17 essential albums that shaped mafioso rap
Genres 101
A timeline recalling 17 signature LPs that detailed the lavish, mobster-inspired sound of hardcore hip hop that played into the tales of nefarious organized crime.
BY HARPSICHORD
OCTOBER 13, 2023
Digital illustration of Nas smoking a cigar in an office— an imitation of mobster reality through art.
The images of Mafioso Rap are common fodder at this point. It’s The Notorious B.I.G. rolling out of bed to answer his pager at “5:46 in the morning”— the “crack of dawn” to be exact. It’s JAY-Z rocking a suit and gambling with his fellow “Roc Boys.” Smokes from cigars, and the ashes of those lost during the wars. Mafioso Rap is meant to be gritty as it documents the dark side of poverty-stricken hustling that eventually manifests into riches.
Developing in the late 1980s, Mafioso Rap became New York City’s answer to the gangsta rap of the West Coast. At the time, the West Coast had flipped their attitudes towards Political Rap that called out the racial injustices of the American system. New York’s rappers mirrored that conscious sentiment, but with a taste of escapism that felt more cinematic. Lead by Kool G Rap who received assistance from The Juice Crew’s Marly Mar, and his own DJ Polo, Mafioso Rap quickly became the commercial force of New York Rap leading into the 90s.
The genre had an appeal to the underground world of hip hop— mainly because Kool G Rap inserted his battle rapping skills into his records. In order to toughen up the appeal, rappers told grimy stories about crime bracing their streets. Inspired by these notions, rising artists like The Notorious B.I.G., Nas, and JAY-Z adopted the style to bring more honesty to their tales about climbing the charts and escaping the brutal lifestyle of drug dealing.
However the death of The Notorious B.I.G., and other NYC greats like Big L, lead to a commercial decline in Mafioso Rap due to its violent nature. Instead the genre started to become even more of a costume that gave rappers some clout in terms of likability and believability. A new era of hustling would be seen in the 2000s leading into the 2010s. The game started to become even more about sales rather than who was still pushing weight. As the world’s infatuation with mob lifestyle took centerstage in movies and TV, some artists like Rick Ross took advantage of the wave to produce bonafide club bangers.
In the span of nearly 40 years, Mafioso Rap has contributed to the commercial viability of Rap. Below is a list of 17 albums that best represent the characteristics of Mafioso Rap.
March 14, 1989
Road to the riches
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo
Kool G Rap’s opening title track of his debut studio album with DJ Polo goes into the tale of a young boy falling to the circumstances of the crack epidemic. Although he gloats throughout the LP about his own rising success after releasing his “Demo,” Kool G Rap chronicles the world he’s escaped. That young boy, however, wants to “Be like Gotti, and drive a Maserati.” That lyric provided a sprinkling of the Mafioso style birthed by Kool G Rap as the genre slowly shifted outside the analog, Golden Age Hip Hop beats and house party style, as present on “Cars” and “Rhymes I Express.”
September 13, 1994
Ready To Die
The Notorious B.I.G.
One key aspect to understanding the career of Christopher Wallace, aka as The Notorious B.I.G., was his love for films– particularly crime movies. On his debut album, Biggie became known for his lyrical storytelling. “Who the fuck is this paging me at 5:46 in the morning?” he would ask on “Warning.” His music video would show a lavish lifestyle of popping champagne at mansion parties, as displayed in “Juicy,” “Big Poppa,” and “One More Chance.” Towards the end of the LP, he got candid on “Suicidal Thoughts,” where he thought about ending it all, and even asked Pac, “Who Shot Ya?” in the midst of their bickering beef.
August 1, 1995
Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…
Raekwon
As a member of the Wu-Tang Clan, Raekwon felt as though his group’s style was being bit by other rappers clawing for the title of King of New York. In this cinematic album, his partner in crime Ghostface Killah documents how his mom’s house was shot at on “Striving for Perfection,” which indicated that the music image was translating to real life. “Heaven & Hell” notes “We must go to war fast, with the pen and the pad,” and would be used in the soundtrack for the 1994 crime drama, Fresh, which portrayed a young boy growing up amidst the crack epidemic in NYC.
