Cole’s “Pride Is the Devil,” Baby is proving he can compete with (and often outrap) anyone on any given track. “Wants and Needs” isn’t quite a pass-the-torch moment, because Drake hasn’t left his throne just yet, but it does feel like a defining milestone in the rise of Lil Baby. He starts with a playful boast (“I’m from the four, but I love me a threesome”) before positioning himself as an all-time great (“I’m not a GOAT, but I fit the description/ I like to pour, so I get the prescription”) and then flexing about how easy this is for him right now (“I’m droppin’ hit after hit, I’m just chillin’/ But I’ll send a hit while I chill with my children”). It’s one of those Lil Baby verses where he sounds like he’s running downhill, picking up momentum with each bar.

Drake did his thing in the first verse, but Baby came in hot, sounding like he had something to prove. Whenever collaborations like this happen, we can’t help but debate who outrapped who, and in this instance, it was Lil Baby. Coming off the biggest year of his career so far, picking up honors like Complex’s award for 2020’s Best Rapper Alive, he linked up with the guy who has been sitting on rap’s throne for years: Drake. Lil Baby knows how to make the most of a big moment. We’ve never heard Tyler quite like this, and it immediately deserves recognition as one of the best verses of his career (so far). It’s like hearing a voice note someone recorded for themselves on the night of a bad breakup. Throughout Tyler’s discography, we’ve heard him adopt the personas of fictional characters to tell stories, but this verse feels entirely autobiographical. “I’m in the wrong,” he admits on more than one occasion. Realizing that the fling won’t work out, he stumbles over his own words for effect (“Gotta rewind it-aw, fuck”), capturing the disorienting feeling of getting sucked into a relationship that’s spiraling out of control, before ultimately taking an L.

After setting the scene in the opening bars about how he fell for someone who is already in a relationship with another man, Tyler launches into an incredibly detailed fourth verse that opens a portal into his psyche as he comes to terms with a failed romance in real time. He says every lyric on the album “is real and really my life,” and nowhere is that more apparent than “Wilshire.” Rapping over fairly understated production, he gets vulnerable as he tells the story of a potential relationship that was doomed from the beginning. Oh, you forgot how well Tyler could rap? After spending much of IGOR focusing on melodies and pretty chords, Tyler turns his attention back to bars on Call Me If You Get Lost, even allowing himself to rap for eight minutes straight on “Wilshire.” Eight minutes! It’s the thematic climax of the album, and it features some of the most personal storytelling we’ve ever heard from Tyler. These are Complex’s picks for the 40 best rap verses of the year. With that being said, it’s time to rank our favorites. Some of them were radio freestyles (shout out Vince Staples), some were album cuts (shout out Mach-Hommy), and one was leaked in a chaotic way before ultimately ending up on streaming services because everyone loved it so much (shout out André 3000).įor the purposes of this list, we decided to only include a maximum of one verse per artist, in an effort to include as many voices as we can. There were a lot of verses that stopped us in our tracks this year, and they came in all sizes and shapes. Some artists choose to tell a story, some go for a more abstract and poetic approach, and others try to squeeze in as many intricate metaphors and cadences as possible. Of course, there are lots of different approaches to making a great rap verse in 2021. We’ve already celebrated all the best songs and albums of the year, and now it’s time to answer the question: Who had the best rap verse of 2021? Forget the beats and the hooks-this time, we’re only focusing on the bars. It’s our favorite time of the year at Complex Music.

Best songs 2021 rap