50 Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2016

With 2016 coming to a close, XXL takes a look back at the year in hip-hop. This was a strong year for rap with a ton of great new records from a multitude of artists ranging from Drake to Kamaiyah. The variety and output of music over the last 12 months has been exceptional in comparison to previous years. No matter what kind of hip-hop fan you are, there's a song that you can find that can get you off your feet. The power of the internet can be thanked for that. Now rappers can just upload a song to their SoundCloud page and it has the possibility of landing on the charts.

"Black Beatles," the perfect rap record made by Rae Sremmurd and Gucci Mane, has been No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the last three weeks. Lil Uzi Vert and 21 Savage, two young artists that made this year's XXL Freshman Class, made huge splashes with records like "Money Longer" and "X," respectively, soaring up the charts and gaining millions of plays on streaming sites.

All it takes is one song for a rapper's life to change and this year proved that. Young M.A, Aminé, Desiigner and Rob $tone all had a record blow up, pushing their career forward and turning them into household names.

It's a grueling process to pick the top tracks of the year. There are thousands of new songs that come out in one calendar year but XXL took on the challenge of selecting the best records that dropped over the last 12 months. These are the crème de la crème of hip-hop. Take a look at the 50 Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2016.