Hip-Hop

Whether it's bigging up the G-Funk or rhyming the latest bulletins from the streets, hip-hop is the universal language of the inner-city, hot off the press from New York to Nairobi, Los Angeles to London. And when the Hip-Hop Nation takes a turn, all of pop culture follows. These 25 joints made serious moves in leading the music — and the mainstream — to new heights.

From gangster to grime, old skool or new, these are the dopest 25 anthems from the hip-hop frontline.

With its vintage soul samples, political anger, blaxploitation imagery and new-meets-old technology, hip-hop squeezes fifty years of black music history into the 25 hottest sounds in town.

With its vintage soul samples, political anger, blaxploitation imagery and new-meets-old technology, hip-hop squeezes fifty years of black music history into the hottest sounds in town.