Based on musical quality, the rap song of 2026 is probably “Motion Party” by BossMan Dlo (Florida music forever).

But if you really wanna talk about a multigenerational smash, which was also somewhat listenable, the rap song of 2026 is “Big Guy” by Ice Spice (fart).

Of course, that is, if you overlook that the rap song of 2026 is obviously “Spend Dat” by Yung Miami. One of the only true singalongs.

Sike: the rap song of 2026 is “Janice STFU” by Drake, who is a really cool person and the goat and so back.

But yo, you know what? And then I’ll stop: New York won big this year, with the Knicks chip and Max B getting out. The rap song of 2026 just might be French Montana and Max’s celebratory “Ever Since You Left Me.”

Why do I care about this? Maybe because I come from the past. I grew up in the ‘90s, when rap had national/regional undeniable jams, it seemed like all the time. Maybe that’s still the case, based on the songs listed above? Anyway, I still believe in hits, and that at least occasionally the hits should be good. Which one this year was the one though?

I do think Soundcloud rap seriously destabilized the industry in 2016, and now we have this fractured tiered landscape, where artists don’t really need labels and can be indie as long as they have aura, a sound, and a fan base. The soundcloud rapper is now the biggest rapper (Carti) and the infrastructure grafted onto him rather than him working through it.

Speaking of: Have we even fully dealt with I AM MUSIC since late last year? GENG PTP just dropped his edited version of the album that has me loving it again, as if for the first time, in a weird way. Although it omits Olympian??

That said, obliteration of the monoculture being what it is, for some reason I still want to know if possibly there was a 2026 rap song as good and big/impactful as “Folded.” R&B has that song this year. Does 2026 rap have a “Folded”?

Not that I’m necessarily looking for a rap song that can be karaoked. Although that could be Ice Spice, “Big Guy.” The only rap song from this year my 7 year old daughter knows, that’s not like a rapped verse on a Disney soundtrack. Although it kind of is lol.

I’m moreso thinking of music has a “hit mentality” or “hit vibes” – a song that maybe is or isn’t but definitely should be a hit, that is really going for it musically, trying to be heard and felt, and gets its point across. “Suicide Note” by Zukenee has that, even though it’s not a hit. So does “Party At My Place” by xavier which is also not a hit.

I had that experience with a lot of songs this year. Damn this is major! It’s not a hit, but to me it is. I feel like my world of music is pretty small. I guess I have somewhat fringe taste…maybe? I bump a lot of the homies. I make music, and listen to a lot of unreleased. I’m going deep, not casting a wide net. But I like to know what’s going on, too.

And as chaotic as North America is, I want to see if I can eke out any coherent rap taste, or semblance of knowing and even moreso feeling what is going on. It’s hard. National temperature check. I feel like I’m out of the loop.

I hear Iceman and I feel nothing. I ask around and people tell me Jet Leeea is all they’re listening to. I listen and it’s amazing. I re-realize I know nothing. So much I’m not up on. People are still listening to Salimata from December. That album might be a classic! There’s a lot of good music out rn.

Maybe the infrastructure isn’t there for artists to “break through” like they once did, and give me the big awesome rap song I am looking for. And maybe it doesn’t matter, and I just am living in the past looking for stuff that doesn’t exist anymore.

Maybe rap has lost some of its ambition. Not across the board, but in places. Or maybe the big labels used to have big ideas and got them produced in big ways, and they don’t want to make the investment anymore now that rap isn’t charting. And I can’t accept that, on some level. And maybe that’s why I’m looking for the big rap hit — to convince myself that the genre I love still has it. I really can’t call it. Could be all of the above!