22 Twos: Ranking the Best Hip-Hop Duos of All Time

Members: Yung Miami, JT

At a time when women were flourishing in hip-hop like never before, City Girls were the biggest group in the game, scoring hits on their own and alongside peers like Cardi B and Doja Cat. JT is the group's standout MC, with scene-stealing verses on features like the remix of Moneybagg Yo's "Said Sum." But when JT went to prison in 2019, Yung Miami held it down and kept City Girls' hit parade going until JT came home in 2020.

Members: Geechi Suede, Sonny Cheeba

The Bronx’s Sonny Cheeba and Geechi Suede burst on the scene with the hits “Coolie High” and “Luchini AKA This Is It,” with a retro Blaxploitation aesthetic and sticky lyrics full of unique slang.

The producer Ski, fresh off of working on Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt, filled the duo’s 1997 debut Uptown Saturday Night with beautifully jazzy beats that Jay and Biggie had expressed interest in.

And though Camp Lo never retained the commercial momentum of their debut, they’ve built a strong discography over the years, reuniting with Ski on 2007’s Black Hollywood and teaming up with Pete Rock on 2013’s 80 Blocks From Tiffany’s.

Members: Dres, Mista Lawnge

Black Sheep were the fourth group to emerge from Native Tongues, after the Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest, and became known as one of the most playful and entertaining acts in the influential hip-hop collective.

After making their debut guest spot on De La Soul Is Dead in 1991, Black Sheep released their first album A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing later that year, quickly scoring a classic single with the anthemic “The Choice Is Yours (Revisted).” But Dres and Mista Lawnge split up for a decade after their second album, and Black Sheep never quite regained the momentum to reach the same stature as Tribe and De La.

Members: Swae Lee, Slim Jxmmi

Great duos tend to have a sibling dynamic, but there aren't many great actual brother tandems in rap. Outside of Clipse, Rae Sremmurd might be the best of the bunch. Backed by Mike WiLL Made-It, Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi arrived with two instant bangers, "No Flex Zone" and "No Type" in 2014, Two years later, they upped the ante with the world-conquering, Gucci Mane-assisted "Black Beatles" and their classic sophomore album, SremmLife 2. —Dimas Sanfiorenzo

Members: Birdman, Mannie Fresh

There was a short stretch in the early 2000s—after Juvenile and B.G. had started distancing themselves from Cash Money but before Lil Wayne became a superstar—when the Big Tymers were the most popular act on the label. Neither Birdman nor Mannie Fresh was an all-star rapper, but they had enough charisma, presence, and a knack for hooks to deliver classics like "Get Your Roll On" and "Still Fly."—Dimas Sanfiorenzo

Members: Greg Nice, Smooth B

Nice & Smooth were a study in contrasts. Greg Nice was the energetic one, bringing a rapid-fire, non-sequitur style to the mic, while Smooth B lived up to his name with a laid-back, half-sung drawl. That push and pull made their 1991 album Ain't a Damn Thing Changed an early-'90s classic, featuring songs like "Hip Hop Junkies" and the iconic "Sometimes I Rhyme Slow."

Members: stic.man, ‎M-1

dead prez were the most militant and confrontational group of conscious rap’s turn of the century resurgence, coming off like a new-school Public Enemy.

After building their buzz with features on Big Pun and Beatnuts albums in the late ’90s, Dead Prez released their largely self-produced 2000 debut Let’s Get Free.

Jay-Z appeared on the remix to the group’s 2004 single “Hell Yeah (Pimp the System),” and M1 and stic.man teamed up with the group formerly led by 2Pac, The Outlawz, for the 2006 collaborative album Can’t Sell Dope Forever.

Members: El-P, Killer Mike

El-P and Killer Mike both had long, acclaimed careers before they worked together as a duo—El-P as a solo artist and a member of the Rawkus Records group Company Flow, and Killer Mike as a solo artist and frequent OutKast collaborator.

But when they got together for the first time as Run the Jewels in 2013, the chemistry was so instantaneous that the group quickly became the biggest thing either had ever done, with their fourth album RTJ4 becoming a top 10 hit in 2020.

Members: Pete Rock, CL Smooth

Pete Rock became one of the greatest producers of hip-hop’s golden age, working with everyone from Nas to Run-DMC. But his two albums as a duo with rapper CL Smooth retain a special place in the Pete Rock discography, especially their 1992 instant classic “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.).”

Members: Mos Def, Talib Kweli

Mos Def and Talib Kweli were both rising stars on the Rawkus Records roster when they decided to team up for a group album before either had released a solo full-length. Released September 29, 1998—arguably the greatest day in rap release history—Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star was an instant classic that made stars of both Brooklyn MCs, pairing Mos' smooth, charismatic delivery with Kweli's dense, wordy bars.

Members: Method Man, Redman

Method Man and Redman repped two different crews (Wu-Tang Clan and Def Squad), two different states (New York and New Jersey), and two different strains of weed (tical and sour diesel). But when they came together, they created smoked-out magic. "How High" is the GOAT 4/20 anthem, while "Da Rockwilder," from their debut album Blackout!, is still the best hookless record to ever rock a club.

Members: Kurupt, Daz Dillinger

Kurupt and Daz Dillinger were among the first artists to join Dr. Dre’s nascent Death Row Records stable, making key contributions to The Chronic and Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle.

