As with every other type of contemporary music out there, rap has its fair share of Christmas music. But only the very occasional Christmas hip-hop/rap recording is an inspired enough rendition of some traditional Christmas song or a good enough all original Christmas song to be lucky enough to last past its first Christmas. One of those rare Christmas hip-hop recordings that has stood the test of time is the original holiday rap hit, "Christmas Rappin," by Kurtis Blow from 1979, which was also the artist's very first record. ("The Breaks" came the following year.) And to celebrate its 30th anniversary this Christmas, the artist has put together the above video with new footage mixed in with 30 year old footage all set to the original track, retagged here as "Christmas Rap."

Run DMC's "Christmas In Hollis" (video below) is, in my opinion, the best of all Christmas rap songs, as well as the best track on the first volume in the A Very Special Christmas various artists collection. What made it so great was that it was distinctly Run DMC sounding, done in their typical rap style, but with a nice Christmas flavor created by the bells ringing throughout the song and how it nicely works into its urban Xmas tale traditional Christmas song melodies including "Frosty The Snowman."

From the nineties onward, urban themed Christmas rap songs became more common. Master P's West Coast Bad Boyz released the tight EP High Fo' Xmas in 1994 that had some memorable seasonal raps such as "Christmas In The Ghetto."  Coming two Christmases later was Death Row's 2LP (single CD) 16 song set 1996 compilation Christmas On Death Row featuring Snoop Dogg's standout track "Santa Claus Goes Straight to the Ghetto" featuring Nate Dogg (see video below) that keeps the spirit of James Brown alive (another artist who made some timeless seasonal music with his album James Brown's Funky Christmas).

Ambitious as the 16 track Quad City: All Star Christmas by the Quad City DJs and friends was, the 1996 release is more of a novelty item nowadays. In contrast, the more recently released Jim Jones' 2006 production A Dipset X-Mas, with ten songs including "Dipset Xmas Time" featuring Mel Matrix and Stack Bundles, looks like it will pass the test of time and should be around for many future Christmases. In 2007 Ludicris recorded "Ludicrismas" for the not so great holiday movie Fred Claus staring Vince Vaughn/Paul Giamatti. However, for some strange reason, the song from the movie is not included on the accompanying soundtrack.

Then there are many hip-hop songs that use the Christmas theme more for a metaphor to drive home a point or make a message. Atmosphere's "If I Was Santa Claus" from 2001's Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EP's has Slug rapping lyrics like "And if I was Santa Claus, I'd fight for the cause. Wouldn't expect nothing in return. I'd give you everything you want." Even more serious and less seasonal in its theme is De La Soul's "Millie Pulled A Pistol On Santa," which, while making a strong case against sexual abuse, is far from festive. For fun and festive, check out the videos above and below from Kurtis Blow, Run DMC, Snoop & Nate Dogg, and The Treacherous Three in the scene from the movie Beat Street. Merry Christmas!

Run DMC "Christmas In Hollis" (1987)