Top 10 Essential Rap-Rock Songs

Contrary to popular opinion, not all rap-rock sounds the same. As proof, here are the 10 most essential rap-rock songs, which run the gamut from the art-metal weirdness of Faith No More to the suburban disillusionment of Linkin Park. About the only thing they all have in common is their ability to deftly merge hip-hop sounds and rock attitude.

Faith No More: "Epic" (1990)

Faith No More album cover


Rap-rock at its artiest, Faith No More's "Epic" launched the San Francisco group into the mainstream with a unique combination of metal guitar and Mike Patton's chanted/rapped lyrics. "What is it?/It's it!" became one of the year's most addictive choruses and oddest riddles, but the song also demonstrated the commercial viability of rap-rock.

Red Hot Chili Peppers: "Give It Away" (1991)

Red Hot Chili Peppers album cover for Give It Away

Warner Bros.

From their earliest days, Red Hot Chili Peppers were heavily influenced by funk, a precursor to hip-hop, but the band never made better use of the style than on "Give It Away." On this standout track from Blood Sugar Sex Magik, RHCP frontman Anthony Kiedis spits bravado like an MC, while guitarist John Frusciante squeals and shreds right behind him. Flea's infectious bass line and Chad Smith's pounding groove solidifies the band's breakthough hit.

Rage Against the Machine: "Killing in the Name" (1992)

Rage Against The Machine album cover


Heralding the emergence of a vitriolic new musical force, Rage Against the Machine's first single, "Killing in the Name," contained all the weapons in the band's arsenal: politically-charged lyrics, a driving rhythm section, and Tom Morello's guitar tricks that mimicked the furious scratching of a hip-hop DJ. Plus, the song sounded really amazing while you were flailing around in the mosh-pit.

Beastie Boys: "Sabotage" (1994)

Beastie Boys album cover for Sabotage


Beastie Boys helped birth the rap-rock movement with their 1986 debut, Licensed to Ill, but they took the genre even higher with "Sabotage" eight years later. Though also remembered for Spike Jonze's brilliantly directed 70's crime drama parody video, "Sabotage" craftily merged punk, hard rock and hip-hop into a song that can only be classified as rap-garage-rock.

Kid Rock: "Bawitdaba" (1999)

Album art for Kid Rock's Bawitdaba


Kid Rock was a white-trash Detroit rapper who wanted to let the world know that he was the baddest punk on the block. He came up with "Bawitdaba," a magnificently strutting track that demonstrated his killer charisma and rude attitude. 1999 was the year that rap-rock came into its own as a commercial force, and "Bawitdaba" kicked things off forcefully.

Limp Bizkit: "Nookie" (1999)

Lip Bizkit album art for Nookie


The poster boys of rap-rock, Limp Bizkit became superstars with Significant Other and its smash single, "Nookie." When the genre later started experiencing its inevitable backlash, "Nookie" was targeted as symptomatic of rap-rock's worst tendencies: misogynistic attitudes, moronic lyrics, mindless aggression. But there's no denying that the song struck a chord with angry young men hungry for an excuse to bang their heads.

Korn: "Falling Away From Me" (1999)

Korn album art for Falling Away From Me


Korn frontman Jonathan Davis worships hip-hop, but in his nu-metal band's music the influence isn't immediately noticeable. But as "Falling Away From Me" reveals, Korn integrate rap's staccato rhythms, textured guitar hooks, and distorted power chords into their sound, producing a creepy, catchy hard rock single that established the group as the era’s top innovators.

Linkin Park: "In the End" (2001)

Linkin Park album art for In The End

Warner Bros.

Linkin Park stumbled upon a novel way to merge rap and rock by juxtaposing lead singer Chester Bennington's melodic vocals with band member Mike Shinoda's rapped verses. The most successful pairing of these vocalists was on "In the End"—Shinoda spits worried lines in the verses while Bennington's plaintive chorus articulates the song's disillusionment in more soaring ways. Where many of their predecessors used rap-rock to express aggression, Linkin Park used the style as a tool to convey uncertainty and fear.

Rehab: "Bottles & Cans" (2005)

Rehab album art for Bottles & Cans


The Georgia collective Rehab gave rap-rock a laidback Southern twang on their album Graffiti the World. "Bottles & Cans" finds frontman Danny Boone contemplating his dead-end life of booze and drugs over a hip-hop beat and a lurking guitar riff. Rap-rock had rarely sounded so world-weary before.

Hollywood Undead: "Undead" (2008)

Hollywood Undead single art


Swan Songs, the first album from Hollywood Undead, was a largely generic rap-rock affair, but this breakthrough single was particularly strong, recalling the antagonism of Limp Bizkit, the melodicism of Linkin Park, and the misanthropy of Eminem. With more hits like this Hollywood Undead could help usher rap-rock into the next decade.