers, but his influence still holds strong with popular upcoming rappers like Action Bronson.
4. Raekwon (2000)
RZA is cutting on the 1's and 2's. Raekwon is sitting on the top of toilet, Ghost is dancing like he might not be sober. The second half of Rae's verse is taken from another Mathematics song called "Clap," but it's the first half of his verse that's incredible. The Chef slings a smorgasbord of slang-heavy phrases on the unrecognizable first section, "God God moccasins, leaving people scaly in the Waldorf, Mike Clemente bats aluminum." You need some sort of Wu translator to understand exactly what he's saying, but but even a nerdy white guy can feel the energy of Rae's delivery and see the color of his lexicon. It's like a painting getting injected into your cerebellum.
3. Grandmaster Caz (2002)
According to lore, Caz's verse on a taping of Rap City in 2002 has never been recorded onto wax mp3. This was supposed to be a casual throwback episode where two of the oldest rappers around (Raheem was originally a Geto Boy) came through to kick those old styles that viewers might have known, but definitely didn't care about.
Quickly, however, you can tell that Caz isn't just spitting another old verse. Every single line starts with, "Before..." which sets up an entire set of modern circumstances that pit the now against the past. Caz is like a philosopher here, setting up a rich bank of ephemeral fads to contrast with the limitless, never-ending nature of hip-hop. He ends with a deafening statement of identity and power that is hard to imagine any other rapper pulling off (besides maybe KRS): "My name is Hip-Hop and I have always existed/In this physical form or in the essence of rhyme/Grandmaster Caz is the greatest of all time."
2. Eminem (2001)
Eminem could easily hold down a quarter of this list. Every time he stepped up to the mic, you knew there was about to be some unexpected shit flying out of his mouth. He was one of the only white dudes to come up in there (we see you T-Bo), yet he always made sure to leave a blazing impression.
This is known as his “High On” freestyle, thanks to his opening bars: “High on? What’d you say trick, What am I on?/Two tubes of airplane glue and a can of Krylon...” In just six bars, he manages to pack in eating crayons, lighting lesbians on fire, knives, blind wives, and a motherfucker who skydives out of a plane to give Lady Liberty high fives (hi Kendrick). The shortest, most stupefying freestyle that The Booth ever saw.
1. The Diplomats (2003)
Scarface's heartwarming "My Block" blares through the speakers, so it automatically feels like we're sitting on lawn chairs, posted in Harlem during the summer. Jim Jones is up first, Kansas Chiefed out, before Juelz steps to the mic with the gaze of a psycho. "Young Muhammad Atta/No plane lessons/Cocaine lessons/That supplied the towers..." Canonical post-9/11 rap music, and his whole verse sounds like it might be his lost contribution to "Welcome to New York City", especially the way he incorporates the song title into his rhymes.
And then it's like God shines down on us from his pink realm of Heaven. During the entire time that Jim and Juelz are spitting (about 135 seconds), Cam hangs in the back with his head down, counting a huge stack of cheese as he slowly inches toward the front. Pink Coogi, pink crewneck, green bills and all, Cam proceeds to lay down the greatest thing that BET cameras have ever captured. When he's done counting his bread, he just dances with two stacks in each hand. They should show this video to kids in first grade for inspiration every week. 50 thought he was teaching you how to stunt, but come on. There are too many quotables to even pick one out. Just bask in the glory of the entire thing. Dipset Forever.