In honor of today being 4/20—every smoker's favorite day of the year—SOTC has compiled the 25 Best Rap Songs relating to weed. Though some may be more about bud than others, all are guaranteed to make your high all the more enjoyable. Be forewarned, though... this list doesn't have any happy hippy weed music—this is straight thugged-out entertainment. Locate your lighters.

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MTV turns 30 on Monday. To celebrate, we're running a bunch of pieces on the channel, its legacy, and its future.

Debuting during the golden year of '88, Yo! MTV Raps revolutionized TV coverage of hip-hop music. Of course, hip-hop videos existed long before Yo! launched—Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five's gritty street-level visuals for "The Message," peeping Kurtis Blow clad in black leather pants performing in front of a silhouetted Manhattan-skyline backdrop in "If I Ruled The World"—but the show provided hip-hop junkies with rap reportage like never before. Hosted by Ed Lover and Doctor Dre (the lesser-heralded one), who were assisted by Fab 5 Freddy, Yo! MTV Raps didn't just showcase new videos and air interviews; it took viewers inside the worlds of the artists they profiled, which might mean delving down into producer Pete Rock's dingy Mount Vernon basement, trading barbs with N.W.A. in LA, or letting shout-rap oiks Onyx slam dance with Freddy on the Brooklyn Bridge. Here are five of the best moments from its archives.

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Posse cuts are like friendlier versions of the WWE's Royal Rumble -- a platform designed to showcase all of the stars in the game, both up-and-coming and certified. Think back to the Main Source's 1991 "Live At The Barbecue," featuring Akinyele, Joe Fatal, and the debut of a rapper named Nas, or Big Pun's "Banned From TV" remix, featuring the murderer's row of N.O.R.E., Nature, Cam'ron, Jadakiss, and Styles P. More recently, there's been 2008's "Swagger Like Us"--T.I., Kanye West, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and M.I.A.--or last year's "Forever," featuring Drake, Kanye West, Eminem, and Lil Wayne.

This year in particular, the posse cut seems to be in vogue. Kanye West has been the most visible artist to use the posse cut approach recently, stacking the majority of his G.O.O.D. Friday freebies with numerous MCs and singers. West also recently announced "All Of The Lights", the third single from his upcoming album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, will feature 11 artists (including Elton John!). But it's not just West calling all MCs to the booth. For whatever reason, great rappers have been teaming up a lot lately, and the result has been a hip-hop fan's wet dream. Every week, there's either some new remix or original song with numerous MCs trying to lay down the verse fans will talk about long after the song is playing. Here are ten of 2010's best posse cuts so far, complete with a verdict on who won each one:

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Law & Order ends its 20-year run tonight. Throughout the show's long reign, phalanxes of honorable detectives have cleaned the New York streets of crime and debris while throwing out witty one-liners and re-enacting plotlines ripped from real-life headlines. Grabbing a cameo on the show has also become something of an in-joke in acting circles, with future-stars like Claire Danes, Jennifer Gardner ,and Cynthia Nixon all making pre-fame appearances on the show. But Law & Order, along with its Special Victim's Unit and Criminal Intent spin-offs, has also acted as a breeding ground for rappers (and rap-related types) to flex their chronic lack of thespian skills--in roles that typically range from the clichéd to the ridiculous. So while Ice-T gets a pass for playing Richard Belzer's street-savy detective partner Fin Tutuolo, the likes of Outkast's Big Boi and the Wu-Tang Clan's Method Man fare less well. Here are five of the best/worst rapper guest spots.

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When "Our Dreams," the awesomely emo first single from the eponymous group effort from Method Man, Ghostface, and Raekwon (Rap Radar just confirmed that Wu Massacre, as in the cover, at left, is the name of the record and not the group) circulated a few weeks ago, we figured that'd be last anyone heard about it. Why? Because of the substantial chunk of the hook and sample on the verse is pulled from Michael Jackson's "We're Almost There"--a beast of a clearance, even amongst the elevated, no-permission-granted-ever climate of sampling in general today. And yet not 24 hours ago the song popped up again on an official Island/Def Jam site, streaming, with its own single art and everything. What gives? It's not like these guys have Jay-Z's money.

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Right? Or that would be too accurate? Ironman, Iron Chef, and the Iron Lung would also be acceptable, we suppose. More info here, if this confuses you. [JensenClan88/Ghostface]

--Oops. Not much came of Method Man allegedly shooting a fan in the face with an air gun, or a friend in the leg with a BB, but evading those $32,799 in income taxes over three years landed the Staten Island rapper at the 120 Police Precinct stationhouse this morning. "Taxes are the burden that all citizens share in a civil society, whether you are an 'average Joe' on the street or a high-profile rap artist," said the Staten Island District Attorney in a statement excoriating the rapper known in real life as Clifford Smith. "Because of the alleged action of people like Mr. Smith, law abiding citizens face higher taxes and reduced government services. Failure to properly report and pay your taxes is a crime against all citizens and will be aggressively investigated and prosecuted." To the tune of up to four years in prison, apparently. Get an accountant, Meth.

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On Monday night, Method Man and Redman took their Blackout! 2 promotional tour to Jimmy Fallon, an evening that promised to join the rapidly growing pantheon of incredible rap performances on Fallon's show--the Roots backing veterans that went as far back or farther in the game than they did, guys notorious for bringing their own tremendous energy and charisma to live appearances finally joining with the hypest live band in rap. But when Red and Meth took the stage, they did "Ayo" with a DJ, and not the Roots, behind them. What happened?

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Rap's 36-posts-or-so-per-mp3-blog-a-day regimen hasn't had nearly the same obliterative effect on the music itself as it has in, say, indie rock: If anything, it makes tracks by veterans like Red and Meth seem like major events, when in reality both of those guys have spent the better part of two decades tossing songs like this off in their sleep. But lacking something to prove is its own asset: listen to how assured everyone on "City Lights" sounds. Redman, Method Man, and Bun B are three of the most effortlessly conversational MCs in all of rap, and they take their time with this one. Redman's references--Jada Pinkett Smith, "chinky eyes," R. Kelly's sex trial--are, as ever, charmingly dated, and Method Man, evidentially, just heard Diplomatic Immunity for the first time in while (or ever?): "I dropped in '95, now I'm on 95 / South in the Dirty, been riding dirty since Dirty died." Old dogs, new tricks, etc.

Feel-good throwback of the day: Meth and Red's "A Yo," the usual weed-kissed melange of gritty New York baller-talk and goofy Kill Bill references. These guys have become something like a beloved movie in deep cable syndication, and even they're watching. Guess which rapper spit this: "And now I'm on this grind like Method Man in his prime." [OnSmash]