Nipsey Hussle and Mac Miller’s estates have taken similar, noble routes with posthumous releases. They didn’t rush them to capitalize on the post-death popularity; instead, they waited until the timing was right and the projects were thought through. Their estates also drew from projects that had already been substantially developed before their deaths; an attempt to complete their nearly fully formed artistry rather than reinvent it. Thus, Mac’s 2025 release, Balloonerism, and Nipsey’s just-released collaborative project, Prolific, with Bino Rideaux, have kept an ethos of purity in their sonics. The projects are equally substantial and authentic.
Prolific sounds like a natural next album within the trajectory of Nipsey Hussle’s catalog as a follow-up to the great 2017 tape by Bino and Nipsey, No Pressure. Upon listening to his life’s work, you realize that Nipsey had an affinity for a music series, which he consistently elevated with new perspectives and higher sonic quality. The South Central LA native’s over a decade of full-length releases can be put up against anyone in his era. Thus, we’ve ranked his work below to outline the journey it took to bring us one of the most synchronistic posthumous releases of the modern day.
15. ‘Raw w/ Blanco’ (2012)
This fully collaborative release with Bay Area rapper Blanco, hosted by Cookin Soul, is by far the strangest in Nipsey Hussle’s catalog. Almost every track has a feature, so Nipsey's tone and perspective at times get drowned out by the many other voices who don’t have the same resonance. That said, it was a cool moment in his trajectory for him to get a bit experimental. He was coming off a stellar run of back-to-back entries into his Marathon series and was on top of the world more than he ever had been before. The beats are reminiscent of many Cookin Soul releases at the time. They fuse boom bap with a signature sparse bounce that reminds of The Cool Kids, but also adds in some G-funk to make it all make sense. Nipsey, even in unfamiliar instrumental territory, finds his pockets like a pro, which makes you wonder what something like a Nipsey x Alchemist tape would’ve sounded like.
14. ‘Slauson Boy’ (2005)
About a year before Nipsey Hussle’s first full project was released, his father, Dawit Asgehdom, took him and his brother to his native country Eritrea for the first time. Before this, Nip was deeply engrossed in the lifestyle of the Rolling '60s. A more worldly perspective shifted the blossoming rapper’s focus to his artistic craft. This project, his debut official mixtape, was the first culmination of that transition. He’s raw, the beats are basic, nothing resembles a true breakout hit, but the precision of his delivery is damn near parallel to how he would sound when he reached his peak. From the offset, Nipsey knew how to hit instrumental pockets with a message worth vocalizing, and the world immediately took notice.
13. ‘X-Tra Laps’ (2012)
By the time he unloaded X-Tra Laps 14 years ago, Nipsey had largely evolved into the streetwise, industry-savvy young legend he'd become famous for being. He'd started The Marathon, and as X-Tra Laps' title implies, felt like a victory lap. Tracks like "Faith" are incisive recaps of his race to that point, while "Sound of My Ceremony" sounds like he's just made his way to the podium to collect a gold medal for street rap. While he hadn’t won it yet, there were flashes that indicated that one day he could. Even on a project full of leftovers. — Peter A. Berry
12. ‘Bullets Ain’t Got No Name, Vol. 3’ (2009)
While it might be easier for folks of a certain generation to remember Nipsey Hussle the self-help gangsta guru, young Nipsey was a classical West Coast gangsta rap artist. All you need for a reminder is to revisit his Bullets Ain’t Got No Name series, which sounds exactly like its name. Here, you can practically feel Nipsey set tripping during a typical trip down Slauson, with his rap threats carrying all the conviction of someone who will leave the vocal booth before hawking an enemy down. While this one doesn’t include an anthem that reaches the heights of “Hussle in the House,” it’s a valuable peek at Young Nip and a movement in full swing. — Peter A. Berry
11. ‘Mailbox Money’ (2014)
While this project took even more steps forward business-wise, it did take a bit of a step back musically. Nipsey raised the price of his Proud2Pay project from $100 to $1,000 per CD in 2014. He knew he would sell fewer copies, which he did, but he was attempting to hone in on his most obsessive market for the product he was selling. He also added experiences to the $1,000 price tag, which included an eventual private listening party ticket for his upcoming debut full-length album, Victory Lap.
