I don’t know why but there’s something about a hard beat, and a good MC coming on and delivering one long verse that I just love. I don’t think this list needs any more description than that. I think it’s cool and here are my favourites!
Method Man – What The Blood Clot
As best as my memory serves, I think this was the first example of the one-verse song that I’ve heard. I had Tical when I was a young teenager and played it over and over (more accurately – my brother had it and I played it over and over). What The Blood Clot just sounded great to me and stood out – 2 minutes of Meth just delivering a smooth flow over a cool track? Yes please, still now I can’t get enough – it gets me every time when there’s the subtle change up as he says “I get evil”.
Great flow. Great beat. Quotable lyrics.
DJ Format feat. Abdominal – Vicious Battle Raps
This one might be my personal favourite on this list. Just give it a listen a try to keep up!
DJ Format is a brilliant DJ – making break beats from rare samples and with one foot firmly in the old school, and he always sounded his best when was paired up with Abdominal – a Canadian MC with a crazy flow, creative lyrics, and breath control that few others can match. The album Music For The Mature B-Boy is a great listen from start to finish, with a nice mix of instrumentals and songs featuring MCs, however this is clearly the standout track. Abdominal just goes crazy for the duration, delivering witty lines and demonstrating why he’s better than crap MCs (because they’re crap) and going from there through a wild verse that speeds up and slows down in what seems like an effortless flow.
This is near impossible to rap along to, but my goodness is it fun to try.
Ghostface Killah – All That I Got Is You
All That I Got Is You is not a typical Ghostface song. On what, for him, is a fairly reserved flow, he delivers a simple tale of growing up in hard times and his family’s sacrifices made to raise him and his brothers, all in a reflective one-verse song finished with a great emotional addition from Mary J Blige at the end over a Jackson 5 sampled beat designed to put you in that nostalgic mood. This is a brilliant song and really one of Ghostface’s best and allowing him to really display what a great lyricist and storyteller he is.
Skinnyman – Fuck The Hook
I can remember the first time I heard this song. I wasn’t sure how I’d get on with Skinnyman’s album but I put this song on and holy shit I was blown away. That beat, that flow, those lyrics – this song is just incredible. Detailing Skinnyman’s viewpoints through a high-energy verse, Fuck The Hook details how he’s been around for years (since the days of Boogie Down in fact) and now he’s stepping it up along with the rest of the UK, how rough some areas are in the UK & London especially, and throws in some reflective lines about being sick of being broke and struggling and seeing teenagers committing violence & drug crime, and how’s he’s going to rise up and keep his head high through rap. This is as pure Hip Hop as you can get, Skinnyman takes us on a full journey through one verse and leaves you reeling. Do yourself a favour and listen to this album it’s pretty much perfect – tied together with a central theme and sample from the film Made In Britain. If you’re looking for a comparison I’d say this is the English Illmatic.
The home of hip hop, can you say you’ve been there?
Home’s where the heart is so hip hop lives right here
Slick Rick – La Di Da Di
You really could take your pick from Slick Rick songs here, he was the master of fitting a whole story or message into a one-verse song and it was realistically a toss up between Children’s Story and La-Di-Da-Di.
Anyway, I picked La Di Da Di probably because you get a few more twists and turns within Slick Rick’s delivery itself, going back and forth from a sing-song style and his regular flow, but you also get Doug E Fresh providing the beat. great stuff. Honestly if you really break down what he’s saying, he’s describing a fairly boring morning routine at some points but he still manages to make washing his face and having a bubble bath sound cool. Also I’m sure plenty would agree that La Di Da Di has one of the best opening lines in Hip Hop history. This song is quotable from start to finish.
Also Snoop covered this. Nothing to add there. Just saying…
Republished from: The Rap Blog