Editor "s note: To make this list, Rolling Stone asked 33 artists and experts – from Rick Rubin to Busta Rhymes – to choose their favorite hip-hop tracks, then crunched the numbers. Click to read the full list of voters.

What Makes a Great Hip-Hop Song? An Introduction by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson

I was eight years old when "Rapper "s Delight" made its world premiere on Philadelphia radio. It happened at 8:24 p.m. on a Thursday, after a dinner of porgies, string beans and creamed corn. Me and my sister, Donn, were sneaking a listen of the local soul station while washing dishes­ when an army of percussion and a syncopated Latin piano line came out of my grandma "s JVC clock radio – what appeared to be Chic "s "Good Times." How was I to know that my world would come crashing down in a matter of 5, 4, 3, 2?.?.?.

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