Roc Marciano’s ‘Marcberg’ 15th Anniversary Edition: All 17 Songs Ranked

Marcberg is one of the most influential rap albums in the last 15 years. Full. Stop.

Back in 2010, the rap game and the music industry in general was a far cry from what it is today. Spotify was only four years old and Apple Music was five years away from launching. Everybody got their rap music from either blogs or mixtapes, and Drake was just beginning his reign while southern rap dominated the charts. East coast rap — New York rap, specifically — was going through an identity crisis mainstream-wise, and the underground scene didn’t really start to bubble until this album dropped.

Marcberg is a 14-track opus, with every song written and produced by the Long Island rapper. He raps with the conviction of a druglord that has his hands in any racket that involves getting money — whether that be pimping, dealing, or contract killings — and he’s telling these tales over beats that make the listener feel claustrophobic, as if you’re tied up in the trunk of his car while he rides around the city collecting his money and cracking skulls.

And that’s the vibe he was going for.

“At the time, I felt like the music I loved was lost,” he told me during an interview in 2020. “I wanted to make an album that spoke to me. I also wanted to put my best foot forward and show what I could do.”

Roc was a member of Busta Rhymes‘ Flipmode Squad back in the late ’90s, and was in a group called the U.N. — but for whatever reason, his career stalled back then, so with his debut album, he wanted to make sure to leave his stamp on the game. “When I got a chance to actually do Marcberg,” he said, “I felt like this was me coming in and adding my piece to the game. That’s what the creation of Marcberg was for me: it was like a chance to actually add my two cents in.”

Now, 15 years later, his piece of the game still resonates and can be seen in acts like Westside Gunn, Rome Streetz, Boldy James, V Don, YL, and Stove God Cooks — whose debut album was produced fully by Roc himself.

So, in the spirit of Black Music Month, we take a look at the 15th anniversary edition of Marcberg and rank each track, including the four bonus songs.