Hip-Hop One-Hit Wonders

The world of hip-hop moves at such a blinding speed that sometimes MCs have time only for one big splash before the next big thing comes along and steals the spotlight. These are the Lone Rangers of rap, riding in out of nowhere to make hip-hop history and then heading off into the sunset without waiting around to be thanked. The Sugarhill Gang scored hip-hop's first big Pop single by flowing over Chic's "Good Times" groove on "Rapper's Delight," making such a deep-down impact they didn't need another hit. Brooklyn electro heroes Newcleus brought post-P-funk synth squiggles and a futuristic feel to their lone Pop smash, 1984's "Jam On It." And long before the Dirty South broke through, Atlanta's Tag Team had the whole world wondering exactly what "it" was, with their catchphrase-in-the-making "Whoomp! (There It Is)," destined to live on forever as a basketball chant. From jazzy jams to boogie-down Bronx block parties, don't miss a minute of our Next Steps.

They may not have stuck around for long, but these are the MCs who changed the game with one bold blast that would echo for years to come. When Digable Planets let their laid-back rhymes tumble out over an Art Blakey hard-bop sample that blew a cool, jazzy breeze across "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)," who'd have guessed a detergent commercial would be the rebirth of "Rebirth" 16 years later? 3rd Bass was one of hip-hop's first big integrated acts, but their moment in the sun was a scathing lyrical lashing of Vanilla Ice on "Pop Goes the Weasel," with a video starring Henry Rollins as the Iceman. And old-school Bronx heads Rock Master Scott & The Dynamic Three never even made an album, but their blazing party jam "The Roof Is On Fire" burned its way into history with a hook that shook the world. In Deep Cuts, one-hit wonders come in all shapes and sizes, from Miami bass babes to pint-sized MCs.

If there's one thing the fast-and-furious hip-hop scene has shown, it's that a hit can come from anywhere, even when you least expect it. When the Miami Bass sound was getting off the ground, nobody could predict that its crossover queens would be L'Trimm, two high-school girls who scored a smash hit with their celebration of those hood-rattling "Cars With the Boom." They seem positively mature compared to Lil' Romeo, son of Dirty South godfather Master P. Romeo who was only 11 when "My Baby" bumped its way up to the top of the Pop and R&B charts. And founding Cypress Hill member Mellow Man Ace may have flown that crew's coop before their first album, but after his Spanglish saga of a lying lady, "Mentirosa," translated into a big payday, he couldn't have had too many regrets.

More than any other kind of music, hip-hop has always been tied in tightly to the beat of the street, so milestones come and go at a quicker pace. Sometimes even the greatest MCs make it up to the net just long enough for that one slam dunk. We've gathered all of those wondrous one-shots in one spot for you, covering everything from House of Pain and their move-it-or-lose-it blockbuster "Jump Around" to British-born American rapper Young MC and his stone cold invitation to "Bust a Move." Even though Onyx, Das EFX, Maestro (with his sole '90s hit, "Stick to Your Vision"), and the rest of our quality-over-quantity hit-makers never got a chance to rack up a whole hallway full of gold records, they each made the most of their moment, and as the years go by, their masterstrokes still shine as bright as they did the day they were made.