The Best Rap Verses of 2019

From Freddie Gibbs' "Crime Pays" to Pusha-T's verse on "Palmolive," here are Complex's picks for the 20 best rap verses of 2019.

Complex's Best Rap Verses of 2019
Complex Original

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Complex's Best Rap Verses of 2019

In 2019, rap continued to evolve in a melodic direction. There’s a bigger emphasis on sticky hooks than ever right now, but there’s still nothing like a verse that stops you in your tracks the first time you hear it. We’ll never get tired of lyricism that forces us to run a song back, over and over, until we’ve caught every last metaphor and obscure reference. This year, more than a few of these moments came from the Griselda crew up in Buffalo. Meanwhile, Pusha-T ended 2019 with two of our top five verses of the year. What a way to close out the decade. We’ve already ranked the best songs and the best albums of the year. Now, for our final year-end list of the decade, it’s time to reflect on the verses that blew us away and required repeat listens. These are Complex’s picks for the 20 best rap verses of 2019.

20. Schoolboy Q, “Attention”

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Verse: 1

Best Line: “From Pac, Snoop, Kurupt, Daz, bitch, I'm déjà vu/You see my homie in the hood ’cause I hate y'all too”

If for some reason you still had any lingering doubts about Schoolboy Q’s ability to rap his ass off, those should be put to bed with the final verse of his fifth studio album, CrasH Talk. On “Attention,” Q makes the most of an extra long verse to run through several chapters of his own life story, telling tales about the times he’s made his heroes proud, before recalling the moments when he “ain't achieve shit” and “quit sports to become a Crip.” Diving into brutal memories from his past, Q provides enough context to make it even sweeter when you hear about the realities of his present day: front row at the Grammys, getting praises from Jay. This is honest, detailed storytelling at its best. —Eric Skelton

19. Maxo Kream, “Still”

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Verse: 1

Best Line: “Signed to RCA, 1.5 mil/Still sellin’ dope, label like I need to chill”

From shouting out his 10110 Forum Park origins to bragging about his seven-figure deal with RCA, “Still” is essentially a Maxo Kream survey course for those who have somehow managed to miss the ferocious Houston spitter’s excellent catalog. Maxo navigates CHASETHEMONEY’s rumbling 808s like Marshawn Lynch through a defensive line—never relying on speed or agility, but instead harnessing relentless power. Along the way, he offers impressive internal rhymes (“Still hit a stain, take a chain, ain't no changin' me”) and asserts himself as one of the realest in the game (“Momma told me, ‘chill’ ’cause I’m fightin’ all these felonies/Still makin’ deals, vacuum seals, what you tellin’ me?”) Now that he’s on a major label, Maxo is going to have a bigger platform than ever, and “Still” proves why that opportunity is so long overdue. —Grant Rindner

18. André 3000, “Come Home”

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Verse: 3

Best Line: “I don't like my fin bent up, Tilikum, well, that's ill-informed/Sweet stuff, Willa Wonk’, we stuck, Billabong”

Only 3 Stacks could pack references to Willy Wonka, a deceased orca whale, and Australian river terminology into a stirring verse that addresses the way love strains as time passes. André bounces between rich details (“I remember when you start dyeing them silver hairs/And start hiding from your age/I ask, ‘Why? How come?’/Amazin' how time can run away from us”) and sweeping declarations (“I'm no nun, you're no priest, but I promise, hun, you gon’ see/A phenomenon, come with me”), mirroring the massive emotional and rhetorical swings that can happen in a relationship-altering argument. His bag of flows remains deep as ever, as he rhymes in double time, machine-precise staccato, and cascading triplets without ever sounding like he’s trying to show off. —Grant Rindner

17. Tierra Whack, Tim Westwood Freestyle

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Verse: 1

Best Line: “You love drama, I love being black and Benihana/Swag on Michelle Obama, book a trip to Ghana”

Tierra Whack’s 2018 visual album, Whack World, proved that she is a first-rate auteur on par with anyone in hip-hop. And in moments like her Tim Westwood TV freestyle, she shows she can easily go bar for bar with the best, too. Atop the bouncy, challenging beat from Timbaland & Magoo’s “Drop,” Whack takes stock of her success with lines that highlight her intelligence and penchant for wordplay, while putting her identity as a proud black woman front and center (“You love drama, I love being black in Benihana/Swag on Michelle Obama, book a trip to Ghana”). Even fairly standard boasts about jewelry sing because of Whack’s springy flow and unique vocabulary (“I know crackheads with three commas/On my way to Ben Baller, ‘bout to freeze my Acqua Panna”). The fact that she spits the entire freestyle while beaming just proves that she’s having as much fun rapping as we are listening. —Grant Rindner

