I Luv U, Dizzee Rascal (2003)
Whether grime is hip-hop or not is a debate that still rages today, but no one can argue that Dizzee Rascal brought the uniquely English genre to the world’s stage. The beat and flow of Dizzee’s hit is proto-grime, all aggressive jungle and garage beats over rapid-fire rhymes that still sound smooth at 140bpm. I Luv U didn’t start grime, but it did catapult it into the public consciousness.
Soweto, Pro Kid (2005)
There are rappers that put entire cities on the map. Think Meek Mill and Philadelphia or Drake and Toronto. Soweto’s Pro Kid was another one of these, popularising a regional hip-hop style born and bred in the famed Johannesburg suburb. Soweto has all the triumphant swagger of Jay-Z or Rick Ross rhyming over a vintage Just Blaze beat, but Pro Kid also brought a distinctive vocabulary of Sowetan slang and vernacular to the table, creating something sublime in the process.
How to Rap About Africa, Black Vulcanite (2016)
In 2005, Kenyan author and journalist Binyavanga Wainaina wrote a satiric essay labeled How to Write About Africa. It became a landmark piece of criticism, lampooning those who would come to the continent and follow a tired formula that highlighted stereotypical narratives about poverty, genocide, and corruption. A decade later, the Namibian group Black Vulcanite put Wainaina’s essay to music, giving it a seething beat that takes cues from iconic producers like DJ Premier and Madlib. The resulting track, How to Rap About Africa, is less tongue-in-cheek and more caustically critical, bringing the anti-establishment fire of Public Enemy and Dead Prez to a whole new era and geography.
Sub City, Stogie T (2016)
South Africa’s hip-hop scene is one of the world’s most mature, and it has produced some of the most artistically gifted MCs this side of Queens. But even in that crowded field, Stogie T stands apart. The 38-year old MC famously flexed his skills on radio show Sway in the Morning, spitting a flawless freestyle over the beat from Nas’s NY State of Mind. It was a star-making moment, but Stogie T has been rhyming since the turn of the millennium, including the standout track Sub City from his eponymous 2016 album.
