Image via Complex Original
In true hater form, New York has all but banned hip-hop from nightlife these days. Still, a few spots remain committed to the idea that people should dance and enjoy a night out rather than try and pick the best of Oasis out of a jukebox. (Yes we know EDM exists, but let's be serious.) We put together a list of 10 bars that still have Yeezy in the serato and will finally allow you to do that move you've been practicing in the mirror to "Picasso, Baby." Meet the last of dying breed: NYC bars that actually play rap.
RELATED: The Best Shout-Outs to Defunct NYC Clubs in Rap Lyrics
RELATED: The 15 Best Cities in the U.S. For Rap Fans Right Now
RELATED: NYC Restaurants Mentioned in Rap Lyrics That Are Actually Good
RELATED: First We Feast - The Best NYC Bars of 2013
Apt. 78
Neighborhood: Washington Heights
Address: 4447 Broadway
Website: apt78.com
While being one of New York's last standing homogenous neighborhoods, anyone who has ever spent time in the Heights can tell you music is never scarce. Sure you may not be in the mood to lament a lost bidding war for Js over a bachata ballad, but that doesn't mean everything you hear in the Heights is not in English. At Apt 78—original venue of the ever-growing jumpoff, Brunchbounce, and home to the "Summer Series" featuring DJs like D-Nice, Questlove, and Just Blaze—dancing on tables, crowd surfing and general fog-inducing gyrations are totally acceptable. You can even have a cocktail and a snack while you're at it. If the bouncer is no longer accepting patrons, head over to Dyckman Bar. At the very least, this ground level bar will let you spill some of that ruckus onto the street with their disappearing front wall. Just remember: as hot as everyone is in the Heights, nobody up there is trying to hear that you don't dance.
Ginny's Supper Club
Neighborhood: Harlem
Address: 310 Lenox Ave.
Website: ginnyssupperclub.com
If you happen to live in the fabled part of the city known as Uptown, you may or may not be experiencing the dearth of hip-hop music at bars. In Harlem, trendy spots can sometimes be uptight when compared to younger venues, but at Ginny's Supper Club, you get the best of both. Located in the lower level of Red Rooster—still uptown's "place to be seen stuntin' light" over a plate—Ginny's let's you digest properly by hitting a two-step break in the midst of all your inappropriate rap-yelling. If you run into your corny coworker and his scowling girlfriend and need to move along, new spot Silvana's is definitely open to receiving your slight nostalgia for Harlem-shakin— just don't take it too far. Nobody misses Aunt Jack.
Franklin Park
Neighborhood: Crown Heights
Address: 618 St John's Pl.
Website: franklinparkbrooklyn.co
Finding hip-hop in Crown Heights is not hard, but finding it without dancing next to old black men over 45 is pretty much impossible. Franklin Park is the favorite of the gentrified set on that side, but it also has a open yard and the option of sports bar/arcade on one side and just a regular, dark place to drown emotions on the other. We're not saying that someone's Uncle Larry is not going to try and convince your girl that he knows a thing or two, but you'll both be so happy about being able to smoke the Newport 100 loosie you just copped while listening to the Lox that you'll find it in your heart to keep your hands on your beer and not snuff anyone. After all, Brooklyn is still Brooklyn, and fighting on Franklin Ave. will never end well for anyone.
Fat Buddha
Neighborhood: East Village
Address: 212 Avenue A
Website: fatbuddhabar.com
Home to one of the best happy hours and the Wednesday night Left Coast party, featuring all the best west coast jams, Fat Buddha is a standout in the midst of the crust that is now the East Village. So if you're looking to avoid bros and all their shrill-voiced heauxs, drop in and hit your dougie around the giant island bar. It's probably the only place you'll hear some Nate Dogg past 1st avenue.
Mo's Fort Greene
Neighborhood: Fort Greene
Address: 80 Lafayette Ave.
Website: mosftgreene.com
Because there are more neighborhoods in New York than the Internet will allow you to believe, Mo's is not only a bar where you can watch sports and listen to hip-hop, but is also in a neighborhood where you don't have to share your space with every asshole in the city. The Fort Greene crowd can be a bit older (and by older we mean, they consider their credit score several times a year but they still know what ratchet means.) Is it small? Of course. Does it have a great happy hour—it's on this list right? Hell, even the hipsters write great Yelp reviews about the place. They play oldhead rap and new stuff, but you can successfully avoid a "trap night" and you've probably already forgotten how much happier you were before that trend happened.
