‘History of Rap’ — A Quick Hippity-Hoppity Hip-Hop Primer for the Ignorant Among Us

History of Rap, Part 1
Sugarhill Gang – “Rapper’s Delight”
Run-DMC – “Peter Piper”
Beastie Boys – “Paul Revere”
A Tribe Called Quest – “Award Tour”
Digital Underground – “The Humpty Dance”
Snoop Dogg feat. Dr. Dre – “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang”
Tupac Shakur – “California Love”
The Notorious B.I.G. – “Juicy”
The Roots – “The Seed”
Eminem – “My Name Is”
Missy Elliott – “Work It”
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em – “Crank That (Soulja Boy)”
T.I. feat. Rihanna – “Live Your Life”
Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx – “Gold Digger”
Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys – “Empire State of Mind”

History of Rap, Part 2
Kurtis Blow – “The Breaks”
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five – “The Message”
N.W.A – “Express Yourself”
Public Enemy – “Bring the Noise”
Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock – “It Takes Two”
Salt-N-Pepa – “Push It”
Vanilla Ice – “Ice Ice Baby”
Fatman Scoop – “Put Your Hands Up”
Cypress Hill – “Insane in the Brain”
DJ Kool – “Let Me Clear My Throat”
DMX – “Party Up in Here”
Nelly – “Hot in Herre”
50 Cent – “In Da Club”
OutKast – “Hey Ya”
Lil Wayne – “A Milli”
DJ Khaled – “All I Do Is Win”
Cali Swag District – “Teach Me How to Dougie”
Rick Ross – “B.M.F.”
Biz Markie – “Just a Friend”
Kurtis Blow – “The Breaks”

History of Rap, Part 3
Run-DMC – “King of Rock”
LL Cool J – “Mama Said Knock You Out”
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – “Parents Just Don’t Understand”
De La Soul – “Me, Myself and I”
JJ Fad – “Supersonic”
Sir Mix-a-Lot – “Baby Got Back”
Young MC – “Bust a Move”
House of Pain – “Jump Around”
Ice Cube – “It Was a Good Day”
Coolio – “Gangsta’s Paradise”
The Fugees – “Killing Me Softly”
Beastie Boys – “Sabotage”
Jay-Z – “I Just Wanna Love You (Give It 2 Me)”
OutKast – “Ms. Jackson”
Snoop Dogg – “Drop It Like It’s Hot”
Kanye West – “Stronger”
Nicki Minaj -“Super Bass”
Naughty By Nature – “Hip Hop Hooray”

History of Rap, Part 4:
Sugarhill Gang – “Apache (Jump On It)”
Grandmaster Melle Mel – “White Lines (Don’t Do It) ”
Kurtis Blow – “Basketball”
Fat Boys – “The Fat Boys”
Run-DMC – “It’s Tricky”
Beastie Boys – “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”
LL Cool J – “Going Back to Cali”
Slick Rick – “Children’s Story”
2 Live Crew – “Me So Horny”
A Tribe Called Quest – “Scenario”
Cypress Hill – “Hand on the Pump”
Wreckx-N-Effect – “Rump Shaker”
Salt N Pepa – “Shoop”
Snoop Doggy Dogg – “Gin and Juice”
Busta Rhymes – “Woo-Ha! Got You All in Check”
The Notorious B.I.G. – “Hypnotize”
Missy Elliott – “Get Ur Freak On”
Jay-Z – “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)”
Nelly – “Ride Wit Me”
50 Cent – “P.I.M.P.”
Chamillionaire – “Ridin Dirty”
Wiz Khalifa – “Black & Yellow”
Trinidad James – “All Gold Everything”
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – “Thrift Shop”
Eminem – “Lose Yourself”

(Personally, I still don’t think anything tops “The Message.”)