10 Essential 2 Chainz Tracks

2 Chainz is the R.A. Dickey of rappers. He's 39 years old and he's never been better. Between Collegrove, his collaborative album with Lil Wayne, and three super mixtapes -- Felt Like Cappin, Daniel Son; Necklace Don, and Hibachi For Lunch -- 2016 has been a career year for The Artist Formerly Known As Tity Boi. What kind of rapper has the audacity to use a semi-colon in a mixtape title?? (The answer: a great one.)

To celebrate, we have compiled a list of 10 essential 2 Chainz tracks from his illustrious career. Click through the gallery to listen. 

Playaz Circle's debut single "Duffle Bag Boy" has aged like a fine wine, a high-water mark in southern rap that represents the beginning of a beautiful partnership between Tity and Weezy that would later come full circle a decade later on Collegrove.

2010-2011 was an era of maximalism in hip hop. It was a time when Rick Ross' Teflon Don, Waka Flocka's "Hard in the Paint," and Kanye West and Jay Z's Watch the Throne were the toast of the town. "Spend It" is perhaps the finest Tity Boi relic from that period.

2 Chainz spends the first four minutes of "Mercy" posted up on the sidelines before coming off the bench guns blazing like Detlef Schrempf in the fourth quarter. "Drunk and high at the same time, drinking champagne on the airplane!!"

2 Chainz took a lot of flak for rapping "She got a big booty, so I call her big booty." It's a lot like Kanye's "OK!" line on "THat Part": lazy, yet memorable.

On "I'm Different," Tity Boi raps over one of the icier beats of DJ Mustard's career, proclaiming his singular talent, fashion, and all-around steez. He is such a forceful rapper that he has produced a number of memorable lines that have taken on a life of their own, in this case, his enthusiastic, Khia-referencing exhortation for his woman to "look back at it" -- "it' being her own ass.

2 Chainz's highest-charting single as a lead artist -- unless your counting "We Own It" feat. Wiz Khalifa from the 'Fast & Furious' soundtrack.

2 Chainz is the glue holding this masterpiece together. There was a six-month stretch in college where you couldn't walk 10 feet without hearing someone rapping this chorus under their breath. 

Many rappers worship legendary drug dealers like Pablo Escobar, El Chapo, and Scarface, who were so rich that they were like the kids in Germany after World War I who played with blocks of cash rather than regular blocks, because the blocks of cash were actually worth less than blocks. When Few drug lord anthems are more perfect than "Feds Watching," which features the ineffable production touch of Pharrell.

An unexpected hit off Trapavelli Tre, "Watch Out" is one of the hardest songs in the 2 Chainz catalog. It also produced the greatest James Harden Vine in existence:

The Peruvian pan flute is underutilized in hip hop. "Big Amount" contains a healthy dollop of pan flute, undoubtedly the finest use of pan flute since Mr. Green's "Clap." The result is a distinctive South American vibe that evokes both the dignity of the working man and the decadence of Escobar.