Though Snoop’s Long Beach pals Nate Dogg and Warren G were also in the mix and became solo stars, it was Kurupt and Daz that Death Row decided to brand as The Dogg Pound to capitalize on Snoop’s stardom. In 1995, Dogg Food topped the Billboard 200 chart, one of the last blockbusters from Death Row’s imperial phase, with the single “New York, New York” helping ignite media hysteria about East Coast/West Coast rap wars.

Members: Noreaga, Capone

Two rappers from two different Queens neighborhoods, Queensbridge and LeFrak City, found common ground and made one of the defining New York rap albums of all time.

Capone, the C in CNN, was locked up near the end of recording, so when The War Report dropped in the summer of '97, Noreaga was left holding it down dolo. Capone missed the album's run, while Nore turned that momentum into a solo career full of radio hits. The duo eventually reunited for the underrated The Reunion and a few later indie releases, but nothing tops their debut. —Dimas Sanfiorenzo

Members: JuJu, Psycho Les

For fans of crate-digging, sample-driven hip-hop, it gets no better than the Native Tongues-affiliated Queens duo The Beatnuts. JuJu and Psycho Les have produced and remixed artists ranging from Mos Def to Fat Joe, and The Beatnuts have released six albums of their own, spinning off a string of club bangers like “Off the Books” featuring Big Punisher and “Watch Out Now.” [Editor’s note: The Beatnuts began as a trio with Fashion aka Al’ Tariq, but released the bulk of their catalog as a duo.]

Members: Lil Fame, Billy Danze

In terms of sheer energy and volume, nobody’s music burst out of the speakers quite like M.O.P. at their peak. Billy Danze and Lil Fame’s shouted delivery, over DR Period and DJ Premier’s hard beats, made the Brownsville duo an underground sensation in the ’90s. The 2000 anthem “Ante Up (Robbin-Hoodz Theory)” broke Mash Out Posse through to the mainstream, but they were never quite able to capitalize on it when subsequent deals with both Roc-A-Fella and G-Unit failed to produce albums.

Members: 8Ball, MJG

While Three 6 Mafia made Memphis the spiritual home of crunk music, the city’s other greatest group 8Ball & MJG specialized in a more relaxed and lyrical sound. Between 8Ball’s raspy voice and easygoing charisma and MJG’s sharp, animated flow, the Orange Mound duo put Suave House Records on the map with 1993’s Comin’ Out Hard. And they made great music consistently for over a decade, becoming one of the first acts on Bad Boy South with their highest charting album, 2004’s Living Legends.

Members: Pusha T, Malice

When Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo were taking over the charts with their bright and eclectic production work as The Neptunes, they had an ace up their sleeves: two Virginia Beach friends they grew up with, Malice and Pusha-T. The first Clipse album Exclusive Audio Footage was shelved in the late ’90s, but in 2002, The Neptunes launched their Star Trak label with the classic Lord Willin’.

The combination of Clipse’s dark tales of dope dealing and razor-sharp wordplay over The Neptunes’ crisp, pop-savvy production was unique and influential. And on the freestyle-heavy We Got It 4 Cheap mixtape series, Malice and Pusha proved they could sound just as good on anyone else’s beats.

Members: Erick Sermon, PMD

Perhaps no hip-hop group bridged the ’80s and ’90s, or laid the groundwork for where the genre was headed at the time, better than Erick and Parrish Making Dollars. Their tough but laid-back sound and business-minded image was a template for the dominant attitude of ’90s East Coast rap. And after their classic quartet of early albums, from 1988’s Strictly Business to 1992’s Business Never Personal, Erick Sermon became a highly sought after producer, mentoring Redman and Keith Murray.

Members: Bun B, Pimp C

Bun B and Pimp C were still teenagers when they became UGK and released their first classic, 1992’s Too Hard to Swallow. Over the following decade, the Port Arthur, Texas duo perfected their “country rap tunes” with songs like “One Day” and “Front, Back, Side To Side,” while upstaging Jay-Z and Three 6 Mafia on mainstream hits.

When Pimp C was incarcerated from 2002 to 2005, Bun B kept the UGK name alive with a legendary run of features. And the reunited duo’s fifth album Underground Kingz topped the charts in 2007, though their triumph was short-lived, with Pimp C passing away just 4 months later.

Members: Prodigy, Havoc

At his best, Prodigy was one of the greatest rappers in the world. And his partner in Mobb Deep, Havoc, had a sharp flow of his own, and produced the duo’s cold-blooded anthems like “Shook Ones (Part II)” and “Quiet Storm.”

Outside producers like Q-Tip and The Alchemist also contributed to their classic albums The Infamous and Murda Muzik, and the Queensbridge group worked with or feuded with nearly every legend of their time, briefly splitting and then reuniting before Prodigy’s death in 2017.

Members: André 3000, Big Boi

Over six albums from 1994 to 2006, André “André 3000” Benjamin and Antwan “Big Boi” Patton helped build Atlanta into the capital city of Southern hip-hop, while creating one of the funkiest and most exciting catalogs in the genre’s history.

Big Boi always remained the duo’s more stoic half, grounded but still capable of furiously tangled flows. And André 3000’s boundless charisma, outré fashion, and increasingly eclectic influences helped push OutKast into outer space on 1996’s ATLiens and 2000’s Stankonia. Instead of breaking up, the two MCs packaged their debut solo albums as 2003’s double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, becoming bigger than ever in the process. And though they’ve mostly worked apart since 2006’s Idlewild, André’s frequent virtuoso guest verses and the group’s 2014 festival tour have helped keep OutKast’s legacy front and center.