61: "From The Chuuuch To Da Palace" - Snoop Dogg feat. Pharrell
What can I say, the Neptunes are all over this list. They were THE production team of the decade, and their strength laid in the huge number of people they worked. Snoop might have been the best decision they ever made. The man with the longest career in Hip-Hop delivers over this beat and makes it feel like an electronic feedback assault. His other Neptunes classic would sound more like a murmur over whispers, and we'll see it later in this list.
62: "Gravel Pit" - Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang stayed productive and important in the 2000's, that is if you ask anybody who isn't in the group. It seems the Clan looks at the current state of Hip-Hop and doesn't see a place for itself. It's a far cry from the gritty urban early 90's that spawned them, and its true that most modern rap doesn't come close to the atmosphere or lyrical dexterity of the Wu. But when RZA's on the beat and you get verses from some of the greatest voices in the game, perfection is impossible to avoid.
63: "Stronger" - Kanye West
The blending of electronic and Hip-Hop music is not an idea new to the last decade. Everyone from Afrika Bambaataa to Mantronix to Timbaland has blended electro, dance and rap before. Electrified Hip-Hop did find a new existence in the Rap/Pop world of the late 2000's, and "Stronger" led the charge. Its hard not to create dancefloor dynamite when you supe up one of the greatest Daft Punk songs, but add Kanye's goofy meets gangsta mentality and you've got a sure thing.
64: "Day 'N' Nite" - Kid Cudi
Here we have a direct response to the Electro/Rap movement. Artists like Kid Cudi and Drake could be labeled "Post-Kanyean", with their relance on dance-inspired sounds forced to slow to Hip-Hop speeds and lyrics that probably wouldn't impress Rakim or Nas. Say hello to the trend of the next decade.
65: "Dumb It Down" - Lupe Fiasco
The importance of lyrical expertise seems to have left the building around the time we lost Pac & Big, with beats and producers growing increasingly important. The Hip-Hop community has responded with the "Real Hip-Hop" argument, basically claiming that older music like Wu-Tang or Biggie is what rap should be, and almost all new rap (whether its Lil' Wayne or Soulja Boy) is garbage. Lupe doesn't make this argument at all. He is a modern day MC, but he sees many of his contemporaries as folding to pressure, either from black urban listeners or white owners and distributors. The problem is not old vs. new, but that there are too many interests involved in the rap process now. It seems the only interests Lupe cares about are his own.
66: "Stuntin' Like My Daddy" - Birdman & Lil' Wayne
Sometimes a song is just imbued with a kind of power, and every time you hear it you go superhuman. This is one of those songs. Over horns that sound like they were sampled from the Imperial March Birdman & Wayne massacre the track with lines like "Bitch i'm paid, that's all I gotta say" and "Show me my opponent". Take into consideration that Wayne's verse was used as the climax of Girl Talk's Feed the Animals and you've got a classic on your hands.
67: "Live Your Life" - T.I. feat. Rihanna
T.I.'s 2008 album Paper Trail was markedly different from his previous efforts. Where his earlier albums focused on his hood mentality bred in the Atlanta Trap, Paper Trail is focused, polished, and most importantly, redemptive and positive. Maybe it was facing a year in prison that de-thugged T.I., but the results seem worth it. A score of hits came from the album, but "Life Your Life" made the biggest impact. Its also the best thing Rihanna's ever done.
68: "Project Bitch" - Cash Money Millionaires
"Cash Money Records, where dreams come true." The Cash Money story is ready for the Hollywood treatment; a little indie label in New Orleans blows up to the national scene, implants itself in the nation's psyche, surpasses its crosstown rivals No Limit, and spawns one of the biggest names in 21st century rap. When I first heard this song I was 12 and living in the suburbs, and it blew my mind. Thus the power of regional rap; a song with the style of the community that birthed it gets piped across the country, giving everyone a chance to hear what they want to hear: something new.
69: "Black Mags" - The Cool Kids
Things change. Rap goes Pop. East vs. West becomes obsolete. Indie rap goes from intellectual and lush to sparse and to the point. The Cool Kids represent this change, with two MCs and an 808 they make a style of rap with a foot firmly in both the new and the old school. All it takes to be a gangster now is black and white film and a shitty bicycle. Yeah, things change.
70: "Wait (The Whisper Song)" - Ying Yang Twins
Chris Rock was right, I'm tired of defending this shit. Is it so wrong to have a song with the original skeet-skeeters whispering amorously about how good they are at sexing? It is? Well, we don't really care. Wait til you see my dick.
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