Christmas Rap Songs: The Real Lineage, From Kurtis Blow’s 1979 Debut to Christmas in Hollis and Beyond

Every December the same five christmas rap songs come back around. Run-DMC in Hollis, OutKast at the Player’s Ball, Snoop sending Santa to the ghetto, Ghostface talking slang to the snowflakes, and somebody’s uncle insisting DMX’s “Rudolph” counts. It does. But the playlist everybody recycles starts in the middle of the story. The first Christmas rap record came out in 1979 on a major label, years before Hollis. A Christmas bassline went to No. 1 on the Hot 100 in the spring of 1998. And the most famous holiday rap song ever made almost didn’t happen because the group said no.

This is the family tree with receipts: who started it, who canonized it, which soul records got flipped underneath, and which classics got sampled back. Every year here was checked against at least two sources, and when the sources disagree we say so. At the end there’s a playlist cheat sheet with clean picks flagged for the kids’ table.

If you want the artist backstories first, our Run-DMC overview and our Kurtis Blow birthday profile set the table. This piece is about the holiday records.

The First Christmas Rap Songs: Kurtis Blow, Blondie and the Treacherous Three

Before rap had a Grammy category, a radio format or a gold album, it had a Christmas record. That’s not a novelty footnote. It’s how the genre got its foot in the door of the record industry.

Christmas Rappin’ (1979): The Record That Got Rap Signed

Kurtis Blow’s “Christmas Rappin'” came out on Mercury Records in 1979, catalog number MDS-4009. That label name matters. Kurtis Blow was the first rapper signed to a major label, and the deal came off the back of a holiday single. It landed just months after “Rapper’s Delight” showed the industry that rap records could sell, which means the first major-label rap release was a holiday single.

The credits read like a who’s-who of early rap’s business side. J.B. Moore and Robert Ford Jr. produced it. The writers were Blow, Moore, Ford, Denzil Miller and Larry Smith, with Miller handling the arrangement. Keep that last name in your pocket. Larry Smith went on to co-produce Run-DMC’s first two albums, so the same hands that shaped the first Christmas rap record helped build the group that made the most famous one. By music historian Nelson George’s count, the single moved more than 400,000 copies, which is serious weight for a 1979 single from a kid out of Harlem.

The Christmas Bassline That Went No. 1 in April

Here’s the jewel nobody puts on a playlist. Next’s “Too Close” is built on the “Christmas Rappin'” bassline. The R&B trio’s single hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on the chart dated April 25, 1998 and stayed on top for five non-consecutive weeks. That’s why the songwriting credits on “Too Close” include Kurtis Walker, Robert Ford Jr., Denzil Miller, James B. Moore and Larry Smith. A 1979 Christmas record became one of the biggest songs of a spring nineteen years later, and most people dancing to it had no idea Santa was in the low end.

Blondie’s Yuletide Throwdown: The Christmas Version of Rapture

Two years after Kurtis Blow, downtown New York got its own holiday rap. Blondie’s “Yuletide Throwdown,” with Fab 5 Freddy on the mic alongside Debbie Harry, is the slower original recording that got reworked into “Rapture,” the record that took rapping to No. 1 on the Hot 100 for the first time. The Christmas take first showed up in 1981 as a free flexi-disc with the UK magazine Flexipop, then came out again in February 1982. It’s a strange object: the rap single that broke the mainstream existed first as a seasonal giveaway.

Santa’s Rap (1984): The Beat Street Christmas Cut

The Treacherous Three, the Bronx crew built around Kool Moe Dee, Special K and LA Sunshine, cut “Santa’s Rap” for the second volume of the Beat Street soundtrack on Atlantic in 1984. A young Doug E. Fresh is on it too, years before “The Show.” It’s pure old-school structure, routines and back-and-forth, and it captures the moment when Christmas rap was still a party record rather than a radio product. If you only know Kool Moe Dee from the LL Cool J battles, this is a lighter side of the same voice.

Christmas in Hollis: The Song Run-DMC Almost Turned Down

Ask anyone to name a Christmas rap song and nine out of ten say “Christmas in Hollis.” It’s the genre’s holiday standard, the one that plays in malls next to Mariah and Nat King Cole. It almost didn’t exist.

The Pitch They Said No To

In 1987 Run-DMC were the biggest act in rap, coming off Raising Hell and the first rap album to go multi-platinum. When the request came in for a holiday charity record, the group’s first answer was no. Their publicist Bill Adler kept pushing the idea and also pointed them toward the record that would carry the beat. DMC has told that story himself in interviews, and it’s backed up across the song’s documented history. If you want the album that made them untouchable that year, our Raising Hell at 40 breakdown covers it, and the Raising Hell Run-DMC Hoodie is the era on cotton.

