Roc Marciano’s ‘Marcberg’ 15th Anniversary Edition: All 17 Songs Ranked

Best line: “When I cut her she was butter, white b—ch from the gutter/ Had to hide you from my mother ‘cause you didn’t have color”

Another story from the Long Island rapper. This time he’s talking about a drug that some call “that white girl” and runs through a bunch of metaphors as he makes the connection while the song’s title calls back to the Spike Lee Joint of the same name. However, I’ve never really been too into the beat, even if I thought he was clever by the way he approached the subject matter. 

Best line: “Steel cage match, peel waves back”

This is another beat that I always felt was jarring, but it still works in the grand scheme of the project. It has this industrial feel to it and Marci still manages to go crazy over a loop made to break your neck.

Best line: “Just keep where I’m at, under the raps/ That’s the catch ol’ chap/ Don’t make me go inside the backpack”

This is just another effortless showing by Marci as he brags over a beat that sounds like he crafted it in a basement somewhere. His loosies are better than some of your favorite rapper’s singles. You also have to tip your cap at him for bringing the word “bozak” back into the lexicon.

Best line: “Time for change, get the f—k off Obama d—ck/ P for president, n—a, I know a lot of sh—t”

The late Sean Price doesn’t get brought up enough during Blog Era conversations. I feel like I should be listening to this on NahRight. Plus, this is more like a traditional remix, with Roc adding a brand new verse. Remixes these days are just disguised as guest features and it’s wack and cheap and boring. What also makes this collab interesting is the fact that P and Marci have a lot in common being that they were around during the ’90s and were able to reinvent themselves later in their respective careers.

Best line: “Get to the cheddar just to live better/ Get your sweater wet up/ It felt like a set up” 

This beat was always jarring to me, but I always liked the chorus and how aggressive he sounds. There was just nothing out that sounded like this at the time of its release. I’m going to be beating that drum a lot in these blurbs, so get used to it. 

Best line: “Mack of the Year, b—tch, I hold my trophy like Goldie”

One of their earliest collabs, Roc and Ka give rappers a masterclass in barology over a beat that reminds you why they called themselves the Metal Clergy. And while we may never get the album that they’ve talked about due to Ka’s untimely passing, the late rapper did tweet back in 2020 that we already got it.

Best line: “Slide a knife in your gut, light ’em up/ F—k, s—t got uglier than a Cybertruck”

The title of this track is insane — however, the song once again proves why Roc is the Godfather of the resurgence of this sound. The video, directed by Geraldo Rodriguez is great too with the vintage Mercedes G-Wagon footage.

Best line: “You bird built, get ya sternum peeled”

One of the better outros that you’re gonna hear on a rap album, “Shoutro” is a perfect way to close out a classic project. Roc gives us a verse before he shouts all his fam and friends out that’s been there with him as he made this unexpected comeback. Little did he know that he would change the game.  

Best line: “N—as is hating like they worship Satan/ Because I’m bringing home the turkey bacon”

Here’s Roc in storyteller mode as he breaks down setting up shop, getting bagged by cops, beating the case, and starting over from scratch. I always appreciated to production on this because it makes me wanna break something. Some of the beats on this project have an industrial feel to them, and it’s something I didn’t really notice until I started working on this list. 

Best line: “As for wifey this thing is over/ As soon as I meet me a Oprah I’ma need a chauffeur/ The Louis loafer on the sofa/ I keep a toolie in the holster like Sosa”

Listen, I know I picked about two or three lines but you gotta let me live. Rappers rarely make references to Sosa, the Bolivian drug lord that took Tony Montana out in Scarface, so he gets credit there and even more so because Sosa really did have a gun holster and looked fly while wearing one. The part on Marcberg’s title track that I always enjoyed, though, is the last verse where it sounds like he’s rapping over a pay phone. That’s what art sounds like.

Best line: “I’m making a movie out here/ OG I feel like Big Tookie out here/ I’m the dookie out here, you booty out here/ You smoked out looking like Pookie out here”

You hear that swing? That bounce? Roc figured out that it’s timeless. This track is a movie and it’s what street rap music sounds like. You should be about to find this in the dictionary. 

Best line: “My ex said I was a mess yet very tastefully dressed If I must say so myself” 

Not sure if anyone knew what to expect when they first hit play on Marcberg, and I wonder if anyone was as pleasantly surprised as I was to hear the way he was flowing over his own loops on this track — one that I always thought sampled Curtis Mayfield’s voice, but alas it’s the voice of a Polish singer that I won’t say here for the sake of sample snitching (you can look it up).

Best line: “I said to slow drag ’em, yeah, this is how you go platinum”

My God, this beat. Whenever this comes on while I’m driving, walking around, cleaning the house, etc., I do like that Antonio Banderas GIF when he sees something great on his laptop in the very underrated movie Assassins. “My s—t is ringin’ like two for five” is also one of my favorite lines that I’ll randomly say to myself with or without hearing “Raw Deal.”

Best line: “I’m like Tony in the silver Carrera, they don’t build ’em no better”

With an opening line like that who needs a 9-5? Watch Scarface, listen to “Don Shit” and hit the block! This track will forever be one of my favorites. It’s like Roc caught the spirit of Tony Montana when he crafted this masterpiece. He’s talking crazy on here.

Best line: “He used to go hand to hand by the gram/ Take a brick and then grind it to sand/ Baby girl, my 45. don’t jam, Al Pacino wit a tan”

This song changed my life when I first heard it. I thought this sound was forever lost to the sands of time. That bounce and swing is as East Coast, NYC boom-bap as they come. Roc really captured the essence without sounding dated.

Best line: “Went from skinny to chubby in a city that’s gully”

This is one of those songs that only people that have lived in the type of environment he’s describing can really relate to. Roc paints a picture of horror and despair while also creating a somber atmosphere with the production and the sample he chose to loop. This is easily one of the best songs he’s ever made — and the god is prolific, so that’s saying something. 

Best line: “This ghetto youth/ We roll around in a hoop/ Hustle for loot, hunnid dollar sneakers and boots”

I always appreciated the atmosphere of this song. It sounds like a desolate winter night while riding around in a hooptie in Any Hood, U.S.A. and is one of the standout tracks that most people mention when discussing this project. The sound he was going for here cracked open something in the known universe that helped inspire a slew of rappers and producers to make a modernized version of a subgenre that had gone stale.