Beyond Billboard’s Top 50 Rap Groups: The Most Influential Hip-Hop Collectives You Never Heard on the Charts

The definition of success is a little different for everyone, and this includes musicians. While some artists’ ultimate goal is to sell out Madison Square Garden, others aim to be pioneers and move their entire genre forward. Let's explore the critically acclaimed rap groups that, for one reason or another, haven't achieved the mainstream and commercial success they probably deserved. 

Measuring commercial success used to be relatively straightforward. Artists put out records and chose a few songs from each record to release as singles. The more records and singles you sold, the more successful you were. Naturally, the ones who sold the most were also played on the radio a lot and filled arenas and stadiums. Over time, the Internet has become an integral part of our everyday lives, and this has deeply affected the music business. Commercial success is now a mix of streaming figures, radio airplay, and old-fashioned album sales.

The criteria for critical acclaim, however, are largely the same as they were 40 years ago. Some of the noncommercial factors that Billboard used to determine their 50 Greatest Rap Groups of All Time are a great point of reference for defining hip-hop quality. They include:

Hip-hop has always had a strong underground component. While some groups and solo artists successfully made the transition from underground to mainstream, others remained largely hidden from the general public, either by choice or by chance. Yet they've always been there, pushing the genre forward. Some notable examples of underground hip-hop pioneers include the following.

This Bay Area group is led by Del the Funky Homosapien and is as weird and interesting as his name. They gained critical attention through their great technical skill, interesting lyrics, and unique jazz-inspired beats. They chose to remain in the shadows, though, as they released music through their independent label and interacted with their loyal underground fanbase over the internet.

Now known as Yasiin Bey, Mos Def is a well-known name even for casual hip-hop fans. His early collaboration with Talib Kweli, Black Star, may not be as famous, but hip-hop purists recognize it as one of the most important hip-hop duos ever. They provided much-needed social consciousness at a time when hip-hop was steering toward glitz and flash.

Another 90s duo, Organized Konfusion, gained huge critical success due to the way they could tell stories through their lyrics. While many modern artists draw inspiration from the way they wrote their songs, their sound was a little too complicated to appeal to casual hip-hop listeners.

Although hip-hop originated on the streets of New York City, several other areas of the country contributed to its progress. Bands from different locations had their own interpretations of what hip-hop songs should be about and sound like. Here are some examples of hip-hop groups that achieved local domination but didn't manage to get the nationwide recognition they may have deserved.

The famous West Coast style that Dr. Dre and others popularized in the '90s was also shaped by these guys. Their debut album, Livin' Like Hustlers, came out in 1990 and was co-produced by Dre. It's widely seen by critics and purists as a defining moment in West Coast hip-hop's history.

Southern hip-hop, also known as Dirty South, is now mainstream thanks to artists such as Outkast, Ludacris, and Lil Wayne, among others. Its roots lie somewhere in Memphis, though, where 8Ball & MJG defined it in the early '90s through albums such as Comin' Out Hard and On the Outside Looking In.

Hip-hop's history includes countless other examples of bands and artists who created innovative, well-crafted music but didn't have the timing and luck it takes to break through to the mainstream. The sad reality of modern music is that there isn't room for everyone at the top, and some worthy acts will inevitably get overlooked. A great example of a band that pushed boundaries without getting even a fraction of the recognition it deserves is Raw Fusion. A spinoff of the much more famous Digital Underground group, its raw hardcore feel inspired many others after them.

Although it may be unfair that these bands and hundreds of other pioneers like them didn't get the fame and wealth they probably deserved, they can all get the professional satisfaction that comes with knowing that they played a major role in the overall progress of one of the most popular musical genres in history. Having said that, the best thing you can do to expand your hip-hop horizons is to look them up and listen to their work. You can thank us later.