Back Door Santa: The Soul Record Underneath

The groove under “Christmas in Hollis” comes from Clarence Carter’s “Back Door Santa,” a 1968 Atlantic single written by Carter and Marcus Daniel and produced by Rick Hall. It’s a sly, grown-folks soul record, not a children’s carol, and that tension is half the charm of Hollis. Jam Master Jay built the beat on a funky, slightly naughty Christmas record, and Run and DMC rhymed a wholesome story over it about finding a wallet that turns out to belong to Santa. DMC has said he didn’t actually hear the original Carter record until years later. This is the clean answer to the “black Christmas songs” question too: the hip-hop Christmas canon is built on soul records.

A Very Special Christmas: Keith Haring and the Special Olympics

“Christmas in Hollis” came out on A Very Special Christmas, the A&M compilation released in October 1987 and produced by Jimmy Iovine. The cover art was by Keith Haring, and the proceeds went to the Special Olympics. Run-DMC shared the tracklist with Madonna, U2, Bruce Springsteen and Whitney Houston, and they were the only rap act on it. The track itself was produced by Run-DMC with Rick Rubin, whose story we tell in our Def Jam Records history. Profile, Run-DMC’s own label, also put the song on its 1987 “Christmas Rap” compilation, which we get to below.

The Video That Beat “Bad”

The music video was directed by Michael Holman, the filmmaker and early hip-hop scene figure, and it was named Rolling Stone’s video of the year over Michael Jackson’s “Bad.” For a charity-album song the group didn’t want to make, that’s quite a turnaround. The wallet story is also why the song still works on a kids’ playlist: it’s about doing the right thing, rapped by the hardest group in the world.

We built a hoodie around that record. It’s the one we reach for every December, and it’s the gift that starts the most conversations at holiday parties.

The 1980s Crate: Deep-Cut Christmas Rap Songs Nobody Lists

Hollis gets the airplay, but the late-80s labels were pressing holiday rap like it was a seasonal product line, because it was. If you dig past the big five, there’s a whole crate of Christmas rap songs that never make the listicles.

Profile Records’ Christmas Rap (1987)

Profile, Run-DMC’s label, put together a compilation simply called Christmas Rap in 1987, catalog number PRO-1247. “Christmas in Hollis” opens it, and the rest is a snapshot of the New York and London scene that year:

• Sweet Tee — “Let the Jingle Bells Rock”
• Dana Dane — “Dana Dane Is Coming to Town”
• Spyder-D — “Ghetto Santa”
• King Sun & D-Moet — “Christmas in the City”
• Disco 4 — “He’s Santa Claus”
• The Showboys — “That’s What I Want for Christmas”
• Derek B — “Chillin’ With Santa”
• Surf M.C.’s — “A Surf M.C. New Year”

The Showboys are the deepest-cut name with the biggest afterlife: their “Drag Rap” became the “Triggerman” beat that New Orleans bounce and Memphis tape culture built a whole sound on. Finding them on a Christmas compilation is the kind of crate detail that makes the holiday canon feel smaller and more connected than the playlists suggest. We covered that Memphis lineage in our full history of Memphis rap.

Santa’s Beat Box (1986)

Cutmaster D.C.’s “Santa’s Beat Box” came out in 1986 on the small Zakia label. It’s a time capsule of the human beatbox craze, when Doug E. Fresh and the Fat Boys had every kid in the city making drum machines with their mouths. It’s not a classic, but it’s proof that by the mid-80s, putting a Christmas twist on whatever rap trend was hot had become standard practice.

Cold Chillin’ Christmas (1988): The Juice Crew Under the Tree

The Juice Crew’s “Cold Chillin’ Christmas” is the best record in this crate. Marley Marl produced, mixed and engineered it, and the mic goes around Big Daddy Kane, MC Shan, Roxanne Shanté and Juice Crew manager Fly Ty, who actually takes a verse. A lot of lists add Biz Markie and Kool G Rap to the lineup, but the record’s credits don’t include them. The beat rides a Booker T. & the M.G.’s break, “Hip Hug-Her,” which crate diggers will recognize from a dozen other rap records.

