5 Essential Lloyd Banks Tracks

Whenever hip-hop fans think of G-Unit, they automatically default to 50 Cent. And why wouldn't they: he's one of the greatest rappers of the early 2000's, and one of the few to achieve diamond status (with more than 10 million sales of his landmark album, Get Rich or Die Trying).

But there's another member of G-Unit who, though not as popular in the mainstream, deserves as much credit as the capo: Lloyd Banks. Born Christopher Charles Lloyde -- and rumoured to be the ghost-writer of the infamous Get Rich or Die Trying -- Lloyd Banks is one of the most prolific, and oft-quoted, rappers of our time. And while it was certainly no easy feat to narrow down his top 5 songs -- since he's released so many -- since he announced his semi-retirement on Twitter last month, we felt it was the least we could do.

Here, then, without further ado, is a list of the top 5 Lloyd Banks songs of all time.

5. Burying Bodies (feat. 50 Cent)

This is a song that's been lost to the annals of time, but it's worth checking out because it's one of the few that succeeds in "dissing" Nas. One of Banks' most memorable punchlines is "To fade me, it's gonna take more than guts. You need the eye of the tiger, the heart of a lion, and King Kong's nuts."

4. Officer Down

Before the rest of the world caught onto the fact that rapper Rick Ross was really Corrections Officer William Roberts of West Palm Beach, FL, Lloyd Banks -- and the rest of G-Unit -- were coming for his neck for that very fact. And while hip-hop fans seem to be stupid enough to let that sort of thing be swept under the rug (really, guys? REALLY?), Banks isn't quite as forgiving, as he demonstrated in his absolutely lethal dis track, "Officer Down."

3. Open Arms

Banks never did well with romantic lyrics (really, though: what is a cynic, Chris, but a battered romantic?), but the closest he came to a "love song" was "Open Arms," produced by prolific producer Doe Pesci and found on the "V6" mixtape. It features the notable lyrics, "In the era of the leecher, if you find a lady that you love with a head, you'd better keep her." 

2. Playboy

As a general rule, Banks does better on his mixtapes than he does on his albums, but "Playboy" (off his debut album The Hunger for More) is an exception. Featuring blistering beats, fist-pumping lyrics, and punchlines galore, Banks is absolutely beastly on this track, and it's considered by rap critics to be one of his best album songs of all time. 

1. Victory Freestyle (feat. 50 Cent)

Few hip-hop fans today understand the importance of Lloyd Banks pulling off the "Victory" freestyle. Let's try to explain: "Victory" was a song originally performed by The Notorious B.I.G., and remixed by Puff Daddy and the Family after his death. In hip-hop, the rule is, you don't freestyle off of someone else's beat unless you do it justice. In trying to freestyle off of a beat that Biggie laid his vocals on, many a rapper was taking a risk...a risk that could cost him his career if he failed (just ask Papoose what happened to his career when he tried to do the same thing). But when Banks laid his vocals down on the "Victory" beat, he not only earned the title "Punchline King," but Puff Daddy and the Family remixed the track again to include some of Banks' verses...giving him the ultimate co-sign. Even today, rappers like Waka Flocka quote punchlines from Banks' "Victory Freestyle," which is no small feat considering today's hip-hop "classics" are forgotten in a matter of weeks. 

Catch Lloyd Banks alongside Tony Yayo live in November.