September 26, 1995
4,5,6
Kool G Rap
As he stepped into solo stardom— or rather a Bobby Caldwell sampling ode called “Blowin’ Up In The World”— Kool G Rap gained much respect for birthing Mafioso Rap. Present on this debut LP is Kool G Rap’s battle rapping arsenal of multisyllabic rhyming: “Headcrack, time to get the bread, black!” he commands in the title track. Present is a rawer art of storytelling inspired by his own pupil, Nas, who appears on “Fast Life.” Nas regards “Fast Life”— which delves into the flashy side of criminal enterprise, as one of his most cherished collaborations. Not only because it marked a stamp of approval, but it also signaled the new pack of Mafioso rappers who were bound to lead the charge.
June 25, 1996
Reasonable Doubt
JAY-Z
Sometimes cover art best tells the story. Starting out his mainstream career independently, JAY-Z, made his mark by distributing his debut LP from the trunk of a Lexus. That would be fitting for a song called, “Can’t Knock The Hustle,” which featured Mary J. Blige. The entire album focused on obtaining cash flow, and the former drug dealing life of Shawn Carter, as evident in “Dead Presidents II.” The Notorious B.I.G. appears on “Brooklyn’s Finest,” where they go toe to toe with trading bars. As a debut album, it added on to the cannon of rappers going from rags to riches.
July 2, 1996
It Was Written
Nas
For his debut album, Nas portrayed the image of a regular man making it out of the projects, on Illmatic. By his sophomore record, It Was Written, the emcee channeled what his peers were doing by imitating a Mafioso lifestyle. This would be the first record where Nas would refer to himself as “Escobar” taking after the Colombian kingpin, Pablo Escobar. On “The Message” he compares a “fake thug” to the Chris Rock portrayed character MC Gusto from the film, CB4. Somehow through all his hard hitting lyricism, Nas would give some hope with his anthem “If I Ruled The World (Imagine That).”
March 25, 1997
Life After Death
The Notorious B.I.G.
Hip hop, and the gangsta culture surrounding it, took a grim turn following the deaths of 2Pac and Biggie. Life really did imitate art, as this double album picks off from The Notoroious B.I.G. dying from Ready To Die (albeit from the hands of an assailant). Life After Death has since gone diamond certified, and it’s clear to see why. The storytelling and production is immaculate from start to finish. On this album, while he’s battling enemies, The Notorious One is living even more lavishly than before as heard on “Hypnotize.” He’s enthralled in being a ladies man on “F*ck You Tonight.” Enemies get their warning shots on “Somebody’s Gotta Die,” and he documents “What’s Beef.” He gives the “Ten Crack Commandment” on the do’s and don’t’s of flipping weight. There exists paranoia on “My Downfall,” and the effect of having “Mo Money Mo Problems.” On this project, B.I.G. makes an effort to assert that he is the king of hip hop, as he takes on the styles of rap that went commercial during that time as evident with his fast rapping pace on “Notorious Thugs” and his g-funk flavor on “Going Back To Cali.” Towards the end, the album starts to get sadder because of real life affairs, with songs like “Sky’s The Limit” feeling like remorse for all past actions done wrong.
July 22, 1997
No Way Out
Puff Daddy & The Family
As The Notorious B.I.G.’s label mentor and producer, Diddy (aka Puff Daddy) deals with the “Pain” of losing a close friend. The beginning of the album works as a boastful portion that attempts to mask the hurt, as we can hear on “Victory.” Shiny suits and futurism come to light on “Been Around The World.” Just like previous mafioso projects “It’s All About The Benjamins” as Lil’ Kim steals the show with her verse. Puffy is assisted by an all star crew of who was running rap in the late ‘90’s such as The Lox, Foxy Brown, Twista, and Mase. But by the end he is mournful with the No. 1 “I’ll Be Missing You.” Puffy received a lot of flack for how he turned rap super commercial– taking away some of its hard exterior, but the LP would still go on to win Best Rap Album at The Grammys.
September 1, 1998
Don Cartagena
Fat Joe
At the beginning of his third studio album there is a roar from a crowd going crazy on the “Courtroom Intro.” Just as the album cover depicts, Fat Joe is being interviewed on the steps of a courthouse. He’s beaten his case, and says “only in America when justice prevails.” From there he accesses his alter ego Joey Crack on “The Crack Attack,” sampling his own song and calling himself the Don of Rap. He channels the style of Puffy on the title track. Throughout there is Spanish spoken on the LP, and he enlists the help of his friend Big Pun on multiple tracks including “John Blaze” and his own posse, the Terror Squad on “The Hidden Hand.”
