A Kendrick Lamar track has topped streaming service Spotify’s latest Classics list, which ranks the greatest hip-hop songs of the streaming era.
According to Spotify, the “streaming era” stretches over the last nine years, from 2015 until now. The collection of tracks is not based on numbers, but takes into account factors such as cultural impact and artistic merit.
The streaming era has seen the releases of a number of all-time hip-hop greats from the likes of Tyler, The Creator, Megan Thee Stallion, Future and more, all of whom make the top 100 list. The latter takes the number five spot with ‘March Madness’, just behind Lil Uzi Vert’s ‘XO Tour Llif3’.
Drake takes bronze with 2018’s ‘God’s Plan’, which broke streaming records at the time of its release. Cardi B comes in second with her 2017 hit ‘Bodak Yellow’, which also marked the first single from her debut full-length offering a year later.
But it’s Kendrick Lamar who takes the top-spot for the greatest hip-hop song of the streaming era with his 2015 track, ‘Alright’. The song featured on To Pimp a Butterfly, which is now widely considered to be one of the best albums not only in hip-hop, but in music history.
The protest song was written with Kendrick’s long-term collaborator Mark Spears as well as pop songwriter and producer Pharrell Williams. Over lush hip-hop instrumentals and gospel-inspired vocals, Kendrick confronts police brutality and injustice with an unflinching sense of hope, always reaffirming, “We gon’ be alright.”
Since the release of To Pimp a Butterfly, Kendrick has released two more full-length albums, 2017’s Damn and 2022’s Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers. More recently, Kendrick has been caught up in a feud with fellow streaming era rapper Drake.
The Canadian rapper took aim at Kendrick with his ‘Taylor Made freestyle’ earlier this year, which employed the AI-generated voices of 2Pac and Snoop Dogg. The track was removed from social media after Drake received a cease-and-desist order from Tupac’s estate.
Lamar has since embarrassed Drake by breaking one of his streaming records with a diss track about the rapper. ‘Not Like Us’ accrued over 10.9million streams in 24 hours, beating the record previously held by Drake’s ‘Girls Want Girls’, featuring Lil Baby.
Drake hit back at Kendrick with ‘The Heart Part 6’ earlier this month. The title references several of Lamar’s songs titled ‘The Heart’.
