20. CyHi The Prynce - “Amen (Intro)”

CyHi’s work has never suffered from a lack of one-liners. However, this track puts the rest of his catalogue to shame and functions as an apex of sorts within his evolution as an artist. His lyricism is truly at its best here as he flows through witticism after witticism and pun after pun with increasing ease. You can almost imagine him smiling and winking as he goes – and not because the content is by any means lighthearted, but because he has so much control over everything, like a novelist writing layer within layer of meaning, he imbues it all with so much depth that, like a good film or novel, the listener is able to find new meaning within every listen.

The result of all his efforts is a complex yet compact cinematic masterpiece, and arguably one of the best introduction tracks I’ve ever heard. It sets the album up perfectly – effortlessly interweaving the various themes of religion, hope, violence, loss, sex, money, drugs, and braggadocio into a single and cohesive whole. It’s quintessential Hip-Hop, like a universal biography that speaks to the heart of the beautifully complex culture that birthed it. It captures the struggles and the resilience with crystalline lucidity, and yet because its orchestrated by CyHi, what emerges remains infinitely complex. It’s storytelling at its finest, speaking to the whole and the few at once and creating the sort of grandiose aura that makes it simultaneously chill-inducing and intoxicating to witness.