16. J. Cole, “Middle Child”

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Verse: 1

Best Line: “Just put the Rollie right back on my wrist/This watch came from Drizzy, he gave me a gift/Back when the rap game was prayin’ I’d diss/They act like two legends cannot coexist”

J. Cole’s verse on “Middle Child” is one of the biggest flexes of 2019. How many rappers do you know can go from chopping it up with Kodak Black and 21 Savage to getting Rolexes from Drake and eating expensive meals with JAY-Z? Beyond the boastful one-liners, J. Cole bases the verse around a compelling concept of laying out his status in the rap game, and manages to sprinkle in some gems that could be applied inside and outside of the industry. “They act like two legends cannot coexist/But I’d ever beef with a nigga for nothin’/If I smoke a rapper, it’s gon’ be legit,” he raps. We didn’t end up getting a full solo album from Cole this year, but his verse on “Middle Child” has us excited for what’s to come in 2020. And the message here is much-needed, as the generational gap in hip-hop continues to widen. —Jessica McKinney

15. DaBaby, “Intro”

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Verse: 1

Best line: “How I know I’m the chosen one, ’cause sometimes when I be speakin,’ nigga/Like on this song, I ain’t rappin,’ I’m preachin,’ nigga”


In the months leading up to the release of “Intro,” there was growing frustration from some fans over DaBaby’s habit of repeating flows and subject matter. But the Charlotte artist showcases another facet of his persona on the opening record of his sophomore album, Kirk. On “Intro,” he shocks listeners by swapping comedic punchlines for introspective lyrics, unafraid to showcase vulnerability as he reflects on his rags to riches story and processes the death of his father in real-time. “I got the number one record, they acknowledged the jit/They goin’ crazy then they play it, head bobbin’ and shit/And I’m just somewhere fucked up thinkin’ bout my father and shit/They found him dead a couple days before I started tour,” he spits. “Intro” represents a left turn for DaBaby, since he broke into the industry with an oversized, caricature personality. But his ability to switch up both his flows and talking points on this track is exactly why we’ll be hearing from him for years to come. —Jessica McKinney

14. 2 Chainz, “Statute of Limitations”

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Verse: 1

Best Line: “Any time 50 came to town, I served Buck/Any time the Sixers played the Hawks, I seen Chuck”

“I ain’t made a play since 2011,” the rapper formerly known as Tity Boi says in an ad-lib before the opening verse on “Statute of Limitations.” “Can I talk my shit now?” Indeed he can. The reason this verse sticks out is not because of any great technical rhymes or outrageous punchlines. Rather, it’s the concept. It’s a short portrait not of 2 Chainz, successful rapper; but instead of a guy whose big claim to fame is that he deals drugs to rappers and athletes way more famous than he is. The contrast to 2 Chainz’s usual hyper-braggadocious persona is startlingly effective. And it serves as a reminder that the distance between serving Lil Jon and being Lil Jon is sometimes not very far at all. —Shawn Setaro

13. Benny the Butcher, “Lucha Bros”

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Verse: 3

Best line: “All my niggas went harder when them bills caught up fast/Now hustlers come to my shows to get their scales autographed”

Truth be told, Griselda put out so much heat in 2019, they could have occupied this entire list. That said, some verse outshined others, and that included Benny the Butcher finishing off one of the more stellar cuts from Westside Gunn’s Hitler Wears Hermes 7. On “Lucha Bros,” it feels like Benny was sitting back, looking over not just 2019, but the entire trajectory of his life, going from the streets to the music industry with the same mentality: destroy everything moving. He also has a lot of fun with it, whether it’s comparing his coke connect making that “white girl” famous across the country or how Simon Cowell built Kelly Clarkson. He also gets downright ferocious with descriptions of tucking in his iron, but realizes that in the end, “lions’ll never play with monkeys.” Benny finishes off 2019 like he began it: at the forefront of your playlists and on repeat in your streaming devices. And he’ll still call your shit trash. —khal

12. Roc Marciano, “Richard Gear”

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Verse: 1

Best line: “My shooter’s like Larry Bird, he from Port-au-Prince, he not from French Lick”

The master! What can be said about Marci that hasn’t been said about Obi Wan Kenobo or Yoda at this point? He just uses the Force to his benefit as his verses and styles get more intricate with each new project. This verse is so effortless in its glory, only a select few can really appreciate the game he’s giving us here. Like my guy Timmhotep tweeted the other day, “Roc Marciano is for the sophisticated street rap connoisseur.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. Kiss the ring of one of the more quietly influential rappers of this decade. —Angel Diaz