The jewel is where it first appeared. “Cold Chillin’ Christmas” debuted in 1988 on Winter Warnerland, a promo-only Warner Bros. double LP that wasn’t sold in stores. The best Juice Crew posse cut of the holiday season started life as an industry giveaway. If Kane’s verse is your favorite part, the Big Daddy Kane It’s a Big Daddy Thing T-Shirt is the 1989 follow-up era on a tee.

The 90s Christmas Rap Songs: Prince Paul, Compton, LaFace and Long Beach

In the 90s, Christmas rap went regional. Every scene made its own version of the holiday, and some of them were a lot darker than tinsel.

De La Soul’s Darkest Christmas Story (1991)

“Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa” is on De La Soul Is Dead (Tommy Boy, 1991), produced by Prince Paul with the group. It isn’t a party record. It tells the story of a girl named Millie whose father, a department-store Santa, is abusing her, and of what happens when nobody believes her. De La released it as a double A-side single with “Keepin’ the Faith.” It might be the most serious song ever made with “Santa” in the title, and it’s a reminder that the group that got labeled hippies in 1989 were writing about very heavy things two years later. The De La Soul Is Dead T-Shirt carries that album’s cover.

Eazy-E’s Compton Christmas (1992)

Eazy-E’s holiday single, with a title we’ll just shorten to “Merry Muthaphu**kin’ Xmas,” came out in December 1992 on Ruthless. It anchors the 5150: Home 4 tha Sick EP. The sources split on the exact day: the single is dated December 10 and the EP December 15. Either way, Compton had its own Christmas record four years before Long Beach answered. For the label behind it, read our Ruthless Records story.

LaFace Family Christmas (1993): Where OutKast Debuted

This is the one that breaks people’s brains. OutKast’s “Player’s Ball,” the debut single from two Atlanta teenagers, first came out on A LaFace Family Christmas, the label’s 1993 holiday compilation. The single followed on November 19, 1993, which corrects the “1994 debut” date you’ll see on a lot of lists, and it went to No. 1 on Billboard’s rap chart. Organized Noize built the beat. The same compilation also carried TLC’s “Sleigh Ride,” which had first appeared on the Home Alone 2 soundtrack in 1992. So the label’s two signature acts both cut Christmas records before they took over the decade. Our OutKast albums ranked takes the story from there, and the OutKast Aquemini T-Shirt is our nod to the duo’s peak.

Santa Claus Goes Straight to the Ghetto (1996)

Long Beach answered with “Santa Claus Goes Straight to the Ghetto,” the single from the 1996 compilation Christmas on Death Row, released December 3, 1996. Snoop Doggy Dogg leads it with Daz, Nate Dogg and the rest of the label crew. The title comes from James Brown’s 1968 soul song “Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto,” but it isn’t a cover. The music is built on Isaac Hayes’ “Do Your Thing” from the 1971 Shaft soundtrack. G-funk was already a sample-heavy soul tradition, so a Christmas version that runs on Isaac Hayes feels exactly right.

Santa Baby (1997): The All-Star Return

Run-DMC’s charity series came back around in 1997. A Very Special Christmas 3 (A&M, released September 23, 1997) included “Santa Baby” by Rev Run & The Christmas All-Stars, with Mase, Salt-N-Pepa, Snoop, Onyx and Keith Murray. Ten years after Hollis, Run was the elder statesman bringing a new generation onto the same charity project. That’s the lineage in one track.

The 2000s and 2010s: Dipset, Ludacris, Ghostface and Christmas in Harlem

By the mixtape era, a Christmas record was a flex. You made one because you could, and Harlem in particular made the holiday its own.

A Dipset X-Mas (2006) and the Hollis Flip

Dipset dropped A Dipset X-Mas on December 5, 2006 through Koch. The standout is “Ballin’ on Xmas” by Jim Jones with J.R. Writer and Stack Bundles, produced by Twinz NY, and it rides the beat of “Christmas in Hollis.” That’s the sample tree folding back on itself: the 1987 record that flipped a 1968 soul single got flipped again by Harlem nineteen years later. Stack Bundles was killed in Far Rockaway in June 2007, six months after the album came out, which makes his verse here hit differently now.

Ludacrismas (2007)

Ludacris made “Ludacrismas” for the 2007 Vince Vaughn movie Fred Claus, and it interpolates “Here Comes Santa Claus,” which is why Gene Autry and Oakley Haldeman are listed among its writers. It’s one of the most radio-friendly Christmas rap songs of its decade, all punchlines and no rough edges, and one of the safest picks on this list for a family playlist.

