As we're winding down a stellar 2022, the ROCK THE BELLS writing staff got together to share some of our favorite tracks from this past year. Here are our picks for the BEST SONGS OF 2022.

“Diet Coke” - Pusha T

Pusha T's It's Almost Dry was one of the year's most anticipated projects. Pharrell Williams and Kanye West shared production on the album, which was released in April and immediately became the talk amongst Hip-Hop fans. "Diet Coke" was the album's lead single featuring Kanye and 88 Keys on production, and West guested in the video. The piano-driven track track was perfect for Push to spit his cocaine-themed verses, staying true to the song's title.

The MTV VMA-nominated black-and-white video featured Kanye mimicking Diddy's iconic dance moves from the 1990s, and the duo chillin' on a leather couch while Push spits. "They mad at us, who wouldn't be?/We became everything you couldn't be/everything your mama said you shouldn't be/the Porsche's horses revvin', like, 'Look at me.'"

"Diet Coke" was hit for Pusha taking him to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and peaking at number 4 on Billboard Hot 100 singles and 43 US R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.—JayQuan

“Slap” - Busta Rhymes feat. Conway The Machine, Big Daddy Kane

From seemingly out of nowhere, three generations of MCs dropped the song and video "Slap." Busta Rhymes, Conway The Machine and Big Daddy Kane flexed over the Marley Marl-produced instrumental of 1987's "Something Funky"/"Just Rhymin' With Biz" by Big Daddy Kane. Funkmaster Flex introduces the trio and Busta sets if off with a short homage to Kane's original verse (I go and on and on) and a R.I.P. to Biz Markie, PNB Rock and other Hip-Hop icons that we've recently lost. As expected Busta delivers an energetic and animated verse with crazy lines: "You're ridin' on empty, you should refuel the amigo/ most you niggas is finished, now pop ya self Plaxico/ passed it though, cook you and serve you, like a casserole/ and lay you out on the street and display you like a fashion /show sorry, but I have to go, my spitter's full of rockets/ and I'm done with laying niggas in quadrilateral boxes." Conway drops dope lines and punchlines as always - "I'm about to go on my Kobe and Shaq run/punch you in ya chest you get a collapsed lung."

The best was saved for last with Big Daddy Kane exhibiting a master class on wordplay: "Made a solemn oath to never stop gettin'/
decades later, steady 'bout business/it's been a while since I ain't have a pot to piss in/tried to give 'em game, but they steady not listenin' some of y'all got that Fetty Wap vision/my third eye improve my every cognition." The video for "Slap" features the rap titans dressed in furs, and custom suits hopping out of luxury cars. A new super group in the making? We can only hope so.—JayQuan

"Science Class" - Westside Gunn feat. Busta Rhymes, Raekwon, Ghostface & Stove God Cooks

We have to thank Griselda for not only their commitment to a certain sound that feels nostalgic for a lot of us, but also, their willingness to embrace the posse cut. "Science Class" — pulled from Westside Gunn's project 10 — features a cross section of New York artists from different eras. Whereas Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Long Island may have once been ground zero, West Side Gunn's journey from Buffalo, and Stove God's ascent from Syracuse, is a reminder that good Hip-Hop has no borders.

"Science Class" has the sound and feeling of "Wu Banga 101" from Supreme Clientele. Both songs find the MC's taking all the time they need to get their point across — eschewing traditional 16-bar verses — for an approach that feels more akin to strangling the microphone until its actually dead.—Alec Banks

"Dark Hearted" - Freddie Gibbs

The industry tends to like to treat an artist's career like it's a sprint. It's probably why there's much more allure in the world of track and field about the hundred meter dash record, then that of the marathon. Furthermore, the idea of "longevity" seems to be measured by that instant success, followed by consistent relevance in the culture.

Freddie Gibbs seems to defy both of these preconceived notions. Twelve years after gracing XXL's Freshman cover, Gibbs has actually reached the height of his stardom — aided by a string of phenomenal projects like Bandana, Alfredo, and 2022's Soul Sold Separately — which has seen him evolve from being a "rapper's rapper," to someone with the desire to pull back on his prickly facade and expose a truth we have yet to seem.

Turning to James Blake for production on "Dark Hearted — the Brit producer who cooked up a Grammy nominated song for the Black Panther soundtrack with Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, and Future — the song has one of the most somber, yet catchy, pre-choruses/choruses in recent memory. Gibbs cited the song as an example of not allowing his critics, fans, or anyone in between, to put him in a "box." —Alec Banks

"Michael & Quincy" - Nas

Nas plays on his cosmic creative connection with producer Hit-Boy by comparing it to the musical chemistry Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones displayed during their incredible three album run throughout the 80s with Off The Wall, Thriller, and Bad.  King’s Disease III  is the fourth time Nas and Hit-Boy have connected to deliver a stellar project in only two years, so the comparison hits even harder. Nas’ wordplay is extra clever: “Nasty like Mike on the vocals, I overdub it / Bouncin’ off the wall, always startin’ somethin...'/Behind the scenes of the “Thriller” video, big budgets / Moonwalkin’, smooth criminal talkin.’”

A standout song on a standout album, “Michael & Quincy” allows both rapper and producer to get their proper shine. —Jacinta Howard

“Purple Hearts” - Kendrick Lamar

Mr. Morale & The Big Stepper’s continues Kendrick Lamar’s streak of creating stellar conceptual albums that function more as art. While this is arguably his bleakest offering, even in terms of the actual production on the album, “Purple Hearts,” though weary at spots in presentation does offer tangible glimpses of instructional hope — seriously, “shut the fuck up when you hear love talkin.” Ghostface Killah is particularly appreciated on the track, “This world’s in The Twilight Zone, this is the fifth dimension/God, please blow the whistle, we need an intermission..”  Word, Ghost. Word. —Jacinta Howard

“Chanel Pearls” - Conway The Machine feat. Jill Scott

Jill Scott got to flex her microphone skills on this track from Conway The Machine. Fans were buzzing online over the news that Scott makes an appearance on the Bink!-produced track; and, (just to show you there's nothing she can't do), she's rhyming.

The Grammy-winning songstress embraces her emcee side, holding her own against the rhymer from Buffalo. Jilly From Philly's verse is ride-or-die and sultry: “We fill the Buffalo night skies with our minds, and Sativa/ I was your lady, your confidant, your sugar thighs, your sole believer/I know you, so I never trip/ Fuck the lil’ girls that you hit, waitin’ for the change they might get.”

It's one of the highlights on Conway's stellar God Don't Make Mistakes, and along with the luxurious video, it's a moment that celebrates perseverance, togetherness and resiliency of being committed to one another.—Stereo Williams

“Remy Rap” - DJ Premier feat. Remy Ma, Rapsody

DJ Premier brought together some of Hip-Hop's finest for his top-tier Hip-Hop 50 series. "Volume One" featured everyone from Run The Jewels to Slick Rick and Lil Wayne; and Preemo pairing up Bronx bomber Remy Ma with North Carolina super-rrhymer Rapsody proved to be a stroke of brilliance. The two emcees get to flex their lyrical muscle over a sparse, boom-bap beat; it gives Remy and Rap a chance to do what they do best.

Remy flexes hard: "Every time I spit some shit, they saying that it's really Pap/Claim I can't make a song but actually that's really cap/Had 'em, Conceited, All The Way Up, and Leanin' Back/I know they be popping shit, she only hot when Remy crack/In my presence, they be on my dick like little jimmy hats..." A portion of proceeds from the #HipHop50 project will be donated to various charitable organizations.

—Stereo Williams