The decade is coming to a close and several big moments happened in Hip-Hop over the course of 10 years. In the modern era of lists, the top verses of each year have always been a point of contention and we’ve listed the top ones based on our view.
The criteria for our list is quite simple. We didn’t pick verses based simply on popularity but more on how they shifted the conversation towards the respective artist. Arriving at the conclusions listed below wasn’t an easy task, but we can say definitively that we did our best to highlight the best of the 2010s.
Check out Hip-Hop Wired’s To 10 verses of the decades via their corresponding years below.
1. Nicki Minaj from Kanye West's "Monster" [2010]
Nicki Minaj outshined everyone on this epic posse cut from West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album. It also put her in the conversation as one of the top women rappers of all time.
2. Lil Wayne – "6 Foot 7 Foot" [2011]
While the song features a very strong verse from Cory Gunz, it was the Young Money honcho’s performance over the course of the song that had people agreeing with the “Greatest Rapper Alive” sentiment if only for a moment.
To this day, the Philadelphia rapper’s powerful anthem still rings off. It was just another star-making moment for Meek and he’s still vital to the culture heading into the new decade.
4. Kendrick Lamar from Big Sean's "Control" [2013]
Compton’s K-Dot had everyone replying to his boasts of being the “King of New York” on a blistering verse where he went directly at many of his peers. The verse was so strong that it overshadowed strong performances from Sean and Jay Electronica.
5. Big K.R.I.T. – "Mt. Olympus" [2014]
Krit was one of many rappers who replied to Kendrick Lamar’s “Control” performance and did so with a snarl and grit that stood out amongst the din. K.R.I.T. has always been an extremely capable rapper but this was a new side of him for many.
6. Lupe Fiasco – "Mural" [2015]
Four years later, and for fans of true lyricism, this song will still give you chills. The Chicago MC goes off for nearly nine minutes and only pauses to marvel at his own ability, only to bring us perhaps the decade’s best verse.
7. Drake – "4PM In Calabasas" [2016]
There were plenty of strong verses this year, but it’s fair to say Drake showed that he still had something to prove. Yes, it became novel and still remains so to poke fun at the Toronto star but joints like these proved that he belongs in the conversation always.
8. Black Thought's Funk Flex Freestyle [2017]
For 10 straight minutes, the frontman for The Roots destroyed this freestyle verse and completely had people checking to realize they’ll never be as good as the Bad Lieutenant.
9. Jay-Z from Meek Mill's "What's Free" [2018]
Hov already proved he still had it via his album 4:44, but to hear him spazz on some pro-black ish was a revelation considering all his successes. And the fact it appears he was largely spitting from the dome made this even more amazing.
10. Pusha T from Freddie Gibbs & Madlib's "Palmolive" [2019]
King Push has been exceptionally good for so long that a number of his verses could be on this list. We selected this as the best of 2019 because as great as Gibbs is across the course of the Bandana LP, Pusha T reminded us just how cold he is with the bars.
