Best Food Moments in Hip-Hop

It’s really quite a shame that pizza and burgers cannot develop sentience and a passion for spoken rhyme. They’d probably have some interesting insights. Oh well. At least people can spit out rhymes about pizza and burgers. Here are some of the most memorable food moments in hip-hop.

Tribe Called Quest - Ham ‘N’ Eggs (song)

Tribe were never averse to rapping about food, but their culinary magnum opus has to be this track. Speaking of eggs and ham, founding member Jarobi White used to man a fairly popular food blog.


Listen.

Beastie Boys - Fight for Your Right to Party (video)

The Beastie Boys have the auspicious distinction of staging the first-ever pie fight in music video history. Of course, at this point, music video history was only a few years old.


Listen. 

Run–D.M.C. – You Be Illin’ (song)

One day this dude walked into a KFC and ordered a Big Mac. It probably goes without saying, he was illin’.

Listen.

Rev Run's Sunday Suppers

LL Cool J - Milky Cereal (song)

Ladies may love self-proclaimed cool James, but James himself prefers heaping bowls of delicious cereal. Wait –– the cereal references might be references to said ladies, actually.

Listen.

MF Doom - Mm..Food (album)

Sure, it's easy to write a song or two about tasty treats, but what about an entire album? That's what Daniel Dumile, aka MF Doom, did.


Listen. 

Sir Mix-a-Lot - Buttermilk Biscuits (song)

There is nothing allegorical about this classic track. It’s really and truly about a pure love of buttermilk biscuits.


Listen.

Fat Boys (the guys themselves)

The iconic Fat Boys made an entire career of rapping about food. From all-you-can-eat buffets to pizza and ice cream, the boys loved it all. Can you blame 'em?


Listen.

De La Soul - Bitties in the BK Lounge (Song)

Years, almost decades, before Burger King started referring to itself as BK, De La Soul were pondering the tendency of bitties to fill its lounge.


Listen. 

Goodie Mob - Soul Food (song)

Sure, this song is from an album with the same name, but none of the other songs on it proclaim the benefits of chicken, rice and gravy.


Listen.

Dead Prez - Be Healthy (song)

Nowadays, a song promoting a vegan, raw-foods lifestyle would not seem that odd. Fifteen years ago? That was crazy talk.


Listen.

Edan - Beautiful Food (song)

Think of this song as a full-featured menu read aloud in front of a tasty beat. Aint nothing wrong with that.


Listen.

Nas ft. Busta Rhymes - Fried Chicken (song)

This ode to fried chicken mentions the good (the taste) and the bad (high cholesterol). This way we can make an informed food choice.


Listen.