Von
Neighborhood: NoHo
Address: 3 Bleecker St.
Website: vonbar.com
Trying to find hip-hop playing in SoHo/Nolita is like waiting on line for Jordan's at V.I.M. Granted, Von is on the stepchild side of the neighborhood right off Bowery, but this bar is a gem of a place. Two floors, a happy hour that gives you change from a fiver after tip and good hip-hop playing on pretty much any night. Like most of the bars on this list, Von just does whatever they want, whenever they want, and all the regulars love them for it. Which is probably why more birthday emails feature this bar than any in your inbox. The best nights are Thursdays, the spot's best kept secret: If you get here early for the happy hour, they're usually playing some reggae upstairs. Just be sure to stock up on one-liners to shut down all the finance chumps who will invite you into their company mixer dance circle and throw drunk hollers your girl's way by doing the cat daddy for her. Elbows are always swinging, and you don't need a bruised rib for your Friday morning meeting.
Arrow Bar
Neighborhood: East Village
Address: 85 Avenue A
Website: arrownyc.com
If you can get over the smell of the one mop used to clean all bars below 10th street, then Arrow Bar is more than happy to take care of your hip-hop needs. The bathrooms look like they've seen a couple of ODs and the temperature sky rockets when there are more than 45 people present. But Saturday nights listening to DJs who are willing to play Young Jeezy in his white-T-era and the remix of "Been Around the World" (twice!) means you should plug up your nose, wear those AF1s you tried to clean with bleach, and enjoy.
The Flat
Neighborhood: Williamsburg
Address: 308 Hooper St.
Website: theflatbkny.com
Anything goes at the Flat—anything. Not only is it a bar that plays hip-hop, but you're more also likely to find that it's your fav NYC rappers that are playing the rap. As a person who wears glasses, I am never able to see once inside, but I'm certain I've never reached the far wall. Despite its many Williamsburg in-crowd regulars, you're more likely to find Mister Cee trolling on Broadway (be a good friend and send him home) after leaving and it's South Williamsburg/Bushwick location guarantees a diverse group. It's dark, it's fun, and as long as you're gone before people get weird and start going to the bathroom more than the bar, you'll be fine.
Enids
Neighborhood: Greenpoint
Address: 560 Manhattan Ave.
Website: theflatbkny.com
We don't know about you, but the border of Williamsburg and Greenpoint is probably the very last place we'd look for a bar that's going to play hip-hop, especially one that looks like it has a jukebox with not one album new enough to have came out on CD. However, Enid's is not only a bar that plays hip-hop, but a restaurant that risks its furniture to let people go full Miley Cyrus. Anyone who attended the infamously fun Baller's Eve parties at this spot (first Fridays and second Saturdays, monthly) knows it's a go-to for such things in the neighborhood. So, next time one of your "friends" tries swindle you into a night of whiskeys on the yawns in the 'burg, tell em to meet you at Enid's. By the time you hand them a Harrison (frozen drink warning), they'll thank you for defying them.
B.o.b.'s
Neighborhood: Lower East Side
Address: 235 Eldridge St.
Website: bobbarnyc.com
When it comes to hip-hop in NYC, B.o.b.'s is a landmark. With a couple TVs to watch the game, and bathrooms where you can barely spread your legs, this place is minuscule but worth every bead of perspiration. Their DJ lineups are just as unpretentious as their crowd and many of NYC's lesser-known turntable champs and up-and-comers have brought the crowd to yelling at the top of their lungs. There are no similes or metaphors to really explain it. But, if you're trying to catch Sports Center and end the night with no shirt, B.o.b.'s will always be the place for you. Show up on a weeknight and grab an Arizona Iced Tea from the authentic hood bodega on the corner once you're done losing your voice; it will be pivotal to successfully writing an email to your boss in the middle of the night about the stomach virus you caught.
Tender Trap
Neighborhood: Williamsburg
Address: 245 S 1st St.
Website: tendertrapbk.com
One of the only places where you can see "skrippers" wearing cross trainers, "the Trap" is the site of the weekend's best hip-hop dance party in Williamsburg. Yes, of course, there's a spot in hipster heaven called "the trap," but since they consider the table tops to be part of the dance floor, it is almost always worth the twerk. Cheap booze and a diverse (read: un-bearded) crowd compliments the deal. Still, beware: This place is the size of a horse's stable stall, so you will pay in sweat. Lots of sweat.