May 13, 2009
The 100 Greatest Underground Hip Hop Songs of the Last 15 Years
by Sean Gunn
If you want to know the criteria I use to determine whether or not a track should be considered “underground”, I’ll be writing a post soon that will go into more detail. For now, check this out:
100. Digest the Hardcore Onry Ozzborn
99. Leanni Lea Penuckle
98. Macro/Micro Mayday
97. Sirens Panacea
96. Black Royalty Bronze Nazareth
95. Severed Organs Circle of Tyrants
94. Barcode Verbal Kent
93. Walking Away Brother Ali
92. Positive Contact Deltron 3030
91. Evil Shit Necro
90. Antemeridian Count Bass D
89. Matt and Nate Grand Buffet
88. Hourglass Cunninlynguists
87. Full Time B-Boy Foreign Legion
86. No Snakes Alive MF Doom & MF Grimm
85. Skwad Training Artifacts
84. Let Me Watch Viktor Vaughn (f. Apani B.)
83. 1000 Deaths Aesop Rock
82. No One Loves Me Moka Only
81. Freestyle Rhymes Chino XL
80. Latyrx Latyrx
79. Heavy Ceiling Deep Puddle Dynamics
78. Just a Feelin’ Majik Most (f. Celph Titled)
77. Nothing Without You Pigeon John
76. Jane Fonda Mickey Avalon
75. Inherited Scars Sage Francis
74. Murs Day Murs & 9th Wonder
73. Where’s Brooklyn Ac? Block McCloud (f. Mr. Met, Pumpkinhead, War Bixby)
72. Open the Mic Odd Couple (f. Celph Titled, Jay Love, J-Zone)
71. Weededed Lootpack
70. Clear Blue Skies Juggaknots
69. Come One Come All Zeph & Azeem
68. Prince Charming Brother Ali
67. Say Hey There (Gotta Go to Mexico) Atmosphere
66. Easy Cause It Is Typical Cats
65. Slums Reavers
64. Fumbling Over Words That Rhyme Edan
63. I Wanna Go Home Prozack Turner
62. Morning After Pill Louis Logic & J.J. Brown
61. And So Boot Camp Clik
60. The Nine Psalm One
59. Straight Flowin’ on ‘Em Motion Man
58. Lost Cool Calm Pete
57. The Woman With the Tattooed Hands Atmosphere
56. Neo-Tokyo MC Esoteric (f. Eddie Meeks, Main Flow)
55. Holdin a Jar 2 Cage
54. Uprock Diverse
53. Snake Bite Myka 9
52. Claxx on the Traxx Slaine
51. Can’t Save Typical Cats
50. Live From the Plantation (live) Mr. Lif
49. Vomitspit MF Doom
48. Primo’s Four Course Meal Celph Titled
47. Take the Edge Off Adverse
46. Scars and Memories MF Grimm
45. Blood In Blood Out Jedi Mind Tricks
44. Rhymes Like Dimes MF Doom
43. Partnas Confused Masters of Illusion
42. High Tithe Qwel & Meaty Ogre
41. There She Goes John Robinson
40. 9-5ers Anthem Aesop Rock
39. Fazers King Geedorah
38. Interlude Cocktail Freestyle Mekalek (f. Cool Calm Pete)
37. Great Day Today Madvillain
36. StuftStarvn Nathan Nice
35. A.C.W.A.L.L. Babbletron
34. Citrus District Myka Nyne
33. Perfect Person 7L & Esoteric
32. Turntable Science DJ Skully (f. Celph Titled)
31. Forest Whitiker Brother Ali
30. Primitive Plus Edan
29. Rule by a Fool Louis Logic & J.J. Brown
28. Firstwordsworse C-Rayz Walz (f. El-P)
27. Catalogue Mudkids
26. Real Eyes Quasimoto
25. 3000 Dr. Octagon
24. Doomsday MF Doom
23. Dead in Motion Antipop Consortium
22. Straight Off the D.I.C. Cannibal Ox
21. Beatslope (El-P Remix) Hangar 18
20. A Sad Day for Investors Sole
19. Old Paul MC Paul Barman
18. Battle Me C-Razy Walz
17. Bad Touch Example Company Flow
16. Apt. A, Pt. 2 cLOUDDEAD
15. Raindance Josh Martinez & DJ Moves
14. Decapitation Free Micranots
13. Somersault DangerDoom
12. I’m Gonna Kill You Juggaknots
11. [untitled track] Buck 65
10. Promised Land Edan
9. De La Souls P.O.S.
8. The Movement [4AM Remix] DJ Zeph (f. Azeem)
7. Honest Expression Binary Star
6. Lefty’s Lament Busdriver
5. Another Tomorrow Metropolis Now
4. Krazy World King Geedorah (f. Gigan)
3. Reinventing the Wheel Typical Cats
2. Uphill Climb Josh Martinez
1. Daylight Aesop Rock
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© 2009, James Gunn. All rights reserved.
May 19th, 2009 at 9:48 am
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May 18th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
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May 14th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Autonomy: All the stuff you mentioned is great. I have to stick by my choices, though–do you know the Buck 65 track? It’s on an Anticon compilation, not one of his LP’s. I probably prefer God Loves Ugly slightly to Overcast, but I agree it’s Atmosphere’s next best and Sound is Vibration in particularly should maybe be on there… I have a few El-P tracks on there as producer, but as an MC I haven’t quite gotten into him so much.
Bill Pardys I love JMT, and I agree Uncommon Valor is a great track, but maybe a bit too much of a polemic for my tastes. I would have included Get This Low from Psycho-Social, but that track is actually over 15 years old! I Against I, Trinity, Animal Rap, What’s Really Good, Shadow Business, Put Em in a Grave, etc. would all be worthy additions.
Dannzilla, sheesh, I could only put so much Atmosphere and Aesop on the list. My next few choices from each would have been Sound is Vibration, Hockey Hair, Sunshine, One of a Kind from Atmosphere, and Big Bang, Rickety Rackety, Coward of the Year from Aesop. There’s so many…
May 13th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
this is a pretty good list. would’ve liked to see more tracks by Aesop Rock, Atmosphere, and Sage Francis, but whatevs. I’m also very surprised by the exclusion of any EL-P, the Coup, and I mean c’mon, no MC Chris?! seriously, the dude’s got the voice of a 12 yr old and has songs about Star Wars, nerd girls, and being white n chubby, he’s amazing!
May 13th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
This stuff is all 100% new to me. (Forgive me coolness for I have sinned). I threw on a bunch of tracks as I got shit done today and have pretty much loved them all. So thanks. It’s fairly f-ing spiffy to get a list like this. And, yeah: “Forest Whitaker” is bizarre and excellent in the extreme.
May 13th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Only one Jedi Mind Tricks song? That’s kinda disappointing to see, I actually think “Uncommon Valor: A Vietnam Story” with R.A. the Rugged Man is probably one of their best.
I can’t disagree with the Aesop Rock and MF Doom choices at all.
May 13th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Pretty damn solid list, but I’m a little surprised by your choices for Buck 65, Cage, P.O.S, and Atmosphere. I may be alone here, but I think Buck 65’s best song is “The Centaur”, Cage’s “Agent Orange”, P.O.S’s “Music For Shoplifting” and (I think, anyway) Atmosphere’s best stuff is all off of their debut album “Overcast”.
Also surprised by the amount of Brother Ali, and especially by the lack of El-P!
Overall though, good list to read. I’ll have to check some of these I don’t know about out.