Method Man

Yes, “Rapper’s Delight” was the first rap song Method Man heard.

But the first hip-hop song that really resonated with him was Run-D.M.C.’s “ Sucker MCs (Krush-Groove 1).”

“I had never heard this record, and I thought I was up on everything at the time,” Method Man said of the 1983 song. He said “Sucker MCs” helped pave a way to usher in a new school of hip-hop artists.

“We were on a sixth grade class trip to Long Island, and everybody was singing it word- for-word,” Method Man remembered. “They must have played that record 24 times on our class trip.”

Fat Joe

Fat Joe remembers the first time Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s song “The Message” went viral. He’ll never forget the moment when the rap song was being played throughout the housing projects in the Bronx borough of New York City.

“I remember coming down the projects one day in every apartment. Everywhere was playing it. I was like ‘Yo, this is crazy,’ ” the rapper recalled. “It’s like a jungle sometimes. It makes me wonder how we’ll keep from going under.”

Fat Joe, who is of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent, said hip-hop became a way of life for many in his neighborhood.

“I used to look out my window, 7 years old, looking at the parties in the block and the jams, staring out my window, seeing the older guys playing hip-hop on a boombox in front of the building,” he said.

Fat Joe said his first introduction to hip-hop came through his brother, who used to be a crate boy for Grandmaster Flash.

“Back in the day, there were no computers, there were no Serato. It was vinyl,” he said. “The biggest honor you can have in life is being a crate boy carrying milk crates full of vinyl. He was a crate boy for Grandmaster Flash. Any party Grandmaster Flash gave, my brother was a crate boy. They wouldn’t pay him in money. They would pay him with flyers to the next party, and he would give them out for free. But he was down.

“When you talk about Afrika Bambaataa, Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, these are the three founding fathers of the whole culture. I’m there. You know, it’s right here.”

Killer Mike

Growing up, Killer Mike witnessed the drug epidemic run rampant in his neighborhood in Atlanta. But it was Ice T’s lyrics on “6 ’N the Mornin’ ” that helped him conceptualize his plight.

“Crack had come into our community and had started to turn our community upside down,” he said. “When Ice dropped ‘6 ’N the Mornin,’ ’ it was the first confirmation for me as a little kid that I wasn’t going crazy. ... The crack epidemic had broke them down. They became victims of their addiction.

“ ‘6 ’N the Mornin’ acknowledged it in a beautifully poetic adult and street way. It confirmed all of my youthful suspicions that the world had changed and was never going to be the same again.”

2 Chainz

It’s hard for 2 Chainz to pin down the first rap song he heard. He could only remember the artists who made an influential mark on him.

While hip-hop saw West Coast usurp its Eastern counterpart as the dominant rap force in the 1990s, 2 Chainz found rap music for the first time — thanks to his older cousins — through the lenses of Luther Campbell aka Uncle Luke and his group 2 Live Crew.

The group was best known for its raunchy rap albums including “As Nasty as They Wanna Be” that were among the first to boast parental advisory stickers, as well as R- and X-rated videos.

2 Live Crew’s song “Me So Horny” was particularly controversial. But for 2 Chainz, his introduction to its music served as an enlightening moment for him.

“It obviously was a lot of profanity, but I enjoyed that music,” 2 Chainz said. “Shortly after that, I was introduced to Too Short and N.W.A. My life has been changed ever since.”

Soulja Boy

When Soulja Boy’s mother played music around the house, she would often listen to a variety of Tupac records.

But it was Shakur’s song “ Dear Mama” that stuck with him the most. “It was one of them ones,” Soulja Boy said. “My mom used to play Tupac a lot when I was a little kid. I heard it growing up. Once I got older, I could understand it more. It’s one of them ones that made me fall in love with hip-hop for sure.”

Flo Milli

Flo Milli’s playlist is nearly endless. But the one song that jump-started her hip-hop infatuation was Tupac’s “Hit ’Em Up.”

“It was just like his energy,” said Flo Milli, the Alabama-born rapper. “Just the way he carried himself and how lyrical he was and making his staple in the game. I felt like that was really cool. I love that song.”

Doechii

Doechii is a rising rap star drawing inspiration from several well-known artists such as Nicki Minaj, Lauryn Hill, Kanye West and Beyoncé.

But for the rapper based in Tampa, Florida, hip-hop touched Doechii’s heart after she heard “Pull Over” by Miami artist Trina.

“That’s top-tier hoochie,” said Doechii.

King Combs

Throughout King Combs’ life, he has heard a countless amount of songs from his father, Sean “Diddy” Combs.

But it was Diddy’s “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down” with rapper Mase that made a tremendous impact on his son, who said the hip-hop collective A$AP Mob were a major influence, too.

“My pops got a song called ‘Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down’ that’s hard. That resonated with me for sure,” said King Combs.

“But then when I saw A$AP Rocky and his whole crew and all his friends having fun doing it, that also inspired me, too,” he said. “You can tell it was something they loved. When I make music, I just really want to have fun.”

6lack

Hip-hop first ventured into 6lack’s life through his dad, who had his own rap career under the stage name, Ricardo FLO.

In the mid-1990s, 6lack remembers watching his father lay down tracks before his dad eventually asked him to hit the booth to record some songs.

“I grew up watching him in the studio when I was in Baltimore,” he recalled of his moment with his dad whose stage name meant For Lord Only. “The very first thing that I ever recorded in my life I did at 4 years old. It was like watching him do his thing.”

6lack added: “Then there was a moment where he was like ‘I got a little opening here. Say this. Say that.’ It’s crazy because I don’t remember that many things from like being 4, 5 or 6 years old. But I remember being like ‘When I grow up, I’m going to be somebody, believe in God and believe in me.’ But I did that on wax on his song. That was probably the first time I internalized that I’m on a song. I’m on a rap song.”