Highlighting our favorite bars from one of the most memorable years in rap.
Drake, Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole
Illustration by Mara Ocejo
The second half of this year was a bar-fest, dominated by some of the genre’s biggest and brightest stars.
The first half gave us projects like Ye and Ty Dolla $ign‘s first Vultures tape, ScHoolboy Q‘s critically acclaimed (and Grammy-snubbed) Blue Lips, and Chief Keef‘s solid Almighty So 2 — all of which are represented on this list. Most of this list, however, features verses from the second half of the year, specifically the summer where we watched The Big Three turn into “just Big Me,” thanks to Future and Metro Boomin hiding that early-yera Kendrick Lamar feature. Honestly, what a moment that was.
Drake, J. Cole, and K. Dot climbed the ladder of success during the Blog Era and have all reached different levels of superstardom in their own right, making it impossible for all three of them to coexist on the same plane. As Nas said on “The Message“, “There’s one life, one love, so there can only be one King,” and as of right now, in this very moment, the crown sits comfortably on the West Side of things.
We also can’t forget about the ladies. There’s some talented women repped on this list who’ve had a hand in ushering in this new era of female rap that we find ourselves in. Not only do they bend the genre whenever they see fit, they can bar up and stand toe-to-toe with the best of the guys.
Check out our picks for the 10 best rap verses of the year below.
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Future, “TOO FAST”
Image Credit: Matt Adam First Verse
Saying Future’s had a hell of a year is criminally understated. After helping to kick off the Kendrick and Drake beef with his and Metro’s We Don’t Trust You, he followed that up with a sequel and a national tour. He could have chilled, but Future knows chill don’t pay the bills, so he blessed us with one last album, Mixtape Pluto, before 2024 wrapped up. And, at least for me, it’s the best of the three he’s dropped this year, primarily because of tracks like “Too Fast” that have Pluto being radically transparent about one of his biggest vices: tricking.
He kicks off the song explaining how he likes to take women shopping on Rodeo Dr. and to Greece after only three dates. He tells us his friends also think he’s bugging: “Had a talk with all the friends, told me, ‘Stop splurgin’/ Maybe you need to settle down, buy it for someone worth it.’” But the best part of the verse comes towards the end, when Future reveals that “all this unnecessary spendin’” he’s been doing is so crazy that he’s been “hidin’ it from my mother.” Only Future, a 41-year-old man who’s been in the game for nearly two decades, can make a bar about keeping things from his mother sound heartfelt and genuine. — DAMIEN SCOTT
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Tierra Whack, “Banded Up”
Image Credit: AB + DM Sosa’s playground was transformed into Whack World when Tierra popped up for a fiery assist on Chief Keef’s Almighty So 2 standout “Banded Up.” The Philly rapper flexes on the opposition and rips through her show-stealing verse faster than a Tyreek Hill go route, without breaking stride and while showing supreme breath control. Even Keef himself was taken aback after realizing he got obliterated on his track. “Why would you do me like that on my song?” he asked her in astonishment. — MICHAEL SAPONARA
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Freddie Gibbs, “Back to Me”
Image Credit: Nick Walker Ye’s NSFW Dogma sample at the beginning of the song was thought to be the most memorable part of the drum-riddled “Back to Me” — that was, until Freddie Gibbs showed up. Freddie Kane explodes on the scene looking to make “rap n—as mad,” as he calls Iso and spews at the trifling women in his life: “Just turned a bird b—h to my ex like I was Elon,” he groans. The Gary, Indiana native’s bristling verse was so well-received at listening parties before the official version hit streaming services that West and Ty Dolla $ign removed Quavo’s verse altogether. — M.S.
