The 38 Best Rap Songs of 2021 (2024)

Listen: Remble, “Gordon R Freestyle”

Rio Da Yung OG: “Last Day Out”

Vulnerability isn’t usually Rio Da Yung OG’s forte. The unpredictable and hilarious Flint, Michigan rapper is often too busy delivering punchlines about robbing the plug while his son watches, or punishing his girlfriend’s kid for interrupting while they were getting busy, to get into his feelings. “Last Day Out” is different. It’s a temporary goodbye as he prepares for a jail sentence. Throughout the track, he self-reflects, takes a trip down memory lane, and leaves his immediate family and fellow Flint rappers with parting words. He tries to shrug it off, but you can tell he’s crushed. –Alphonse Pierre

Listen: Rio Da Yung OG, “Last Day Out”

Rxk Nephew: “American tterroristt”

On this nearly 10-minute barrage, the rambling and unpredictable RXKNephew reels off enough nonsensical conspiracy theories to make Joe Rogan think: This guy is really onto something! The wildest ones—about the COVID vaccine causing mutations and dinosaurs discovering electricity before Benjamin Franklin—might stand out at first, but keep listening. I mean, points are made here: The Bible does have a lot of plot holes! Algebra is some bullsh*t! And let’s face it, they knew Kelly Clarkson would win American Idol all along! You might not want to elect Nephew to any school boards, but hear him out. –Alphonse Pierre

Listen: Rxk Nephew, “American tterroristt”

Saweetie: “Best Friend” [ft. Doja Cat]

Just a few years ago, mainstream collabs between women in rap were as rare as a genuine Notes app apology. Now, there’s an embarrassment of riches, and “Best Friend” is one of those coups: two of rap’s most dominant merging to hype each other up, as good confidants do. (Who hasn’t spotted their Day One on the street and screamed, “Beep beep, is that my bestie in a Tessie”?) Over a beat that bounces like a pogo stick, Saweetie lobs bad-bitchisms at Doja Cat, whose masterful shapeshifting manifests as a bubbly, three-flow verse. As public displays of affection go, this is the kind that’s perfectly admissible. –Clover Hope

Listen: Saweetie, “Best Friend” [ft. Doja Cat]

Shygirl: “BDE” [ft. Slowthai]

The term Big Dick Energy is usually used to describe an understated sense of charisma, but London’s Shygirl means it very literally on “BDE,” her lustful song with Slowthai. Singing almost as if in a trance over a thudding beat and looming synths, Shygirl articulates exactly what she wants: “a big dick boy” to “beat the puss* right.” The lyrics are frank and repetitive, but the song’s tension comes from the way she modulates her vocals—sometimes slinky and unbothered, other times pitched down and gravely, or accelerated into a frenzy. There is so much secondhand delight in hearing Shygirl’s cool dominance, the way she asserts her desire without hesitation. –Vrinda Jagota

Listen: Shygirl, “BDE” [ft. Slowthai]

Tyler, the Creator: “Lumberjack”

We’ve always known that Tyler was one of the best rappers working. And yet, for the last decade, he’s seemed to delight in withholding this ability while pursuing other opportunities: orchestral pop, cherry-colored funk, songs about the Grinch. With “Lumberjack,” he returns to hard-nosed rap, though it hardly feels like a capitulation—if anything, it sounds like he’s still thumbing his nose at naysayers. The beat pulls its trembling keys from a Gravediggaz song (probably a nod to critics that tried to pigeonhole Odd Future as “horrorcore”) and the song’s chorus (“Rolls Royce pull up/Black boy hop out”) is delivered like a middle finger. “That’s my nuance, used to be a weirdo,” he deadpans at one point, reminding us that hip-hop’s ultimate insider used to be an outsider. –Mehan Jayasuriya

Listen: Tyler, the Creator, “Lumberjack”

Wiki: “Can’t Do This Alone” [ft. Navy Blue]

Wiki and Navy Blue come from two different generations of New York’s rap underground, but their uncompromising values—and buoyant chemistry—closes the gap. The heartening joy of friendship can be found in every corner of “Can’t Do This Alone,” a round-the-way winner from Wiki’s Navy-produced LP, Half God. Wiki isn’t passing the torch off to Navy Blue here, though Sage’s prolific year on the mic and behind the boards is certainly worthy of praise. They’re raising a flag together in celebration of their vibrant scene. –Brandon Callender

Listen: Wiki, “Can’t Do This Alone” [ft. Navy Blue]

Yeat: “Gët Busy”

“This song already was turnt but here’s a bell,” Yeat raps about halfway through this track, before firing off a massive gonging sound that’s become the Portland artist’s trademark. Zoom out from that moment, though, and there’s a lot more to enjoy here: mini vocal freakouts full of garbled drug concoctions; Dr. Seuss references; twizzies, tizzies, and Lizzies. Cutting his teeth in the influential online rap collective Slayworld over the last few years, Yeat was always a little stranger than his peers, and consequently cast as a minor figure. But in 2021, his surrealist bent became his superpower. –Mano Sundaresan

Listen: Yeat, “Gët Busy”