Hi Avocado community! Today’s challenge-hit us with a posse cut!

Now, just so we’re all on the same page about what a ‘posse cut’ is, the quick definition is that it’s a popular ‘form’ of song in hip hop. A posse cut usually features 4 or more rappers trading verses over the course of a single song. Historically, posse cuts started off as a chance for a rapper to feature their fellow artists, friends, and..well, literally their posse. These songs were about representing- your hood, your crew, your style of hip hop. As things went on, remixes started happening, and artists began to seek out rappers who might bring more star power, or credibility, or just that extra bit of fire, to existing songs. And then we have the all-star posse cuts, where hungry rappers are all on the same beat, complementing and battling each other in equal measure, trying to prove that they belong in the upper echelons of the game. Although these types of posse cuts evolved through hip hop history, you can still find some form of each of them in just about every decade.

A few things, if I may-

1.) The tricky/fun thing about this 30 day ‘challenge’ is that you get one choice (see, it’s a challenge!). It doesn’t have to be the ‘best’ choice, or even your ‘favorite’ song-think about it like this: if someone asked you for an example of a ‘posse cut’, what song would you suggest? Of course, if you want to mention other songs, it’s fine, but moving on to the second thing-

2.) In order to keep the thread from borking, please limit yourself to one YouTube/media link per post. If someone ‘beats you to it’ and posts a song you would’ve posted, reply under their post saying why you like this song/why it was your pick as well, etc. Let’s not give Disqus a reason to make the thread hard to navigate for those of us listening to the songs!

3.) Let’s keep this as positive as we can. Don’t yuck anyone’s yum, don’t snark on someone who may not be as familiar as others, don’t ‘Um, actually’ people, etc. Ain’t nobody earning any Internet Points out here. 

Ok, for my ‘posse cut’, I’m going with this one-

It’s not my favorite, there are plenty of others I thought about (Hello, DeLaSoul’s ‘Buddy’!), but I think it’s a sturdy example of a posse cut. It visually distinguishes the artists while uniting them with Busta and other artists, showing the depth of their ‘posse’. But each artist also puts forward the most fire boasts and bars they can, as if trying to upstage everyone. It’s fun to watch it unfold! I also like Papoose here as an example of how a posse cut can really benefit from one unsung hero dropping an unexpectedly killer verse.

Let’s go! Give us your posse cut!