14. Jay Rock - “Vice City (Feat. Black Hippy)”

In my opinion, Black Hippy (a.k.a. the original TDE collective) do modern Hip-Hop better than anybody else in the game. When together on a track, each member combines their own unique individual skill set and perspective to produce something bigger than the sum of its parts. They make Hip-Hop that’s firmly planted in reality, Hip-Hop that soars to the same heights as their peers yet isn’t afraid to voice the downside of all the glitz and glam. It’s objective Hip-Hop that still manages to retain the spirit of pure subjectivity. They give voice to not only the Ego but the Id, the conscious and the subconscious, accepting the spotlight without hiding any of the shadows that it comes with. It’s human. It’s Hip-Hop as it was meant to be, Hip-Hop that doesn’t shy away from reality or hide itself behind the same materialism and tall tales of its contemporaries.