This week marks 50 years of hip-hop. What started as a party-centric neighborhood phenomenon half a century ago became a global juggernaut of culture, commerce, and celebration. It would be impossible to name every important name and movement keeping the rap world’s turntables spinning. Instead, we’re highlighting unique and vital artists, songs, scenes, and styles that have left an impact across generations but remain overlooked by some.

Today we stop, look, and listen to hip-hop's “counter-counterculture.” Yes, as rebellious as hip-hop has always been, the ’90s underground scenes gave us rebels even amongst the rebels. These innovators created an interconnected music community that operated outside the outskirts. These are stories of the white-label, no radio play, backpack full of hand-to-hand mixtape favorites. Today we go beneath the indies to the underground.

Juggaknots - "Clear Blue Skies" (1996)

Fondle 'Em Records, founded by legendary radio DJ Bobbito, was among the very first wholly independent entities catering to hip-hop’s avant-garde practitioners in New York City. The 12-inch single credited with starting the lineage of the modern underground family tree is Juggaknots' "Clear Blue Skies." Here, group members and real-life siblings Breeze Brewin and Buddy Slim play the part of a white father and son having a dispute over the son dating a Black woman. Originally recorded when the group was signed to mainstream label Elektra, which didn't know what to make of it, the track saw the light of day on Fondle 'Em and became an instant classic. The indie label would later be the home for future underground greats Cage and MF DOOM.

Company Flow - "Vital Nerve" (1996)

While you may recognize the name and voice of El-P today as one-half of Run the Jewels, he has been an active, pivotal part of the hip-hop world for the better part of three decades. His original group, Company Flow, also featured rapper Big Juss and DJ Mr. Len. While working fulfilling mail orders for Tower Records, the trio began slipping home-pressings of their Funcrusher EP into unsuspecting orders across the world. Long story short, they became the first flagship act on Rawkus Records, and their revamped Funcrusher Plus album built the label that would later catapult Mos Def (Yasiin Bey), Pharoahe Monch, and more to massive hip-hop success. Prior to Rawkus eventually buckling under the weight of attempted full-on mainstream acceptance, El split from the label under famously less-than-amicable terms. He then founded his own game-changing label, Definitive Jux, which would again redefine underground music and make stars out of Aesop Rock, Mr Lif, and RJD2.

Dr. Octagon - "Blue Flowers (Prince Paul's So Beautiful Mix)" (1997)

In 1989, producer Prince Paul was credited with inventing the hip-hop skit on De La Soul's landmark 3 Feet High and Rising album. Around that same time, rap group Ultramagnetic MCs and the group's standout rapper Kool Keith gained notoriety for pushing the genre's boundaries like none other. Fast-forward a few years and a few iconic projects later, and both Keith and Prince have amassed reputations as two of the genre’s most fearless innovators. As Keith was riding the critical acclaim for his Dr. Octagon album, they collaborated on Prince Paul's "So Beautiful" remix of the record's signature single "Blue Flowers." Both have made great, boundary-pushing music to this day, but there's something particularly special about this 1997 remix that feels like a victory lap of the world finally catching up to them.

R.A. the Rugged Man feat. Sadat X - "50,000 Heads" (1997)

At a time when every rapper was either trying to get on a mainstream or indie label, the young industry veteran R.A. the Rugged Man took the then highly unorthodox approach of having his single "50,000 Heads" pressed and delivered to record stores by himself. (In the early ’90s, he’d had a tumultuous run as a teenager on Jive Records under the name Crustified Dibbs, including a now heavily-bootlegged album that has never been officially released -- despite featuring Biggie.) A bold reinvention of someone wholly rejected from the major label system, R.A.'s success with "50,000 Heads" lead to his next singles being picked up by Rawkus, followed by a label bidding war and one of the genre's most compelling career trajectories.

50 Cent - "Life's on the Line" (2000)

Speaking of artists left for dead by the major labels who later found a resurgence by taking their destinies into their own hands, we have 50 Cent and the song on this list you're most likely to have heard before. Initially signed to Columbia Records off the buzz of his industry-wide diss track "How to Rob," his album Power of a Dollar was shelved and so he took to that classic hip-hop tradition of making and selling hand-to-hand mixtapes. Further fueling interest at the time of his and G-Unit's mixtape series was his feud with mainstream rapper Ja Rule. This song, originally recorded for Power of a Dollar, became essential in New York and among mixtape enthusiasts. While a number of hip-hop legends like Too Short, E-40, and Master P had all eventually made their way into massive mainstream careers by selling their own tapes out of their trunks, 50 Cent is the rare case of someone whose mixtape hustle happened after their first major label run. It eventually led to his return, thanks to one of his mixtapes landing in the hands of Eminem, and eventually resulted in one of the most anticipated debut album releases of all time.

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