The 20 Best Rap Radio Hits of 2024
Here's the Spotify playlist:
1. GloRilla - "Yeah Glo!"
#2 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, #28 Hot 100
I used to write about hip-hop production more before it became so collaborative. It's not necessarily a bad thing that four people produced "Yeah Glo!" but I have no idea what B100, Go Grizzly, Lil Ronnie, or Squat Beats did individually on the track, and can only tell you one thing about one of them (that Go Grizzly has worked on a lot of Latto songs). Still, though, that beat is fucking killer, and aside from GloRilla riffing on Juicy J's famous "yeah ho" ad lib, it doesn't draw from any specific Three 6 Mafia track in the way it just sounds like an instant Memphis classic, the song that instantly turned Glo's momentum around.
2. Kendrick Lamar - "Not Like Us"
#1 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, #1 Hot 100
At the moment I write this, "Not Like Us" has been crowned the biggest rap song of 2024, Drake has filed legal motions against the UMG, the parent company of both Drake and Kendrick's label, in connection to the promotion of "Not Like Us," Kendrick has released a hugely successful album off the momentum of "Not Like Us," and he will likely perform it at the Super Bowl in a few weeks. Given the way these guys ambiguously seethed about each other for 11 years, I didn't think an actual exchange of full-on beef records between Kendrick and Drake would ever happen, or that it would be some real main event shit, but it was a nice little distraction that that led to some memorable songs. Kendrick and Mustard were already, respectively, the biggest L.A. rapper and the biggest L.A. producer of the 2010s, but we barely heard them on the same track in that decade (aside from a Jeezy remix which, I must note, also featured Chris Brown dissing Drake). So maybe it took something like the Drake beef for Kendrick to really lean into making the most pop but also most west coast hit of his career.
3. BossMan Dlow - "Get In With Me"
#4 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, #49 Hot 100
Rap isn't just about flashy and slightly implausible boasts, but sometimes it is that, and it can be pulled off in such an entertainingly outlandish way that it's an artform unto itself. At least, I hope Tallahassee rapper BossMan Dlow doesn't live his raps, because he's constantly rapping about driving irresponsibly, Please don't swerve all over the road, BossMan Dlow, you have so much to live for! So much hibachi to eat!
4. Doechii - "Nissan Altima"
#34 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay
Not a huge hit, but I'm glad it got some light rotation, just an insanely good song and it was kind of frustrating that she didn't even rap on her only big previous hit, "What It Is."
5. BigXthaPlug - "MMHMM"
#34 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, #63 Hot 100
I thought Dallas rapper's national breakthrough single was kind of underrated, but then "MMHMM" went platinum and his album debuted in the top 10, so I guess he's really blowing up, at least in the south.
6. Flo Milli - "Never Lose Me"
#11 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, #15 Hot 100
I've been a fan of Flo Milli since her first project but I wasn't sure if she'd ever get radio rotation like this, it was cool to see it finally happen. It's a little more melodic and sexy than what she usually does, but it works for her and still has a lot of the personality of her usual style in it.
7. 21 Savage - "Redrum"
#7 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, #5 Hot 100
The spoken bit at the end paraphrasing dialogue from The Shining is kind of cheesy, but I love that it's Usher delivering those lines and barely anybody has any idea that it's him.
8. Latto - "Sunday Service"
#28 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, #100 Hot 100
The "get in the booth bitch" shot from the "Sunday Service" video was an undefeated meme this year. It's so insane to me that "Think U The Shit (Fart)" was technically a bigger hit than this, what the hell is going on.
9. Future & Metro Boomin f/ Kendrick Lamar - "Like That"
#1 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, #1 Hot 100
I still wanna know how this record came together and it feels like we'll never get the story in any detail. Did Metro Boomin make the beat with the "Everlasting Bass" sample verse and then decide to get a west coast feature on it? Did they know Kendrick was gonna diss Drake on his verse? I also love how Future raps over the fade out, like he had a whole other verse and they just used a little of it there as a flex or something, it reminds me of lead guitarists noodling away over the fade out of rock songs.
10. GloRilla f/ Megan Thee Stallion - "Wanna Be"
#2 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, #11 Hot 100
I love the way this beat migrated from "My Dougie" to "Pretty Boy Swag" to "Wanna Be" and each of them hits in a slightly different way. The remix with Cardi is good, too, that was the version I usually heard on the radio.
11. LL Cool J f/ Saweetie - "Proclivities"
#36 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay
The first couple singles from The Force were such a refreshing run of straight up rap from LL that I rolled my eyes a little when I saw that he had a single with Saweetie. Great great song, though, fully in the lineage of "Doin' It," I was disappointed that radio didn't take to it more. And I love that they basically passed on doing a final chorus to let Q-Tip show off on the bass guitar.