11. Freddie Gibbs, “Crime Pays”

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Verse: 2

Best Line: “Thought I would front you another one/Niggas like you that just ain't got enough on the books/Talkin' that shit in the booth but when niggas come shoot at you/You couldn't do nothin’ but look”

Freddie Gibbs is cold with the raps, and that’s on full display with “Crime Pays,” where he employs a double-time flow over Madlib’s buttery backdrop, which showcases the chemistry these two have been building since 2011’s Thuggin’. The second verse is especially razor-sharp, as Gibbs highlights the realities of the street life, calls out the fakes (“Talkin' that shit in the booth but when niggas come shoot at you/You couldn't do nothin' but look”), and even throws in a dig at former-associate-turned-foe Jeezy. Few acts keep it as raw as Gangsta Gibbs. —Edwin Ortiz

10. Estee Nack, “Banana Yacht”

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Verse: 2

Best line: “The semi go ‘Tra’ like Don Chezina”

Boston’s Estee Nack has been putting in important work in one of rap’s most important scenes: “the underground.” I put that in quotation marks because with the Internet being a thing, “the underground” shouldn’t be either. Some of y’all are too lazy to listen to some shit that doesn’t have a trap or drill beat. Both of Nack’s verses on Westside Gunn’s “Banana Yacht” are exercises in the essence of lyrical mastery over beautiful production provided by Denny Laflare and Diamante. I’m a sucker for bilingual raps so I picked his second verse for last few bars, with an emphasis on the Don Chezina reference. If you like Griselda, you’ll like Estee and his frequent collaborator Al Divino. They rep the state of Massachusetts well. —Angel Diaz

9. Megan Thee Stallion, “Running Up Freestyle”

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Verse: 1

Best Line: “If I’m with your daddy, then you know we at the mall”

Megan first let these bars off across the pond on Charlie Sloth’s Fire In the Booth, and freestyling is what put her on people’s radars in the first place. Megan used to kill other people’s beats on video and post them to Twitter, organically growing a fanbase that waited to see what she could really do with a budget. She hasn’t disappointed, and has been talking that Big Texas playa shit ever since. Her breath control is something we don’t talk about enough. This is all one verse, and she spits it like she means it. Yes, Megan, step on me and ruin my life. I know that’s what everyone thinks when they hears her rap like this. 8Ball should hop on a track with her for the culture. —Angel Diaz

8. Nipsey Hussle, “Racks in the Middle”

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Verse: 2

Best Line: “If it was me, I would tell you, ‘Nigga, live your life and grow’/I'd tell you, ‘Finish what we started, reach them heights, you know?’”

Dozens upon dozens of Nipsey verses are now impossible to listen to without being immediately depressed all over again that he isn’t here anymore. Some are showcases of a remarkable talent gone too soon, but others carry an even heavier weight for being tragic reminders of all the goals he won’t get to realize, eerily foreshadowing the broad strokes of his untimely passing. “Racks in the Middle” is both. Listening to the song when it dropped and now, it was clear Nipsey was about to take all of the momentum he accrued in 2018 and run full-speed ahead this year. His race was cut short, no doubt leaving plenty of peers similarly laid up in their home saunas, rich and ultimately powerless to do anything about it. But The Marathon continues nonetheless. —Frazier Tharpe

7. Benny the Butcher, “5 to 50”

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Verse: 3

Best Line: “And before you niggas ever got some cash/I could put 200 grams on every half”

This was a tough one to pick, because we could’ve chosen multiple Benny the Butcher verses from his The Plugs I Met project alone. We went with the last verse on “5 to 50” because Benny is playing with his flow a little bit here. Benny, Push, Hov, and Ross really talk this drug talk the best. We need more of these introspective verses from the Butcher. Hopefully he can pay his plug back the half he owes him with some of these rap checks. There’s definitely going to be more where that came from as Benny’s star continues to rise. —Angel Diaz

6. Black Thought, “Crowns for Kings”

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Verse: 2

Best Line: “I been living proof that the pressure make precious stones/And real Clarence Avants remain lesser known”

Black Thought did it again: He delivered a verse that ended up very high on our best verses of the year list. In 2018, it was the masterstroke that was “Twofifteen.” This year, the entry is Tariq’s verse on Benny the Butcher’s “Crowns for Kings.” Thought’s knotty rhymes, impeccable delivery, and one-of-a-kind pronunciations (“a fly vintage” turns into a “vin-tahj”) are placed in service of a verse that is both a look back at hard times growing up in Philly (“Wishing we could get from Snyder Ave to Melrose/Without the Dapper Dan bodybags and jail clothes”) and a hyperbolic celebration of how far he’s come (“The money generated from me leaving microphones broke/Probably almost on par with all of Escobar’s coke”). There’s a sly quote from “Kick in the Door” early on, and it’s not an accident. After a career of classic verses like this one, Black Thought deserves consideration in some of the same greatest-of-all-time lists that include the guy who was mad at him that one time. —Shawn Setaro

