VH1, the music cable channel who rose from its humble beginnings as a soft rock video pusher to becoming a powerhouse for questionable and tactless reality show programming, has declared Public Enemy's "Fight The Power" as the top hip hop song of all time. And you know what? I'm really not that mad. For once, a political song has nabbed the top spot, dethroning that bastion of previous hip hop countdowns, The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight." For a while there it seemed that "Rapper's Delight" was the "Thriller" of all-time hip hop countdowns.
Rounding out the rest of the top 5 is Dr. Dre's "Nuthin' But A G Thang," Run-DMC's "Walk This Way, and Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five's "The Message." Personally, I would have placed "The Message" at number one, but that's just me. While this initial list has calmed my side-eye down a bit, it went into instant "twerk mode" once I discovered that VH1 has also compiled the "20 Greatest Weed Songs" and "20 Odd Things" about the VH1 Hip Hop Awards' host, Tracy Morgan, to commemorate the awards show. Ahhh, yes ... side-eye twitching is back in effect.
Want to scream at your television screen for what may likely be a farce more than a quality countdown? VH1's "100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs" countdown debuts September 29th. Here's the full Top 20 list.
1. Public Enemy "Fight The Power"
2. The Sugarhill Gang "Rapper's Delight"
3. Dr. Dre "Nuthin But A 'G' Thang"
4. Run-DMC featuring Aerosmith "Walk This Way"
5. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five "The Message"
6. N.W.A. "Straight Outta Compton"
7. Notorious B.I.G. "Juicy"
8. Snoop Doggy Dogg "Gin and Juice"
9. Salt-N-Pepa "Push It"
10. Kurtis Blow "The Breaks"
11. Jay-Z "Hard Knock Life"
12. L.L. Cool J "I Can't Live Without My Radio"
13. Wu-Tang Clan "C.R.E.A.M."
14. Tupac "I Get Around"
15. Eminem "Stan"
16. Missy Elliott "Get Ur Freak On"
17. Sir Mix-A-Lot "Baby Got Back"
18. 50 Cent "In Da Club"
19. Ice T "Colors"
20. Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx "Gold Digger"
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VH1 crowns "Fight the Power" as best hip-hop song [USAT]
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