Let’s get this out of the way at the beginning: there is no handful of songs that ever completely encapsulate any genre or artist or sound. The beauty of art is that it’s ephemeral—to quote a famed lyricist, it’s blowin’ in the wind. But that shouldn’t stop us from having a little fun and giving a go at summary, right? Right!
When you take a step back and think about the ’90s, what quickly comes to mind is how diverse the decade was. Electronic music, alternative rock, grunge, boy bands, solo starlets, so-called gangsta rap, backpack rap, metal, country, jam bands—the list goes on and on.
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Not only were there many genres to choose from in Sam Goody but within each set, there were a plethora of subgenres.
When it comes to ’90s rap music, in particular, the decade is just as varied. It comes in like a lion and leaves like Frankenstein crossed with a wolfman. In between, there are violent battles between east and west coast factions, jazz-based tracks, the rise of southern rap, and more. Here, we wanted to explore the decade, albeit with the limitation of just five songs.
1. Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg – “Ain’t Nothing But a ‘G’ Thang” from The Chronic (1992)
By the late ’80s, the Compton, California-born rap group N.W.A. was one of the biggest draws in hip-hop, but inner tension ultimately caused the group to split. And so its beatmaker, Dr. Dre, went solo.
In 1992, he released The Chronic, which some critics today still believe is the best rap album of all time. Not only did it feature Dre, but it introduced the world to a man called Snoop Dogg, who would remain prominent in pop culture for the next 30-plus years.
In the ’80s, groups like Run-DMC wrote aspirational rhymes. With Dre and his crew, it was about how their hard lives really were.
2. 2Pac – “Hit ‘Em Up” from Death Row Greatest Hits (1996)
When it comes to rap music in the ’90s, the genre will forever be known for two things. Talent and tension. By the mid-90s, one of Dr. Dre’s proteges, Tupac Shakur (aka 2Pac), was one of the biggest stars in the world.
He was fiery, fierce and focused. But he was also in the middle of an infamous rap battle that eventually claimed his life and that of his friend-turned-main-adversary, The Notorious B.I.G.
On “Hit ‘Em Up,” 2Pac eviscerates Biggie, even talking about his wife, which only added to the flames that would claim both artists’ lives.
3. The Fugees – “Ready or Not” from The Score (1996)
Amidst all the violence and gun-slinging, there was exquisite rap music that cared about the art of the musical style more than revenge. To many hip-hop fans, Lauryn Hill is the Platonic Ideal of a lyricist. Clever, cutting, literary, and ready to laugh. Not only that but she was photogenic and could sing like Billie Holiday.
She was as compelling as it got and the dynamic center of a talented group known as the Fugees. This song from their hit 1996 LP, The Score, was a crossover sensation, played on both rap stations and middle school dances.
4. Outkast – “Rosa Parks” from Aquemini (1998)
While we could talk about Nas’ Illmatic, Jay Z’s Reasonable Doubt, Wu-Tang’s Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), Missy Elliott’s Supa Dupa Fly, or A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory, we chose to single out Outkast and the track “Rosa Parks” from their 1998 LP Aquemini.
Why? Because Outkast was the gateway drug for most rap fans when it came to songs from the Southland. For the New York City-born genre of rap, it was assumed the South knew little of what made it tick. But Outkast shattered all those stereotypes, leading to more from artists like Killer Mike and Lil Wayne.
5. Eminem – “My Name Is” from The Slim Shady LP (1999)
Remember how we began the decade with Dr. Dre? Well, we also end with him, in a way. After The Chronic, Dre’s career went on a bit of a roller coaster ride. And by the end of the decade, he’d pushed all his chips in on a white rapper from Detroit.
Turns out, it was one of the best bets in music history.
Eminem, with Dre behind him, became a phenomenon for his intricate rhymes, his poisonous tongue, and his willingness to take aim at anyone, from boy bands to his own mom. On “My Name Is,” we are introduced to Em up close and personal via his debut single.
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