Although a large portion of my writing tends to focus on electronic music, hip-hop and rap have always been my first love. I fell in love with the genre 20 years ago and it’s one of the few things that’s remained constant over the greater part of my life. One of the elements that always made rap so special is the storytelling aspect. A good writer can bring you into their world and take you on an epic adventure. To celebrate this dimension of the art form, I’ve put together a playlist that showcases some of the greatest storytelling rap songs of all time. The list ranges from raw street tales, to emotional and personal. We’ve got songs that personify the genre as a women, take you into the mind of a terrorist, and follow a dollar bill. There’s classic cuts from the likes of Warren G and Nate Dogg, Ice Cube, Slick Rick, Nas, Common and Biggie. Underground favourites like Apathy, Louis Logic and Cunninnlynguists. And of course, we’ve got tracks from some of the best new artists like J. Cole, Kendrick, Vic Mensa, Logic and Your Old Droog. Noticeably absent from the list in Jay Z. This is due to the fact that his music isn’t available on Spotify or he’d have a ton of entries on this.
Check out the full playlist below and let us know your favourites.
