We tried to narrow it down and honestly, 20 was the best we could do. It was damn hard because Hip-Hop has had some great moments take place in its relatively short existence. Well, here are the best, enjoy.

20. Snoop Dogg at the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards / Three 6 Mafia at the 2006 Oscar Awards.

Equally amazing performances.
We know the Three 6 performance and subsequent winning of an Oscar is probably more important to Hip-Hop as a whole, but it just didn't resonate the same type of "chill-bump" effect as young Calvin Broadus, on that stage with a huge crucifix hung over an open coffin surrounded by dancers dressed as mourners performing Murder Was The Case proclaiming "I'm innocent, I'm innocent," at it's conclusion.  It was one of those "IT" moments that people will always remember.

19. Eazy E being invited to the White House and rocking a jheri curl.

This nigga Eazy actually got invited to the White House. Hahaha, goddamn that shit would never happen today. Them terrorist laws would shut that paperwork down with the quickness.

18. Master P's career.

There's no way we could pinpoint something specific in P's career. It's just too much to tab. The bad acting from the rap-revolutionary film Bout It could be placed here, but there's no denying the way Percy absolutely dominated the late 90's, releasing a CD every fuckin week on his No-Limit label using only promotion from other No-Limit artists and horrible ads that showed up in The Source from a bad Photoshopping company called Pen and Pixels. Not to mention he opened up a friggin sports marketing agency, made clothes, ran a 900-number service and a gang of other business ventures. Goddamn! If we had to narrow it down to specific events, P would have half of this list on lock.

17. The skits on Raekwon's classic, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx.

"It's made of glass, getcha big Avia's off my mom's table, man."

"Niggas trieda assassinate me, man."

"Checkitout, checkitout, checkitout, boom, just imagine if you bought--woooooh!"

All of the Wu's early skits were great, but these were the best of the best. They're the equivalent of Richard Pryor's Live On Sunset Strip standup movie; artful, socially viable and entertaining. Skits are commonly viewed as album filler, but the quotables from these skits are classics worthy of five star praise, themselves...all of them.

16. LL Cool J "performing" at NBA All Star Weekend.

In Februarys of 2000 in Oakland and 2003 in Atlanta, LL Cool J gave two of the most appalling performances, ever in front of thousands of kids. In Oaktown he paired up with Montell Jordan to give the all star halftime audience a rendition of Jordan's recent hit, Get It On Tonight, where Cool James graphically set gyrations to lines like,  "I pecked ya low, tongue kissed the cat, legs is upside down, twist it back. It feels so wet..." In the ATL, pretty little Amerie looked like an exploited black teen like all the other little girls at the STAY IN SCHOOL JAM celebration as LL kept urging the young women "Touch it why dontcha? Touch it why dontcha?" on the song Paradise. I still remember the horrific look on one mother's face. Hahahahaha, if there are any doubts that this guy is the GOAT, you can cancel 'em like Christmas. He is.

15. Steady B wearing a beeper on his hat then robbing a bank some years later.

That beeper on the hat was boldest and dumbest thing I'd ever seen...until, I heard he got together with some other niggas who rap, including slow as a shortbus-Cool C and robbed a bank. Let me just repeat the chain of events here; this nigga rapped with a beeper on his head, then he robbed a bank...oh yeah, he shot a cop too. I'm Serious.

14. Luke's Pop That Coochie & Breakdown Videos.

Before the freaky version of How Do You Like It, and way before Tip Drill and the rest of B.E.T. Uncut's tasteless, yet entertaining low budget videos, this was the standard way of getting a boner from anything on a television screen that didn't include a premium channel or video tape. This dude I went to school with, I think his name was Wayne, said he would not leave the house in the morning without eating a bowl of Golden Grahams and seeing one of these two videos on the old Music Video Jukebox channel. I still remember the chick from the Breakdown video with the lime green bikini. Praise God, I've had latte's that weren't as top-heavy.

13. The Pharcyde's Drop video.

We don't really wanna turn this into a video countdown, but this has to be on the list. The first five times I watched it, I got sick as a soon-to-be mother in her first trimester. The way the beat sounds like its moving in reverse only magnifies the effect of the presentation. Seinfeld's famous backwards episode wasn't this good.

12. KanYe West leaking the Jesus Walks snippet and holding the rest of the song hostage for half a year.

It might have been longer than half a year, I dunno, but it was a long ass time. Some people were disappointed in how the final cut of the song turned out, but that's not the issue at hand. For over six months KanYe had the internet and music world, for that matter, goin' nuts. That choir and the Biggie sample just gave you another "chill-bump" worthy moment every time you heard it.

11. Any Bizzy Bone, Suge Knight or Daz interview.

Much like the aforementioned Percy Miller, there are too many instances to just single one out as a great moment. When these three guys sit down or pick up a phone with an interviewer, it's like Mickey Mouse waves his wand and magic happens. They never ever disappoint you with the outlandish shit they have to say. These guys are the triple threat-triangle offense of interviewees; Suge is the liar extraordinaire, Daz a wonderful liar in his own right, specializes in crudeness, bad grammar and pure comedy, while Bizzy is just plum crazy. His radio interview from 2005, which instantly reached classic status once reaching the internet, is now the standard in craziness by a rapper and/or insane homosapien. George Carlin hasn't had material this good for at least two decades. For these brothers, I once again, "Praaaaaaaise, Gawwwwwd."

 

 

*Don't miss the final Top 10 Greatest Moments in Hip-Hop History, dropping next week.