Ghostface X-Mas (2008)

“Ghostface X-Mas” is track 16 on GhostDeini the Great, the Def Jam compilation released December 16, 2008, with Shawn Wigs riding along. You’ll see earlier dates floating around, but neither Wikipedia nor MusicBrainz lists an earlier release, so 2008 is the date. Ghost doesn’t change his voice for the holiday. He just aims his wild, specific, Staten Island imagery at Christmas morning, and that’s exactly why it lands. Our Ghostface Killah best songs guide has the full catalog, and the Ghostface Killah Supreme Clientele Hoodie makes a strong December gift for a Wu head.

Christmas in Harlem (2010): Hit-Boy’s Four-Sample Beat

“Christmas in Harlem” came out December 17, 2010 as the last release of that year’s GOOD Fridays series. The single features Cyhi the Prynce and Teyana Taylor, and a longer version that leaked two days earlier added Cam’ron, Jim Jones, Vado, Pusha T, Big Sean and Musiq Soulchild. The real star is Hit-Boy’s beat, which is built from four soul records: Joe Tex’s “Papa Was Too,” Shuggie Otis’s “Strawberry Letter 23,” and two Marvin Gaye songs, “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” and “Mercy Mercy Me.” A lot of playlists also list “I Want You” as a sample, but the credits don’t support it. Like Hollis and Dipset before it, the song’s whole emotional pull comes from the soul records underneath.

Drummer Boy (2011)

Busta Rhymes’ verse on Justin Bieber’s “Drummer Boy,” from Under the Mistletoe (November 1, 2011), brought a full-speed rap verse onto a pop holiday album. It peaked at No. 86 on the Hot 100. Purists roll their eyes, but Busta doesn’t coast, and it’s still one of the cleanest rap features you can play for a room full of kids.

Modern Christmas Rap Songs: Run the Jewels, Gucci, Chance and Tyler

The streaming era turned Christmas rap into a seasonal release window. Projects drop in late November and December, and some of the best holiday tracks weren’t even meant to be holiday tracks.

Run the Jewels’ June Christmas Song (2013)

“A Christmas F***ing Miracle” is track 10 on the first Run the Jewels album, released June 26, 2013 on Fool’s Gold and produced by El-P. It came out in the middle of summer. The holiday video followed six months later, on December 21, 2013, and that’s when it became a December staple. It’s reflective and bruised rather than festive, which is about as Killer Mike and El-P as it gets. The Run the Jewels T-Shirt works year-round.

East Atlanta Santa (2014 and 2016)

Gucci Mane gave himself a holiday alter ego. The original East Atlanta Santa mixtape dropped on Christmas Day 2014. Two years later, “St. Brick Intro” came out as a promo single on November 25, 2016, ahead of The Return of East Atlanta Santa on December 16, 2016 through GUWOP and Atlantic. It’s a trap Christmas tradition with its own sequel, and Atlanta treats it like one.

Merry Christmas Lil’ Mama (2016)

Jeremih and Chance the Rapper released Merry Christmas Lil’ Mama on December 22, 2016 and expanded it the next December as Merry Christmas Lil’ Mama: Re-Wrapped. It’s the warmest Christmas rap project of the decade, R&B-heavy, nostalgic and built for a cold night. It also shows the modern model: a Christmas project from two artists who clearly love the season.

You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch (2018)

Tyler, the Creator’s take on the Grinch theme was made for Illumination’s 2018 The Grinch, and the credits list Danny Elfman, the film’s composer, as co-producer. Tyler also released a separate EP of Grinch-inspired songs that November. It’s clean, it’s weird in the best way, and it has become a reliable kids’-playlist pick that still has some edge.

DMX’s Rudolph

Then there’s DMX. In 2012 a radio performance of him rapping “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” growl and all, went viral, and it’s been a December meme ever since. In November 2017 an official studio version came out as part of a Spotify holiday collection. It’s not a classic in the Hollis sense, but no Christmas rap list feels complete without X barking about Rudolph.

Christmas Rap Songs Playlist and FAQ: Clean Picks and Sample Sources

Here’s the cheat sheet for building a hip hop Christmas songs playlist. The “Clean?” column is a quick guide for family gatherings: “Yes” means the original is safe to play in front of kids, and “No” means you’ll want the radio edit or a different song.