5. Pusha-T, “Maybach Music VI”

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Verse: N/A (leaked)

Best line: “What a hell of a year, true colors exposed Crowns on these clowns, it's like you colored they nose”

What a diabolical villain Pusha-T is. There was no way Ross was going to put this verse on a song with Wayne on it. Imagine what Ross must’ve said to himself when he told Push his intentions, and then got back this verse instead of an olive branch, or just some bars about opulence and success or whatever. Nope, Push decided he didn’t want to end his decade-long beef with Young Money. He wakes up everyday and chooses violence. You gotta love the sport. This verse didn’t make the final version of the song on Port of Miami 2, but it did quickly leak online for us all to enjoy. —Angel Diaz

4. Kemba, “Daemons”

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Verse: 3

Best line: “Credit card crack any door like janitor keys/Niggas even took credit for the man I would be”

XXXTentaction’s final posthumous album Bad Vibes Forever has plenty of high-profile cameos, including Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Tory Lanez, and Blink-182, but among all the stars, the real standout is Kemba. His verse finds the rapper struggling through betrayal by drug-addicted family members after the death of his mother (the latter subject took up much of Kemba’s superb most recent album, Gilda). Kemba realizes that the closeness of the betrayal hides an extra problem: “I’m so scared of my genes, I considered celibacy/Afraid I would ruin my seeds like Adam and Eve.” But then he pulls the focus back to show the real villain: a society that kept his family trapped in poverty. —Shawn Setaro

3. Rapsody, Funk Flex Freestyle

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Verse: 1

Best line: “Y’all was taking Ls, I used to them to spell Allah/That’s God flow, Rakim, y’all be on that ra-ra”

Sitting down with Funkmaster Flex in November, Rapsody unleashed a wild four minute freestyle that’s jam-packed with double entendres, metaphors, and pop culture references. Throughout the freestyle, she relentlessly hits the audience with bars they won’t even fully comprehend until seconds later, but her delivery and facial expression is composed and unshaken throughout. “Y'all was taking Ls, I used to them to spell Allah/That's God flow, Rakim, Y'all be on that rah rah/ All cap, I called Kap, he ain’t pick up receivers/ Jay was kicking game, I was open enough to receive it/Y'all was on my head like ‘Not Rap, I can’t believe it!’/Knowing my moves would make sense one day like Jason Weaver,” she raps. Funk Flex’s facial expressions throughout the clip say it all. —Jessica McKinney

2. Lil Uzi Vert, “Free Uzi”

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Verse: 2

Best Line: “I'm not tall, but I ball like a athlete/Count my money, yeah, I turn to a mathlete”

Who says Uzi can’t go in? The little walking, talking meme went the fuck in on “Free Uzi” at a time when rumors of retirement and label issues were still flying and we weren’t sure if we’d ever hear him rap again. This was a moment. I wish we could count this entire song as one verse, because there are hella quotables in all three of these, but we’re going to go with the second. First of all, “I was steppin' on the beat, took a nap on it” is a bar, then there’s the Kaepernick line, and finally, the man compares himself to a mathlete when he counts his bread. Oh, and let us not forget, “Backwood on me, bitch, you stay ’rello,” for all the smokers out there. We needed Eternal Atake yesterday, especially if Uzi has bars like these tucked in the chamber. —Angel Diaz

1. Pusha-T, “Palmolive”

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Verse: 2

Best line: “It was snowfall and Reagan gave me the visual/Obama opened his doors knowing I was a criminal”

If you were on Twitter when Freddie Gibbs and Madlib dropped Bandana, you remember the bomb that Pusha-T dropped on the timeline with his flawless verse on “Palmolive.” Unlike his lyrics on 2018’s verse of the year, “The Story of Adidon,” though, Push didn’t use headline fodder and surprise information about the biggest rapper in the world to whip Twitter into a frenzy this time. This is back-to-the-basics, old-fashioned rap. And the results are just as effective. Over a sample of The Sylvers’ “Cry of a Dream” from Madlib, Push doesn’t waste a bar as he weaves together cocaine metaphors, Paid in Full characters, and sly political references for an extremely efficient appearance on one of the best rap albums of the year. In just 73 seconds, Push holds a master class on how to craft a meticulous, cohesive verse full of devious one-liners that demand repeat listens. “We all break bread like going Dutch on a dinner date.” Are you kidding me? This man is at the top of his game. Real bars are the ill bars. Euchk! Congrats. You did it again, Push. —Eric Skelton

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