Posse cut

A posse cut is a popular form of song in hip hop music that involves successive verses by four or more rappers.

Posse cuts are arguably the original form of the hip hop track; in hip hop's infancy, tracks would more often than not take the form of a freestyle cypher, where one rapper would deliver a usually mostly improvised verse before passing the microphone to the next, with this repeated until all the rappers present (or, all of "the posse") had a chance to rhyme. Often call-and-response chants would be involved, which originally would be a chance for rappers to interact with a crowd, but which were preserved when the posse cut made the jump to the recorded form. Many classic early hip hop tracks, such as Afrika Bambaataa & the Soul Sonic Force's "Zulu Nation Throwdown", took the form of a posse cut.

The posse cut became established in the eighties as a way for rappers to give exposure to their friends, or their posse. However, towards the end of the eighties and the start of the nineties, the posse cut began to be used as an "All-Stars" device to bring together rappers who had respect for each other's skills on the microphone, or a way to unite various well-known and respected artists to deliver an important message. The former's most famous example from this period is "The Symphony", organized and produced by Marley Marl and featuring Master Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap and Big Daddy Kane. The latter form, the posse cut with a message, was most famously seen in "Self Destruction", organized by KRS-One's Stop the Violence Movement, which brought together the leading hip hop artists of the day: KRS-One, Stetsasonic, Kool Moe Dee, MC Lyte, Just Ice, Doug E. Fresh, Heavy D, Public Enemy and Ms. Melodie.

In the nineties, the posse cut began to gain a new function as a way to introduce new talent to the world. The most famous example of this was Nas, whose early appearance on Main Source's "Live At the Barbeque" in 1991 increased his reputation hugely and created enormous hype for his debut album, which was ultimately titled "Illmatic" and released in 1994. Busta Rhymes' appearance on A Tribe Called Quest's "Scenario" had a similar effect, though unlike Nas, Busta already had a sizable reputation prior to his appearance on the song. The group Wu-Tang Clan, who debuted in 1993, also popularized the posse cut considerably; with a group of nine rappers as well as countless associates, many if not most Wu-Tang tracks have four or more rappers. Some of their more famous posse cuts are "Protect Ya Neck," "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'" ("Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" album) and easily the most commercially successful posse cut in history, the 1997 hit single "Triumph." It has now become fairly common practice for hip hop albums to have at least one posse cut.