The music, though, seemed to take a bit of a backseat. This mixtape sounds like leftovers from his last three major projects, The Marathon, TMC, and Crenshaw, which all captured a clear essence in their delivery. There are sections of the project where Nipsey feels a bit less urgent, and the instrumental selection doesn’t feel as aligned with his best deliveries. There are exceptions to this like the boisterous “That’s How I Knew,” but he was clearly keeping his best tucked for later explosiveness.
10. 'Bullets Ain’t Got No Name, Vol. 2' (2008)
The centerpiece of Nipsey’s latter drop of his 4th quarter of 2008 back-to-back releases is the electric “Hussle In The House.” The beat, produced by Dxtroit Red, is a thunderous blend of G-Funk, boom bap and Kanye-esque choral backgrounds and bass pulses. Nip’s rapping is equally potent, with the beginning of verse two particularly feeling like he’s spitting lines like he’s letting off rounds of ammunition. As solid as his first two projects were, this song felt like the official introduction of Nipsey as a street anthem maker. The rest of the mixtape doesn’t reach the same highs as “Hussle In The House” and the second single “Roll The Windows Up,” but the seismic moments are everlasting.
The other hyper-significant part of the project is that it marks the earliest time Nipsey connected with The Game for a release. This was an artistic representation of LA gang unity as he and Game come from different sides. They have two songs together on the tape. This type of collaboration would be a frequent one throughout Nip’s career as YG was also one of his lasting comrades.
9. ‘No Pressure’ w/ Bino Rideaux (2017)
Recorded during the same 2017 creative run that produced Prolific, No Pressure is sleek LA street rap that pairs Nipsey’s street knowledge with nocturnal production and Bino Rideaux’s melodic gifts. While Prolific was specifically aimed at the ladies, No Pressure is more customary Nipsey fare that makes you wonder what he might have done with Travis Scott. Thoughtful, stylish and relentlessly authentic, it’s another example of Apex Nipsey — a force that found a fitting partner in his fellow LA brethren. — Peter A. Berry
8. ‘Gang Injunction’ (2011)
For a mixtape that uses a phrase that relates to street commandments in its title, the first full song on this project indicates a different shift into a more philosophical Nipsey Hussle. “Forever On Some Fly Shit” is the first time in his early catalog you can hear Nipsey analyzing topics like male loneliness, the profit margins of clothes versus rap, musician ownership, and the downfalls of materialism. This type of rhetoric would define Nip’s influence as his stock kept rising.
The rest of the tape is a cool blend of hopping on other people's records and originals. It also features a heavy collaborative spirit with the burgeoning label TDE, including two appearances by Kendrick Lamar. Even with other superior projects in his full collection, the synchronistic communal element of this effort elevates it beyond much of what came before it.
7. ‘Prolific’ with Bino Rideaux (2026)
Through most of his career, Neighborhood Nip made his name with ferocious, yet introspective street rap. But with Prolific, a 2017 project recorded during the same period, he mellows out. Released just one day before what would have been Nipsey’s 41st birthday, the LP is laced with foggy instrumentals and vaguely narcotized hooks that envelop you like summertime mist. With its dazed guitar strings, gruff Nipsey vocals, and appearance from Static Major, “Sacrifices” sounds like blunts at sunset. Featuring another understated instrumental, “Count On You” is one of Nipsey’s customary odes to loyalty. Altogether, it’s a project that trades in raw, razor’s-edge street fatalism for romance and restraint. — Peter A. Berry
6. ‘Slauson Boy 2’ (2016)
This album was a solid improvement musically to 2014’s Mailbox Money. Nipsey grounded himself back home before he officially took his Victory Lap. His sequel to his debut mixtape naturally blends G-funk, trap, and the more updated LA sound cemented by people like Mustard. The project buoys back and forth from flex raps to introspective musings on how far he had come. The album also marks the lead-up to him officially opening his flagship Crenshaw Brand clothing store on the corner of Crenshaw and Slauson, where he was raised, in 2017. It’s the beginning of his last hurrah, where he solidified his place as a hometown hero. Nowhere is that more present than on arguably the project's best song, “Basic Instinct,” where Nipsey proudly raps, “From the block to the big leagues, self-made millionaire white America ain't pimp me.”
5. ‘Bullets Ain’t Got No Name, Vol .1’ (2008)
The difference between his debut Slauson Boy and Nipsey’s second mixtape is stark. He got a Sean Kingston and Bun B feature, production that bangs, and many more fully formed songs with catchy hooks. That happened because his first tape garnered so much buzz that it lifted him into formative relationships within the industry with people like Cinematic Music Group’s Jonny Shipes and DJ Felli Fell. He then took nearly three full years not just to record a bunch more music, but also hone in on his craft. There’s significant advancement in bars and flows most apparent on tracks like the reggae-laced “One Take Freestyle.” The only knock against the project is it’s just a bit longer than it needed to be with a few filler tracks. But the highs are incredibly high and present Nipsey as someone deeply capable of rap superstardom.