12. Cash Cobain f/ Bay Swag - "Fisherr"
#9 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay
It seemed like the version with Ice Spice was gonna blow this song up, but then the original seemed to take off more after the remix came out, which is fine with me even though her verse was good. The whole "sexy drill" thing is kind of funny because it feels like the dudes in the scene wanted to turn drill into something soft and melodic themselves instead of waiting for R&B artists to do a "crunk & B" type fusion with it.
13. Gunna - "One of Wun"
#8 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, #26 Hot 100
I don't really understand much of anything that happened with the YSL trial or whether anyone had any real reason to believe Gunna snitched or if he and Young Thug actually are still cool or what. Hopefully it'll all become completely clear at some point, but I'm not holding my breath, it seems like these guys all love to confuse the public. In any event, Gunna has continued to have a pretty good post-trial run of music.
14. Real Boston Richey - "Help Me"
#10 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, #47 Hot 100
The snitching allegations against Real Boston Richey seem more unanimous, and anyway I don't really trust him, he's not even from Boston, what the hell is his name about? "Help Me" is a pretty good song, though, it's funny how much it blew up with seemingly all the people who know who he is hating him. It's funny how he goes "Why I ain't got no hit song yet? Cause I guess it ain't my time yet" and then that's the song that went straight up the charts.
15. Megan Thee Stallion - "Hiss"
#40 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, #1 Hot 100
"Hiss" had a huge chart impact for a song with no real chorus, so I guess it makes sense that that moment never really translated to a lot of radio spins. Still a great track, I love how it wound up kind of setting the tone for everything in 2024.
16. Mustard f/ Travis Scott - "Parking Lot"
#13 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, #57 Hot 100
I was skeptical of this song because Mustard and Travis Scott don't have compatible styles at all on paper. But Mustard did something special with that gospel sample and Travis's writers put in overtime giving him bars that sound good at this tempo, even if the double entendre about his dick and a slain member of Boogie Down Productions is kind of insane.
17. GloRilla - "TGIF"
#1 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, #22 Hot 100
I thought this was a big step down from "Yeah Glo!" and "Wanna Be" at first, but it grew on me. That hilarious Rihanna video probably helped. I like how there's so few elements of the beat but it still sounds like when the kick lands on the same note as the clap, they're both so loud that the clap gets drowned out a little.
18. Nicki Minaj f/ Lil Uzi Vert - "Everybody"
#5 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, #24 Hot 100
I was the first person to interview Tate Kobang back in 2013 when he wasn't even that well known in Baltimore yet, so I'm proud to see him signed to Nicki Minaj's label and producing a bunch of her recent songs (even if that includes the unfortunate "Big Foot"). "Everybody" was co-produced by a Jersey guy, DJ Smallz 732, but I don't want people to get it twisted and categorize this as a Jersey club track when Tate Kobang was mentored by his older cousin, an OG of the Baltimore club scene, the late great Ron "Dukeyman" Hall, who passed away in February.
19. Key Glock - "Let's Go"
#10 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, #59 Hot 100
Of all the rappers that died before their time in the last few years, Young Dolph is the one I'm probably still the most upset about. I'm glad that his longtime protege Key Glock has started to come into his own and make solo hits lately.
20. Rob49 f/ Cardi B - "On Dat Money"
#19 R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay
This year Cardi B's only album turned six, and the industry-wide anxiety about if and when she releases a second album seemed to reach a fever pitch. I feel like it says a lot that she can remain front and center with just occasional singles and features and videos, though, like I'd love to get an album from her but it almost seems like a formality at this point. Maybe she should just do a collab album with Meg or Glo or Latto or something, though, that would be a lot of fun.
The 10 Worst Rap Radio Hits of 2024:
1. Kanye West & Ty Dolla Sign f/ Rich The Kid and Playboi Carti - "Carnival"
2. Ice Spice - "Think U The Shit (Fart)"
3. Skilla Baby - "Bae"
4. Trillian - "10PM In Miami"
5. Drake - "You Broke My Heart"
6. Saweetie - "Nani"
7. Shoreline Mafia - "Heat Stick"
8. A$AP Rocky f/ Jessica Pratt - "Highjack"
9. 21 Savage f/ Summer Walker - "Prove It"
10. Doja Cat - "Agora Hills"
Previously: The 20 Best Rap Radio Hits of 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, December 03, 2024 at 12:10 PM.
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