September 11, 2001
The Blueprint
JAY-Z
Since the death of The Notorious B.I.G., there was an active void of who could call himself “The King of New York.” Since he happened to be the one who worked the closest with Biggie, JAY-Z often found himself embroiled in rap feuds with the likes of Fat Joe, Nas, and Prodigy of Mobb Deep. On this LP– which happened to be released the same day the Twin Towers fell– Jay-Z takes aim at them all (see: “Takeover”), with the help of production from Kanye West and Just Blaze. The Blueprint gets its spark from soul samples (“Song Cry”), as well as his candid honesty and vulnerability. Then there is the show stealing moment from Eminem on “Renegade.”
March 4, 2003
La Bella Mafia
Lil’ Kim
Taking a page from her Notorious lover, Lil’ Kim had been at the top of the game in the women’s division of rap. La Bella Mafia is arguably one of her best lyrical efforts– refuting the claims that she was only hot because he wrote her music. On the album version of her hit single, “Magic Stick,” Lil’ Kim would birth the mob mentality of hip hop stan culture, naming her fans “The Beehive.” She set the streets ablaze with “The Jump Off,” and made sure people knew she was The Queen Bee. “This Is Who I Am” saluted Brooklyn, and “Came Back For You” annihilated her rap foes Eve and Foxy Brown.
March 28, 2006
Fishscale
Ghostface Killah
This time around, it was time for the other Wu-Tang member to give his own critically acclaimed take on mafioso hip hop. Ghostface Killah would name this project after a term for uncut cocaine. Set up like a conceptual album laced with skits, Fishscale talks about fleeing to Venezuela “when the FEDs step in” on “Shakey Dog.” He talks about kingpins on “Kilo” with Raekwon. “The Champ” embodies a boxing ring match, while Wu-Tang Clan reunited on “9 Milli Bros.” Some of J Dilla’s production that appears on the producer’s Donuts (“Whip You With A Strap”) appears on Fishscale, as well as that of MF Doom.
November 6, 2007
American Gangster
JAY-Z
Denzel Washington made a statement with his portrayal of drug lord Frank Lucas in the movie American Gangster. Inspired by the film, JAY-Z would document his own hustle of chasing the American Dream. The stand out single would be “Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)...” which gloated about his record label and the crew that made it successful. At this stage of his career, JAY-Z was known for being a businessman more than a rapper, and he put on suits to match the image. Not only did the album focus on Mafioso themes, it chronicled political issues that transpired around the time of the album’s release. This era would spark the JAY-Z as we recognize him today.
September 30, 2008
Paper Trail
T.I.
In 2008, the trap movement of the south had received a mainstream boost thanks to the likes of Lil Wayne, Jeezy, and T.I. The Atlanta native had fully crossed over pop by this point with the themes of Mafioso. “Whatever You Like” talked about treating women to shopping sprees and “Live Your Life” featured Rihanna on the hook and bridge. Both songs went No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Kanye West, Weezy, and JAY-Z assisted on “Swagga Like Us,” which sampled M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes,” and Justin Timberlake sang about dead homies on “Dead and Gone.”
July 20, 2010
Teflon Don
Rick Ross
Rick Ross got into a heap of trouble in the hip hop community when it was discovered that he was formerly a correctional officer. The rapper has borrowed his image from a real life drug lord named Freeway Ricky Ross. However, that never slowed down the rapper’s momentum. He continued with his storytelling– even providing the hit “Aston Martin Music.” On “B.M.F. (Blowin' Money Fast),” he references the Black Mafia Family, who was known for frolicking with high profile rappers in the 2000’s, as well as Larry Hoover of Chicago’s Gangster Disciples.
June 29, 2018
Scorpion
Drake
Drake’s image has often been accused of being soft, especially when he first entered the rap game. However, that worked to his benefit throughout his career as he’s been able to blend pop with R&B and hip hop. Throughout this project he is singing and rapping, while also talking about the opps he’s had to fend off since reaching the peak. The first disc of his album is full of those tracks including “Nonstop,” “I’m Upset,” and “Mob Ties,” where he orders “let’s hire some help to get rid of these n!ggas.” Covered in black and white, Scorpion also alludes to death a lot, which is a tragic theme for most Mafioso rap projects.
September 14, 2023
Magic 3
Nas
On “No Tears,” Nas has a moment where he is talking to his younger self. He recalls the days of holding guns and the violence around himself. The entire project is self-reflective as he closes out his King’s Disease and Magic trilogies. But the way he does it, is that of a kingpin claiming he will “Never Die” as an “icon in real time.” “Based On True Events” also recalls the production style of ‘90’s Mafioso rap, giving the energy of cinematic crime films that inspired the subgenre in the first place.