4. ‘Crenshaw’ (2013)
It’s impossible to speak about this album without mentioning its inventive sales strategy. Nipsey Hussle’s signature Proud2Pay initiative began here: while his fans could download the mixtape for free, they also had the option to buy a 1-of-1,000 physical CD copy of the album for $100. The strategy worked, and Nip sold out all of the CDs on the first day they were available. What’s even more notable was what Nip proudly preached he wanted to do with his profits—reinvest them into his businesses, exemplifying his All Money In philosophy.
The whole album sounds like a drive down Crenshaw Boulevard, the street that the project is named after. The centerpiece of this effect is “Summertime In That Cutlass,” which has an everlasting bounce meant only for days when you want to indulge in the fruits of your labor. There’s also a reinvented nostalgia effort here as it pertains to So-Cal hip-hop. Nipsey and his producers seemed to be channeling much of the textural spirit Dr. Dre used while making The Chronic.
3. ‘TMC’ (2011)
“Run A Lap,” arguably the most fervent record from this project, feels like the most direct follow-up to “Hussle In The House.” It’s an essential G-funk homage with even more cinematic synths that uplift Nipsey’s updated indie business mindset. The tape as a whole feels like a diamond chain in sonic form as Nipsey basks in the glory of proving that he was above needing the industry to actualize his success. His mixtape prior (and the next one on this list) did this in spades.
Rather than staying completely grounded, this also marks the first time Nipsey would lean into luxury. “I Need That” sounds like being VIP at a Formula 1 race, while “Rose Clique” and “Tha Mansion” feel like they could’ve only been made in a private studio within a gated property in the Hollywood Hills.
2. ‘The Marathon’ (2010)
There’s an argument that this is still the most cohesive project Nipsey Hussle ever released. He’s so clear-eyed about his vision, and mid-epiphany on how he would brand his movement, that it would reflect in the music in spades. “That's why I call my thing The Marathon, I just didn't quit,” he once explained in an interview with Big Boy’s LA Radio Show. “That's the only distinguishing quality from me and whoever else is going through this. I went through every emotion trying to pursue what I'm doing.”
Nipsey presented the mixtape as a pure soundtrack to a hustling existence as Jeezy did in 2005 with Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101. The difference was it was also a cry for independence, a defining Nipsey principle, as it was the first tape he released after parting ways entirely with Epic Records. The music was a mix of seamless hometown salutes like “Keyz 2 the City,” “Blue Laces,” and “Mac 11 On the Dresser,” and more pop-leaning proclamations of how to live like “A Million,” “Top Down,” and “Call From The Bank.” That last song also presents Nipsey at his most experimental, rapping over an MGMT instrumental with ease and swagger.
1. ‘Victory Lap’ (2018)
In a 2018 interview with iHeartRadio, Nipsey Hussle explained the reason for his debut official album’s over 4-year delay. “We was in pursuit of perfection,” he said. “We was trying to push the boundary on the music. We wanted it to be a clear elevation lyrically, on a songwriting level, on a production level. And I just felt like we wasn't gonna move 'til it was ready.” What he was patiently in pursuit of was exactly what Crenshaw’s own achieved. A seamless body of work that not only showed his craft, but also arrived when he could go back to the major-label bargaining table on his own terms. A “strategic partnership” deal with Atlantic would allow for Nip to present his most elevated art to a mass audience while he still retained a fair percentage of ownership.
Victory Lap is a culmination. Nipsey brings the most vibrant parts of his early street-tied charisma and fervor, the most clear-toned precision in his vocal delivery, and the most surefire explosive hit records of his career to their pinnacle. “Rap N****s” has the grit of “Hussle In The House” and “Run A Lap” combined and multiplied. “Last Time That I Checc’d” takes the thump and explosiveness of “U See Us” and “I Need That” and warps them through a DJ Mustard super saiyan filter. Then finally, “Dedication” feat. Kendrick Lamar is Nip’s version of JAY-Z’s “U Don’t Know” in its soul-sample-riddled proclamation of what it took to get here. It is a shame it was his last while he was here, but at least he left all he had on the table.
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