The 10 Best Hip-Hop Crews
A hip-hop crew is not the same as a hip-hop group. Granted, they’re similar, and the words are often used interchangeably. But there are some important distinctions, those things that set the two apart.
While a group is essentially several emcees deciding to come together as one artist, a crew is a collective. More than anything, a crew can unite under one symbol and draw from the support and success of other artists in the crew. One artist’s success almost always means the same for others in the crew.
Each hip-hop crew represents a particular artistic ethos and place in time. Some, of course, have their clear stars, those members that stand out. But none of those individual artists would be as big without their respective crews.
Black Hippy
Kendrick Lamar is arguably the most important rapper of the last three years. Aside from his popularity, it’s his honesty, verbal dexterity, and unflinching look at contemporary culture that truly sets him apart. Who else could set the Internet ablaze with one verse?
With an artist that gifted, the people he surrounds himself with must be in the same ballpark. With Jay Rock, Schoolboy Q, and Ab-Soul that’s definitely the case. Jay Rock is the traditionalist L.A. street rapper, and many don’t know that Lamar was actually once his hype man. The most charismatic of all the members, Schoolboy Q may have the formula for the best party tracks of 2013. And Ab-Soul’s paranoid political bars and constant wordplay are often incredibly insightful.
Each member has appeared in XXL’s Freshman Class issue, and they’re all very good in their own right. When they come together on tracks, it’s difficult to deny the full impact of a crew this talented.
The Diplomats (Dipset)
In the early 2000s, Dipset was the face of Harlem. From the lush and hard hitting high-pitched soul of frequent collaborators like Heatmakerz to the sharp hustler rhymes of Cam'ron, Freekey Zekey, Jim Jones, and Juelz Santana (and eventually Hell Rell, 40 Cal., and J. R. Writer), they made guys from L.A. wish they were standing outside of Rucker on 125th with a pink fitted and a purple leather jacket on.
Apart from their two collective projects (Diplomatic Immunity and Diplomatic Immunity 2), many of the Dipset solo projects were worth their weight in Pelle Pelle and Timbs the color of Laffy Taffy. There have been a number of disputes within the crew over the years, but Dipset has since reunited for a few performances, and there have been talks of a new album. Whether or not the album materializes, there will always be someone somewhere willing to chant, “Dipset, Dipset!” We hear it’s great mantra for all meditative purposes.
Boot Camp Clik
At one point in time the Boot Camp Clik was hip-hop’s army, rarely seen by all, but dutifully protecting the tenets of ‘90s hip-hop nonetheless. Marching to the dark, murky, and jazzy beats of production duo Da Beatminerz, Buckshot (of Black Moon), Smif-N-Wessun (Tek and Steele), Heltah Skeltah (Rock and Ruck, a.k.a. Sean Price), and Originoo Gunn Clappaz (Starang Wondah, Top Dog, and Louieville Sluggah) held up an entire corner of hip-hop.
The Clik is the essence, the best of all Golden Age New York emcees who destroyed their brand of laid-back boom-bap without gaining national notoriety. Given that they had to compete with Biggie, Nas, Jay Z, and more, it was inevitable. Still, the Clik’s done relatively well over the years compared to other rappers in the same lane. In other words, how often do you hear about Cella Dwellas or Fu-Schnickens?
Soulquairans
The Soulquarians were a collective of rappers, singers, producers, and musicians responsible for some of the best rap and neo-soul records of the late ‘90s and early 2000s. The name comes from the fact that founding members shared the zodiac sign Aquarius. Their reach spanned from New York (Q-Tip, Mos Def, and Talib Kweli) to Philadelphia (Quest Love and James Poysner) and Richmond (D’Angelo), and from Dallas (Erykah Badu) to Detroit (J Dilla) and Chicago (Common).
J Dilla is perhaps the most revered producer of all time — his offbeat rhythms and flipping of breaks and samples have been studied and imitated, but never duplicated — and Quest Love is, if nothing else, a human metronome with an encyclopedic knowledge of drum breaks and all things music. With those two and James Poysner working alongside some of hip-hop’s most gifted lyricists and two of neo-soul’s greatest singers, the resulting body of work — albums like The Roots’ Things Fall Apart, Erykah Badu’s Baduizm, and Common’s Like Water for Chocolate — seems like it really was written in the stars.
Death Row
Songs from Death Row’s heyday are West Coast staples. The label’s output defined L.A. rap, and in many ways still does. In fact, one wonders what L.A. radio would even sound like without Death Row.
With the three of the most famous and talented artists of all time (Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and 2Pac) and one of the most feared label heads in the history of the game (Suge Kinght), Death Row wasn’t only a label and a crew. They were an entity sitting on Dayton rims, ready to let the light through or rain down at any moment.
After the untilmely passing of 2Pac, the label sort of collapsed. Knight’s legal troubles found him releasing tons of back catalogue material to which he’d retained the rights to. A sad demise for a once formidable crew.
Bad Boy
One half of the most famous beef in hip-hop history, Bad Boy once carried the entire East Coast on its back. The name will live longer than the careers of most who’ve been on the label. Still, from 1994 to the early 2000s Bad Boy had platinum record after platinum record and many went multi-platinum.
