For what feels like forever, Hit-Boy has been largely pushed to the world as the producer behind other people’s biggest moments, from “N**gas in Paris” and “Backseat Freestyle” to “SICKO MODE,” “Clique,” and “Racks In The Middle.” His résumé stretches from Fontana to global stadiums with Grammy wins, Madden soundtracks, and full-length collaborations with countless legends across genres dotting his discography. As his catalog expanded, so did another truth: Hit-Boy was quietly building a serious run as an emcee in his own right.

Across mixtapes, Half-A-Mil releases, SURF OR DROWN projects, and joint efforts with Big Hit and The Alchemist, Hit-Boy has treated rapping like another extension of the same work ethic that drove his production career. During an appearance on REVOLT’s “Off The Record,” he was asked about his transition from the boards to the microphone.

“I just was firing off so crazy with the beats, because beats was always just fun for me,” he explained. “But I always recorded my own music. I always put out my own projects, you know, leaned into what I was doing.”

This list zeroes in on some of the moments where he took off his producer hat and used his voice to document deals, legacy, losses, wins, and the mentality that kept him creating while the charts shifted. From early breakthrough cuts to more recent collaborations, these selections show how Hit-Boy’s pen and delivery complete the story his beats started.

1. Ricky (with The Alchemist)

Notable bars: “I was on La Venisia with Diamond and Anthony up in Altadena watching gangsta Crips and dope boys hoppin’ up outta beamers, they shot at Westside, that’s when he had to drop a heater, fresh outta church on Easter, I’m in my Sunday best, praying I could onе day rest, this s**t be tiring, we wеren’t even sharin’ beds...”

2. CORSA (as Half-A-Mil with Dom Kennedy)

Notable bars: “What you think all this Julio for? She told me, ‘Go lock up the studio doors,’ she actin’ up like it’s the movie awards, for real, for real, for real, you gotta love a discreet freak, that’s for real, for real, for real, n**ga, it’s 20 on my receipts, that’s for real, for real, for real...”

3. Bigger Than Life (with Big Hit)

Notable bars: “Bigger than life, my fit cold, but I really killed n**gas when I slid on this ice, I was nine, sendin’ them kites, so how could you hate on my come-up? I really slept on pallets, on the floor with my loved ones, my uncle had that one gun, he let me shoot that b**ch, let it off, I hear granny screamin', ‘N**ga, who that is?’”

4. Just Ask (with Spank Nitti James)

Notable bars: “I got a lot to say, but how they move, I don’t care to say it, it’s a fee for my attention, and they too broke to pay it, it seemin’ like everybody show you love when you die, s**t, I’ll probably never see the love, I’ma stay alive, truthfully, I ain’t trust s**t since y’all took Nip, I’m thankful for all his messages that I took in...”

5. Back In Traffic (with KIRBY)

Notable bars: “Sendin’ out a toast to my dawgs, stay 10 toes, call from GTL, damn, you know how s**t go, brodie told me, ‘Zero in with the beam and the scope,’ went down for a mop, he ain’t even clean the floor, showin’ love to my closest, gotta appreciate the moment, I don’t do this for promotion, I just keep this s**t in motion...”

6. Them N**gas (with Audio Push)

Notable bars: “HS87, staying T-U to the max, and I say that like it ain’t apparent, all Black, like the Great Depression, when I’m stepping, bow your head, like you’re praying with 80 reverends, me and my n**gas on that getting money policy, West Coast s**t, spittin’ out some polla seeds, shout out to Daz and Kurupt, Young Gotti, see, me and all my youngins looking like we hit the lottery...”

7. Slipping Into Darkness (with The Alchemist)

Notable bars: “I'm usually homeboys with producers I get compared to, but on this one, I wanna see ‘em stretched out, extra legroom, I don’t really know dude, he seem like a cool cat, but I never once heard Metro Boomin do boom bap, I never heard a Southside beat without a 808 in it, H.B. in drunk-driver mode, I swerve in every lane with it, I f**k with Mustard, he can make that ratchet s**t with his eyes closed, but now I’m startin’ to wonder, can that n**ga chop soul?”

8. Automatically

Notable bars: “I just read somewhere, n**gas who live for the future never get there, so I’m schemin’ in the present, eatin’ chicken skewers, wristwear gleamin’, been that n**ga since the semen, still ain’t what it seem, and I’m still shakin’ my demons...”

9. Fan (with 2 Chainz)

Notable bars: “The truth, the truth, d**n, that ass’s the truth, it’s a couple things I’m a fan of, that’s Henny, money, and you, and they doin’ things, they doin’ things that everybody can do, but them basic h**s, them basic h**s, that’s anybody but you...”

10. Composure (with Nas)

Notable bars: “Vote yes on Hit-Boy, b**ch, I’m the city spokesman, they see we got this s**t crackin’ and now they spirit broken, I’m standin’ on the green like the British Open, and stackin’ ice on top of ice, but I’m not building snowmen...”

11. Grindin’ My Whole Life (with Big Hit, N.No, BMac the Queen, Audio Push, Kent M$ney, and B.CaRR)

Notable bars: “I woke up to 200 texts, n**ga, only one I replied to is that bread n**ga, all these years I’ve been lied to, I’m finna tax the game, and these n**gas who tell me, I didn’t have a lane, for the nights I slept in the whip wishin’ I had a chain, wishin’ I had a Dad, wonder what he would say...”

12. Bussin’ Moves (with Quentin Miller and Pusha T)

Notable bars: “Hit-Boy, still bussin’, big moves bein’ made, by the dozen, gold chains on my neck, zoomin’ out in public, got the Kenwood face, two 15 subbin’, I’m gettin’ large amounts, she gon’ go, ain’t s**t to talk about, only young n**ga in the opera house...”

13. JAY-Z Interview

Notable bars: “All these n**gas really know my at-bat average, ridiculous rap patterns, and f**k what you know, this youngin’ got the coldest beats, all my old h**s laying in the coldest sheets, even if they married, they still can’t get over me...”

14. Letter To My Mentors

Notable bars: “From the jump, me and Ye was on a Gemini flow, two minds, one path, where creativity grows, we could’ve made another ‘N**gas in Paris,’ that s**t was heat, stars had other plans, pulled us off beat, could’ve been a decade of classics, another click or two, therapy levels, shaping culture, breaking through...”

15. What’s The Deal

Notable bars: “I'm married to this loaf, skip the wedding ring, I don’t trust a thing, I’m watchin’ everything, lift me from the dirt, I was hurt, they tried to bury me, I woke up out a scary dream, thought I was you n**gas, it was scaring me...”