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TiaCorine, “HOT ONE”
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo When I heard “Freaky T” for the first time, I knew TiaCorine was a force to be reckoned with. So, when I watched her spit her verse from Denzel Curry’s “HOT ONE” on the YouTube show On the Radar, I had high expectations and she did not disappoint. I pretty much lost it when she rapped, “Blow your top, let’s see what’s on your mind/Ex ni—a, let him go ’cause how you broke like every time?/ Fifty on my chest, I got like forty on my pantyline,” and spun the iced-out Kirby on her belt. That moment reminded me of watching Rap City: Tha Bassment. It was pure showmanship and rap can always use more of that. — ANGEL DIAZ
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ScHoolboy Q, “Blueslides”
Image Credit: Bethany Vargas First Verse
Measured, warm, somber at times and clear-eyed, Blue Lips is the album ScHoolBoy Q has been wanting to make for years. A lot of the project finds him taking stock of the life he’s built and the world around him. One of the standouts is the jazzy “Blueslides,” on which Q shares a bunch of lessons he’s learned the hard way, as well as current fears and frustrations. It’s not a verse full of memorable bars, but lines like, “Better climb out of that hole before you fuck up your blessings/ ‘Fore you realize that it’s over with and start to get dеsparate” and “Been a prisoner in my own house, I don’t know if they noticed/
I done broke down so many times, next time, it gon’ catch me/ I done helped out so many people, they took me for granted” manage to linger and stick to you like the smell of home-cooked food. When taken all together, it works as a great snapshot of what’s just beneath the surface of one of the greatest rappers of our time. — D.S. -
Doechii, “Nissan Altima”
Image Credit: John Jay First Verse
The first time I heard this verse I made that ugly face you make when you hear a rap so disgusting, you look like somebody farted or something. And I can’t decide which lines are better, “I’m the new hip-hop Madonna, I’m the trap Grace Jones/I don’t know what type of motherf—kin’ crack they on/I’m like Carrie Bradshaw with a back brace on/I been carrying you bi—hes now for way too long” or “You b–ches barking over bones, I got digits to fetch/ I can’t do pictures, I’m too busy, I don’t deal with the press/ You the type of ho to leave a broke n—a impressed.” Either way, nothing gets me going like some good old fashion s–t talking, and Doechii does that as well as anybody on this track. — A.D.
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J. Cole, “Pi”
Image Credit: Prince Williams/FilmMagic Third Verse
Regardless of your opinion on Jermaine Lamarr Cole and his 2024, it’s undeniable that his year was not all doom and gloom. Earlier in the year, Cole dropped his now-Grammy-nominated project Might Delete Later and embarked on a rap expedition, showcasing iron-clad bars that would make any backpacker blush. Cole’s two-minute triumph on ‘Pi’ was his Heisman moment, a verse filled with bars that he doused with accelerant, entertaining basketball purists and avid movie buffs with references to former NBA prospects and Jumanji. (“Seen plenty bodies trembling, resembling Cam Reddish/ So full of potential, but never given a real chance to develop.”) — CARL LAMARRE
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Drake, “Family Matters”
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo Third Verse
Despite the lyrical drubbing from Kendrick Lamar last May, Drake’s “Family Matters” is arguably the one song from their volcanic feud that’s aged like fine wine. Maneuvering through two beat switches, Drake’s third verse — where his trademark sing-songy rap shines — is the song’s pinnacle. In a battle where one-line barbs reigned supreme, his slight at K.Dot: “Kendrick just opened his mouth; somebody hand him a Grammy right now,” is a witty bar that elicits laughter every time. — C.L.
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Kendrick Lamar, “Euphoria”
Image Credit: Dave Free Second Verse
“Not Like Us” gets the shine as it all but ended the beef and went No. 1 on the Hot 100. But “Euphoria” is the bedrock on which Kendrick’s campaign against Drake was built. After easing onto the track before ramping up midway through verse 1, Kendrick goes Super Saiyan on verse two, deading the idea that him and Top are no longer cool with one another, before clowning Drake’s style of dress and calling into question his cultural validity. If he stopped there it would be damaging enough, but Kendrick goes in, dropping bar after bar of ether, like:
“Ain’t twenty-v-one, it’s one-v-twenty if I gotta smack n—as that write with you.”
“You were signed to a n—a that’s signed to a n—a that said he was signed to that n—a.”
“Try cease and desist on the ‘Like That’ record?/ Oh, what? You ain’t like that record?/ ‘Back To Back,’ I like that record/ I’ma get back to that, for the record.”
But, for me, the bar that really drove home the point Kendrick tried to make through out the many songs of the battle, was this one: “Yeah, OV-ho n—as is d–k riders/ Tell ’em run to America to imitate heritage, they can’t imitate this violence.” The sentiment that Drake and his crew aren’t a part of this thing that Kendrick loves and respects is what powered “Not Like Us.” And, at the end of the day, it’s what Drake failed to rebuff, ultimately costing him the battle. Just like that German TV show Dark, when it came to Kendrick’s disses against Drake, the beginning was the end. — D.S.
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Kendrick Lamar, “Like That”
Image Credit: pgLang Do you remember where you were when you first heard this verse? I was home, anticipating Future and Metro linking up once again and getting annoyed by social media for spoiling the hidden features like they always do. I turned the noise off and relegated my attention to my group chats for news — and when I finally made it to We Don’t Trust You‘s sixth track, and I heard, “These n—as talkin’ out of they necks/Don’t pull no coffin out of your mouth, I’m way too paranoid for a threat,” it was like when Hulk Hogan was revealed to be the third man and joined the N.W.O. after he turned on Macho Man at Bash at the Beach 1996. We should’ve believed him when he said, “I crash out like, “F—k rap,’ diss Melle Mel if I had to,” because crashing out is exactly what he did. The moments when you know you’re witnessing history are the best. — A.D.