The late great Notorious B.I.G.’s legacy is cemented and written in blood, both for his role in the coastal feud and his incredible, albeit small, output while he was alive and ripping mics with his compact and vivid lyrics like few before him and very few after.
Aside from his part in the beef, Diddy (formerly known as Puff Daddy, Puffy, Puff, and P. Diddy) is perhaps the most famous rap mogul next to Russell Simmons. The clothing, the beverages, the TV shows —your mom knows who he is, and we’ll leave it at that.
Craig Mack, Mase, 112, Faith Evans, The Lox, and Black Rob are just a few of the other Bad Boy crew you’ve definitely heard tracks from. If you don’t know, know you know.
Hieroglyphics
The Oakland-bred Hieroglyphics — Del the Funkee Homosapien, Casual, Pep Love, Domino, DJ Toure, and Souls of Mischief (Phesto, A-Plus, Opio, and Tajai) — has spawned some of the most discussed “underground” hip-hop albums of all time. With over twenty years in the game, they’ve primarily remained independent and tour the globe constantly. They have their own day in Oakland, and their simple three-eyed logo has become hip-hop iconography.
Whether it’s Souls of Mischief’s 93 ‘til Infinity, Del the Funkee Homosapien’s Both Sides of the Brain, or the crew’s debut album 3rd Eye Vision, each member’s intelligence, deft delivery, and writing ability has yet to be paralleled in the Bay area. Really, they’re more the tightly knit Bay equivalent of L.A.’s Project Blowed: a highly creative group of rappers from one of the most violent sections on their part of the map who found a way to channel all the negativity and create great art.
Dungeon Family
Responsible for some of the most soulful Southern-fried funk coming out of Atlanta, the Dungeon Family is one of the most underappreciated crews in hip-hop. Though Organize Noize (Rico Wade, Ray Murray, and Sleepy Brown), various Outkast classics, and Goodie Mob’s Soul Food always seem to make it into the Dungeon Family conversation, people seem to leave out talented rappers like Witchdoctor, Cool Breeze, and Slimm Calhoun. Then of course there’s also solid material from Cee-Lo — many forget he wasn’t always in Gnarls Barkley or on The Voice — Big Gipp, Big Rube, Khujo Goodie, Back Bone, and more.
The Dungeon Family embodied the struggle of the South better than any crew ever had before. They were intelligent, talented, and upset about the fact that the government ignored the conditions of their families and neighborhoods. They made tracks for hustlers with politics on their mind and blue-collar workers trying to keep the water and the lights on. Their music might be the closest hip-hop has ever come to the blues.
Native Tongues
If hip-hop ever truly had its moment of flower power, the Native Tongues – A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and the Jungle Brothers — were the crew responsible. In the ‘90s they were the closest hip-hop had come to hippies, sometimes wearing African medallions around their necks, daisies behind their ears, and loud, intricately patterned clothing on their backs.
More importantly, they mined the catalogues of jazz greats for loops and breaks to compliment their brand of primarily positive, socio-politically conscious, and often hilarious rhymes during the rise of gangster rap. They were the alternative. Rap for the thinking man from the dorm room to the brownstone stoop.
Official Native Tongue affiliates included Black Sheep, Chi-Ali, Queen Latifah, and Monie Love. And, in some circles, Common, Mos Def, and Da Bush Babees were also considered loosely affiliated with the Tongues.
Wu-Tang Clan
Hard, dark, and grimy flooded-basement beats from one of the greatest producers hip-hop has ever known, Kung-Fu film samples a cinephile would appreciate, an entirely new slang, and lyrics denser, deeper, and more narratively rich than any other collective of emcees in the history of the game: Wu-Tang Clan is the pinnacle of all clans or crews.
Both in terms of verbal skill and collective power, the nine swordsmen that comprise the core of the Wu — RZA, GZA, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and the late ODB — went unmatched for years. There were comics, video games, clothes, and shoes, and the list of classic collective and solo Wu member albums is long. Their impact, both in music and popular culture, has been global, so much so that the list of Wu affiliates, which includes rappers like Cappadonna and Killah Priest groups like Brooklyn Zu, is difficult to pin down.
Though core members have had their beef over the years, they always represent the Wu on every solo project, knowing that the symbol of their crew is bigger than they are alone. With 20 years in the game, some solo careers have waned and others have been resurrected. Regardless, Wu-Tang Clan has reunited and is reportedly at work on a new album. The ruckus will most definitely be brought — Wu-Tang is forever, and always for children.
A hip-hop crew is not the same as a hip-hop group. Granted, they’re similar, and the words are often used interchangeably. But there are some important distinctions, those things that set the two apart.
While a group is essentially several emcees deciding to come together as one artist, a crew is a collective. More than anything, a crew can unite under one symbol and draw from the support and success of other artists in the crew. One artist’s success almost always means the same for others in the crew.
Each hip-hop crew represents a particular artistic ethos and place in time. Some, of course, have their clear stars, those members that stand out. But none of those individual artists would be as big without their respective crews.