It’s a tradition at Complex to rank the very best rap verses every 12 months, but this year was a little different. Our original plan was to limit this list to 20 selections, as we always do, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to eliminate any of these verses. How could we leave out Young M.A’s blistering L.A. Leakers freestyle, 21 Savage’s ASMR bars, or Retch’s filthy rhymes on “Throwin’ Sets Down”? We were blessed with a flood of incredible verses this year, so we had to make an exception to our own rule and extend the list. What a nice problem to have.

These are Complex’s picks for the 25 best rap verses of 2018.