Pop-Rap

A few seconds of the following songs is all it takes to turn a tough room into a sea of smiles. Seriously, now — even the most unshakeable cynic should be able to appreciate (and secretly adore) the borrowed Queen bassline of "Ice Ice Baby," the dominant "Super Freak"-y sample of "U Can't Touch This," the swiped Kool & The Gang melody and blatant Miami Sound Machine references of "Feel So Good," and the champagne-popping "it's your birthday" refrain of "In Da Club."

Oh, don't worry — our Next Steps keep things bumpin' with another batch of hook-heavy hits.

"Forgot About Dre," "Fantastic Voyage," "Hot in Herre": no matter what track we're talkin' about, our Pop-Rap playlist aims to please. Of course, it can also cause awkward outbursts of joy, thanks to the nostalgia trip of forgotten novelties (the squealing, lightly scratched samples of "Jump Around," the hollow congas and high-octane hooks of "Now That We Found Love") and fairly recent rap hits, like the slinky, Neptunes-produced "Shake Ya A*s" and old-school-indebted "Work It" (featuring off-kilter percussion patterns and carefully cloaked samples of Run-DMC 's "Peter Piper" and Blondie's "Heart of Glass").

With Ludacris and Lil' Kim both poppin' up, you can be sure things don't get too underground in our Deep Cuts either.

The "Deep Cuts" tab above the following tracks is a little misleading. After all, each and every one of these songs attacked the charts at one time or another. That includes the buzzing-beehive synths and subtle, clanging triangle of "Milkshake," the hasty handclaps and Knight Rider nods of "The Jump Off," the street-savvy R&B/rap duet of "Whatta Man," the head-on nü-metal/hip-hop collision of "Numb/Encore," and the Fergie-spiced "Let's Get It Started" — a new, beyond-the-underground recipe for Black Eyed Peas.

Pop-Rap? Isn't that an oxymoron, what with hip-hop's need to be "hard" (or, in the immortal words of Run-DMC, "tougher than leather")? Yes and no. No matter which way the beat bounces, rap thrives on delivering more hooks than a reigning heavyweight champ — regardless of how raunchy and raw the lyrics are. That's why our Pop-Rap Essentials playlist doubles as an instant party, a guaranteed trigger of spontaneous stupidity and "play that again!" requests. In fact, hit shuffle and you'll stumble upon any number of the following across-the-board jams: a groundbreaking meeting of guitars and breaks ("Walk This Way"), steely G-funk ("The Next Episode," "Gin and Juice"), soul samples chased with trucker speed ("Through the Wire"), a groove-tailing, hyper-sexual single or two ("Push It," "Around the Way Girl"), or Top 10 treats by the likes of Will Smith, Warren G, and Young MC.