Rap music has a way of celebrating the opening line. It’s always the hard entry that has heads nodding and wanting to listen to the rest of the song. However, some songs start off strong and fade out into nothingness by the end. It’s a rapper’s duty to remain thorough throughout the track or enlist the help of others to enhance the cut right up to the closing.

We like to call this the “clean-up,” i.e. the person who plays the final role on a track and “cleans up.” XXL is taking a moment to honor the closers this time. The closing line of a song that seals the deal and leaves the listener satisfied with the outcome of the track. Now there are a million lines like that throughout time, but we’ve picked a solid 25 closing lines from the early days to the very recent that have grabbed our attention. Check them out and feel free to add your own.

“My seeds, run with his seeds, marry his seeds / That’s how we keep Wu-Tang money all up in the family” – Ghostface Killah, “Glaciers Of Ice” (Raekwon f. Ghostface Killah, Masta Killa & Blue Raspberry)

Ghostdini closes Raekwon’s song with this crazy Mafioso set of guidelines for keeping all of Wu’s profits inbred. The question is: Are U-God’s kids and RZA’s kids really providing even money in that equation?

“Lose your soul in, whichever palm I’m holdin’ / One’ll leave you frozen, the other, noddin’ and dozin’ / I’m grindin’ Jack” – Pusha T, “Grindin” (Clipse f. Pharrell Williams)

Pusha T spent the whole track saluting the almighty kilos. He seals it by double barreling like a true stick up kid.

“So who you placing the blame on / You keep on singing the same song / Let bygones be bygones, you can go on and get the hell on / You and your mama” – Big Boi, “Ms. Jackson” (Outkast)

It’s funny, because Outkast dedicated a whole song to apologizing to someone’s mother for doing their daughter dirty. But then Big Boi gives up by the end like, “You know what? Forget you then.”

“Those who kick dirt, in due time, I'm gonna get ya / Cause I be kicking the real / While they be losing the race trying to chase mass appeal” – Guru, “Mass Appeal” (Gang Starr)

The title of the song is “Mass Appeal” about trying to get the most respect from the “masses.” Guru basically shuts down everyone’s hopes and dreams for mass appeal by saying he’s not about that life. Keep chasing it though.

“I live inside the belly of the rough / Compton, U.S.A. made me an angel on Angel Dust” – Kendrick Lamar, “m.A.A.d. City” (Kendrick Lamar f. MC Eiht)

Kendrick Lamar has a way of painting a visual here where his final image is of him as a drugged angel. Does that mean he overdoses at the end?

“Throw a concert for the school, show the shorties that it’s cool / Throw some candy on the Caddy, chuck the deuce and act a fool / Man it feels good when it happens like that / Two days from going back to selling crack” – Lupe Fiasco, “Hip-Hop Saved My Life” (Lupe Fiasco)

Lupe brings to light what most underground rappers fear: The idea that you might not make it and will return to the trap. It’s pretty deep if you think about it.

“So let’s see, if we flip this other ki / Then that’s more for me, mad coke and mad leak / Plus a five hundred, cut in half is two-fifty / Now triple that times three / We got three quarters of another ki / The Firm baby, volume one” – Foxy Brown, “Affirmative Action” (Nas f. AZ, Cormega & Foxy Brown)

Okay, let’s not focus on the fact that Foxy Brown is in desperate need of a calculator because her math is way off, but still. At least this last line has math that lines up and paints this picture of The Firms’s First Lady cutting coke in some basement somewhere.

“They ain’t thank us but we still paid homage mang / Soul Food Sunday looking like Big Momma’s mang / Tell the gang I never break my promise mang.” – Beanie Sigel, “What We Do” (Freeway f. Jay Z & Beanie Sigel)

Beanie ends Freeway’s song by expressing that the hood shows no gratitude, but he still represents for them. That basically means he knows “what they do” is wrong, but would still like a thank you nonetheless.

“Now the police, got me in the middle of the street / Tryin’ to beat me blue, black and orange / I’m like hold up, who you smacking on / I’m only trying to eat what you snackin’ on” – Jay Z, “Hell Yeah (Remix)” (dead prez f. Jay Z)

Leave it to Jay Z to steal the show on dead prez’s track. He gets his socially conscious on trying to dip into the same pot as corrupt cops and questioning their brutality.

“‘Cause I don’t like to dream about getting paid / So I dig into the books of the rhymes that I made / So now’s a test to see if I got pull / Hit the studio, ‘cause I’m paid in full” – Rakim, “Paid In Full” (Eric B. & Rakim)

The ambition at the end of this song is so noteworthy. The song is about achieving fame, and by the end Rakim is like, “Well, here goes.”

“I know you like the way I’m freaking it / I talk with slang and I’mma never stop speaking it” – Big L, “Ebonics” (Big L)

Big L’s break out song about the art of slang could’ve been made into a rap dictionary. By pledging his allegiance to local lingo he thereby speaks for all of hip-hop by saying there will always be a secret language to the culture.

“Shit, my mama got cancer in her breast / Don’t ask me why I’m muthafuckin’ stressed / Things done changed” – Notorious B.I.G., “Things Done Changed” (Notorious B.I.G.)

