To me there are several rules to what makes a "Classic" song, or even album for that matter.

-Beats: beats are so essential to any song. Most times, it the beat that draws people in before the lyrics of a song. For me, a "classic" beat is one that either puts one in a reflective mood or gets you hype, rowdy.It either nod your head, or causes you to put that ugly face on like you just sucked a lemon. For my classic beats, I usually look to Premier, Pete Rock, Dilla, 9th wonder, the Ummah,the RZA, Kanye and Just Blaze.

-Subject matter: there's more out there to rap about outside of sex,money,drugs and murder. Be innovative. And if you're going to rap about it, please put a new spin on it. "Kick, push" and "Bird's Eye View" are newer classics that steer away from these issues.

-Hunger: Most artists put out their best work when they're trying to get on, or they're feeling thereatened-i.e. the battle rap. Look at most artists we consider great-Rakim,KRS-One,Nas,and Kanye for example. All of their best albums for the most part, were their first or the first few. Many rappers, before they got on, came from undesirable situations,-i.e. poverty-so they made a focused effort on creating the best album or songs they could.

In ref. to battle raps, they either rebirth rappers careers or destroy them. Many times they also bring the best lyrically out of rappers. MC Shan/KRS one, Ice Cube/Common, Nas/Jay-Z, all of these were examples of battles were these rappers were at their lyrical apex. And for most it gave new life to their careers, for a few-Ja Rule/50 Cent, for example-it destroyed them.

-Age: Most rappers seem to put out their best album when the first come out, mainly when they're young, primarily between the ages of 18-22. Eric B and Rakim were 19,20 when "Paid in Full" dropped. Nas was 20 when he did "Illmatic". Common was 22 when he did "Ressurection", and so was Big when he did "Ready to Die". Usually rappers are at their creative best during their youth. Exceptions to this rule are Jay-Z and Kanye-they were 26 when they dropped their debut albums.

-Story: Most "classic" songs-i.e. Bonita Applebum,T.R.O.Y, Runnin, Juicy, Paid in Full, New York State of Mind, I Used to Love Her, Elevators, etc,etc tell a story. I believe a "classic" hip-hop song should tell a story, whether it's about rags to riches, the life of a hustler, the song, told in story form, usually works best, in contrast to spittin' a bunch of unrelated metaphors.

-Lyrics: The most important, yet most overlooked area of hip-hop today. Not only should a "classic" song have a beat that invokes a certain feeling, it should have lyrics that are comparable. The problem with most songs today is that they're made for people to dance to, have sex to, get crunk to, but nothing is made for the listner anymore.