Year	Song	Artist	Built on / Notes	Clean?
1979	Christmas Rappin’	Kurtis Blow	First major-label rap single; later sampled by Next’s “Too Close”	Yes
1981/82	Yuletide Throwdown	Blondie with Fab 5 Freddy	Original take that became “Rapture”	Yes
1984	Santa’s Rap	Treacherous Three with Doug E. Fresh	Beat Street Vol. 2	Yes
1987	Christmas in Hollis	Run-DMC	Clarence Carter “Back Door Santa” (1968)	Yes
1988	Cold Chillin’ Christmas	Juice Crew	Booker T. & the M.G.’s “Hip Hug-Her”	Mostly
1991	Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa	De La Soul	Heavy subject matter	No
1992	Merry Muthaphu**kin’ Xmas	Eazy-E	5150: Home 4 tha Sick	No
1993	Player’s Ball	OutKast	First on A LaFace Family Christmas	Edit
1996	Santa Claus Goes Straight to the Ghetto	Snoop Doggy Dogg & crew	Isaac Hayes “Do Your Thing” (1971)	No
2006	Ballin’ on Xmas	Jim Jones, J.R. Writer, Stack Bundles	Rides the “Christmas in Hollis” beat	No
2007	Ludacrismas	Ludacris	Interpolates “Here Comes Santa Claus”	Yes
2008	Ghostface X-Mas	Ghostface Killah	GhostDeini the Great	Edit
2010	Christmas in Harlem	Kanye West feat. Cyhi the Prynce & Teyana Taylor	Joe Tex, Shuggie Otis, Marvin Gaye x2	Edit
2011	Drummer Boy	Justin Bieber feat. Busta Rhymes	Under the Mistletoe	Yes
2013	A Christmas F***ing Miracle	Run the Jewels	Album cut, December video	No
2016	Merry Christmas Lil’ Mama	Jeremih & Chance the Rapper	Free project, Re-Wrapped 2017	Edit
2018	You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch	Tyler, the Creator	Co-produced with Danny Elfman	Yes

What was the first Christmas rap song?

Kurtis Blow’s “Christmas Rappin’,” released on Mercury in 1979. It’s also the record that made Kurtis Blow the first rapper signed to a major label, so the first Christmas rap song and the first major-label rap deal are the same story.

What year did Christmas in Hollis come out?

1987. It first appeared on the A&M charity compilation A Very Special Christmas in October 1987, with a Keith Haring cover and proceeds going to the Special Olympics.

What song does Christmas in Hollis sample?

The main groove comes from Clarence Carter’s “Back Door Santa” (Atlantic, 1968), produced by Rick Hall. Publicist Bill Adler steered the group toward it.

Was Player’s Ball a Christmas song?

Yes. OutKast’s debut first came out on A LaFace Family Christmas in 1993, before the single was released on November 19, 1993. It went to No. 1 on Billboard’s rap chart.

Are there clean Christmas rap songs for kids?

Yes. “Christmas in Hollis,” “Christmas Rappin’,” “Ludacrismas,” “Drummer Boy,” “Santa’s Rap” and Tyler’s “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” are all family-safe. For Eazy-E, Snoop, Dipset and Run the Jewels, wait until the kids are in bed.

What Christmas songs by Black artists did hip-hop sample?

Clarence Carter’s “Back Door Santa” (under Hollis), James Brown’s 1968 holiday soul song “Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto” (the title Snoop’s crew borrowed), and on the Kanye side, Marvin Gaye, Joe Tex and Shuggie Otis records. Hip-hop’s Christmas canon sits on top of soul’s Christmas canon.

Which Christmas rap song was sampled into a No. 1 hit?

“Christmas Rappin’.” Next’s “Too Close” is built on its bassline and hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 in April 1998, staying there for five weeks. Kurtis Blow and his co-writers are credited on it.

Final Thoughts: Why Christmas Rap Songs Keep Coming Back

Look at the whole family tree and a pattern shows up. Christmas rap songs keep borrowing from the same well. Kurtis Blow got rap a major-label deal with a holiday record. Run-DMC turned a grown-folks soul single into the genre’s warmest anthem. Harlem flipped Hollis. Hit-Boy dug into Marvin Gaye. Even a Hot 100 No. 1 from the spring of 1998 had a Christmas record in its bassline. The holiday canon isn’t a gimmick sitting off to the side of hip-hop history. It runs right through the middle of it.

So when you build the playlist this year, start in 1979, not 1987. Put “Cold Chillin’ Christmas” next to Hollis. Run “Player’s Ball” and remember it debuted on a Christmas compilation. And if you’re shopping for the head in your life, the Christmas in Hollis RUN-DMC Tribute Hoodie is the obvious move. For more holiday gift ideas built on the culture, see our Wu-Tang Clan gift guide and the history behind rap tees.

Stay creative — The Custom Creative Team