Biggie leaves us with the most intense thought at the end of “Things Done Changed.” After all of that he lets us know Voletta Wallace is fighting cancer. Damn.

“Some dude was drunk and drove his car over a bridge / And had his girlfriend in the trunk, and she was pregnant with his kid / And in the car they found a tape, but they didn’t say who it was / Come to think about it, his name was, it was you, damn” – Eminem “Stan” (Eminem f. Dido)

Eminem’s a-ha moment on the song was the perfect way to end it. Figuring out who Stan was is like uncovering the mystery on a primetime detective show.

“Muddy water flow, Dixie rebel past / Fuck your Louis flag, popping benji tags on your wifey’s ass / That’s out of line, but in living color? / I’m more like Miya Bailey on you rap muthafuckas, a true artist” – Big K.R.I.T., “1 Train” (A$AP Rocky f. Kendrick Lamar, Joey Bada$$, Yelawolf, Danny Brown, Action Bronson & Big K.R.I.T.)

A$AP Rocky’s hyper-posse cut needed someone to really leave the track with a bang. If course it had to be Big K.R.I.T. and he doesn’t care about Louis Vuitton. A$AP does though.

“Shorty let me tell you about my only vice / It has to do with lots of loving and it ain’t nothing nice” – Q-Tip, “Electric Relaxation” (A Tribe Called Quest)

It’s cool to see a rapper/rap group flirt with women without having to sound like a group of construction workers on a city street. Well done, Tip.

“The piano player’s out, the music stopped / This boy had beef, and he got dropped / Mike D. grabbed the money / MCA snatched the gold / I grabbed two girlies and a beer that’s cold” – Beastie Boys, “Paul Revere” (Beastie Boys)

The way the Beasties trade bars at the end of “Paul Revere” is so signature to their flow. It’s always all about teamwork, even when they’re robbing someone and getting drunk afterwards.

“Niggas are fascinated how the shit begin / Get vaccinated, my logo is branded in your skin” – GZA, “Liquid Swords” (GZA)

Remember years back when old school vaccines left a giant dent in the arm or the leg? No? Well that’s why GZA is referencing here.

“Little weapon, Code Name: Smith & Wesson / And you’ll be quick to catch a bullet like an interception / If your man’s tryin’ to disrespect it / Send a message and it’s over in a millisecond” – Capital STEEZ, “Survival Tactics” (Joey Bada$$ f. Capital STEEZ)

This was the track that put the late Capital STEEZ on the map. His recklessly unrelenting closure to “Survival Tactics” only emphasized the fact that he was a survivor.

“Words of wisdom from Nas: try to rise up above / Keep an eye out for Jake, Shorty Wop, one love” – Nas, “One Love” (Nas)

In case you don’t know who Jake is: that’s a cop. You’re welcome, Shorty Wop.

“First class with the seat back, I still see ya / In my past, you on the other side of the glass / Of my memory’s museum / I’m just saying, hey Mona Lisa come home / You know you can’t roam without Caesar” – Kanye West, “Flashing Lights” (Kanye West f. Dwele)

There’s a double entendre here. You know you can’t Rome/roam without Caesar. Get it?

“Fuck everything, man, that’s what my conscience said / Then it bunny hopped off my shoulder, now my conscience dead / Now the only guidance that I had is splattered on cement / Actions speak louder than words, let me try this shit” – Tyler, The Creator, “Yonkers” (Tyler, The Creator)

Tyler’s completely insane cockroach-eating track ends with him saying his conscience fell off his shoulder and died. Now he has none. That’s hilarious.

“Pink wig, thick ass, give them whiplash / I think big, get cash, make them blink fast / Now look at what you just saw, this is what you live for / I’m a muthafuckin’ monster” – Nicki Minaj, “Monster” (Kanye West f. Rick Ross, Jay Z, Nicki Minaj & Bon Iver)

If you don’t acknowledge that Nicki bodied the end of “Monster” then you’re clearly hating just to hate.

“As my reflection in light I’mma lead you / And whatever’s right, I’mma feed you / Digga-da, digga-da, digga-da, digga-digga-da-da / Yo I’ll tell you the rest when I see you, Peace” – Common, “The Light” (Common)

Common summed up the feeling of wanting to tell your love in person what you need to say with just a little bit of gibberish. Digga-da digga-da.



“I get sex, I get wreck, I puff mad blunts / I get vexed, I break necks, punch out gold fronts, chump” – Redman, “Tonight’s Da Night" (Redman)

Redman, the king of puffing out his chest closes “Tonight’s Da Night” by jumping you. How does that feel?

“You kick it like me, no exaggeration necessary / Living revolutionary, nothing less than legendary / Gangsta shit hereditary, got it from my dad / Flow colder than February with extraordinary swag” – T.I., “Swagga Like Us” (T.I. f. Kanye West, Jay Z & Lil Wayne)

T.I. knew damn well if he was playing clean-up on a track with Kanye, Jay, and Wayne then he’d better bring his A-game. Mission accomplished.

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