A good intro is key to any album/mixtape. Here are a few opening tracks from roughly ten years ago that have stayed in my iTunes rotation.
After the skit with DMX saying “Thats my mans and dem” a bunch of times… the beat comes in with a dark timpani hit, and builds gradually until an angry X tears into his verse with a vengeance.
“I’m the hardest, rap artist, and I’ma start this…Shit up for real”
DMX – Intro – It’s Dark and Hell is Hot (1998)
On an album meant to showcase his Rocafella team, Jay-Z opens it up with an overlooked verse, backed by production from a young Kanye West.
“Intuition is there even when my vision’s impaired, yeah. Knowin’ I can go, just switchin a spare … On the highway of life, nigga it’s sharp in my sight, Oh!”