Best Rap Duos of All Time: 16 Pairs and Where to Start

• Eric B. & Rakim: in 2006 MTV called Paid in Full the greatest hip-hop album, pointing to Rakim’s calm, measured delivery. They were also the first rap act to sign a million-dollar deal.
• Gang Starr: Guru on the mic, DJ Premier on the beats, and early leaders of jazz rap. After Guru’s death in 2010, Premier put out One of the Best Yet in 2019.

• Clipse: two brothers from Virginia Beach, found by Pharrell Williams, who also produced their praised 2025 album Let God Sort Em Out. Lord Willin’ climbed to No. 4.
• Rae Sremmurd: brothers from Tupelo, Mississippi, whose name is “Ear Drummers” spelled backward. “Black Beatles” with Gucci Mane hit No. 1 on the Hot 100.
• Unc & Phew: Quavo and his nephew Takeoff, both of Migos. “Hotel Lobby” was their first song, and their only album entered the chart at No. 7. Takeoff was killed on November 1, 2022. The full story: Quavo and Takeoff.

• 8Ball & MJG: classmates at a Memphis middle school in 1984. On Top of the World (1995) got to No. 8 and went gold.
• UGK: short for Underground Kingz, from Port Arthur, Texas. Their 2000 breakthrough was a feature on Jay-Z’s “Big Pimpin’”, and Underground Kingz opened at No. 1 in 2007, a few months before Pimp C died.
• OutKast: central to Southern hip-hop’s rise. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below took Album of the Year and went Diamond, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted the pair in 2025.
• Kris Kross: the first act on Jermaine Dupri’s So So Def, charting at age 13. “Jump” held No. 1 for eight weeks in 1992. Chris Kelly died in 2013.
• City Girls: a Miami pair signed to Quality Control Music, who broke through in 2018 with features on Drake’s chart-topping “In My Feelings”.

• EPMD: the name means Erick and Parrish Making Dollars, and they came from Brentwood, New York. The title track of Strictly Business samples Eric Clapton’s “I Shot the Sheriff”.
• Mobb Deep: from Queens, and The Infamous, rooted in the Queensbridge Houses, sits on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums. Prodigy died in 2017, and Havoc made Infinite with the Alchemist in 2025.
• Tha Dogg Pound: Long Beach, and one of Death Row’s earliest signings. Dogg Food (1995) arrived at No. 1 and went double platinum.
• Black Star: Brooklyn, named for Marcus Garvey’s Black Star Line. The debut came in 1998 and the follow-up, No Fear of Time, in 2022.

• Method Man & Redman: Wu-Tang Clan plus Def Squad, Staten Island plus Newark. “How High” got to No. 13 on the Hot 100 and later lent its title to their 2001 movie.
• Run the Jewels: El-P from Brooklyn and Killer Mike from Atlanta. The first album was a free download, and every record up to RTJ4 (2020) drew strong reviews.

With Hotel Lobby Video, one portrait per person turns into a short duet take on the orange set, voiced by the Hotel Lobby track, a song you upload or an AI rap verse. Stuck on what to call yourselves? The rap duo name generator can help.