Rap music has long been a source for storytelling, wordplay, and cultural commentary, and – naturally – the art form frequently draws from classic and modern literature. Some of the most iconic rap songs have references to written works, all of which added depth and intellectual complexity to the lyrics.

One prime example is JAY-Z’s contribution to "No Church in the Wild," a standout from his and Kanye West's Watch the Throne album. As you'll read, his flip of a notable line from Plato’s "Euthyphro" wowed listeners upon first listen and showcased his deep knowledge of the written word. Meanwhile, Odd Future's Mike G provided an impressive display of his love for books on wax via "King," the penultimate track from his Ali EP.

Below, REVOLT compiled a list showing 14 examples where rappers used a literary work of art to get their point across. These references effectively turned verses into multilayered texts that entertained and invited listeners to explore a particular author and their art.

1. Pusha T: “What I sell for pain in the hood, I'm a doctor, Zhivago, tried to fight the urge, like Ivan Drago, ‘If he dies, he dies’...”

“Doctor Zhivago” is a novel by Boris Pasternak set during the Russian Revolution. It follows the life of Yuri Zhivago, a physician and poet, as he navigated the turmoil of the era. Banned in the now-dissolved Soviet Union, the book was eventually turned into a film and television series. “Of course doctor and Zhivago go together, but then ‘fight the urge’ – now I have connected it to Drago from Rocky IV, Pusha explained about the line, from the Kendrick Lamar-assisted “Nosetalgia,” to Genius.

2. Talib Kweli: “‘Give me the fortune, keep the fame,’ said my man Louis, I agreed, know what he mean because we live the truest lie, I asked him why we follow the law of the bluest eye, he looked at me, thought about it, was like, ‘I'm clueless, why?’”

Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” was a debut novel that followed the story of Pecola, a young African American girl who struggled with feelings of inferiority due to her dark skin and perceived ugliness. Kweli would stay on the topic of that book through much of his verse on Black Star’s “Thieves in the Night,” rapping about finding “beauty in the hideous” in a subsequent line.

3. JAY-Z: “Is Pius pious 'cause God loves pious? Socrates asked whose bias do y'all seek? All for Plato, screech...”

Hov delivered one haymaker of a line on “No Church in the Wild,” a powerful message of organized religion that served as the opening track on JAY-Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne. The bar was a flip of a conversation between Socrates and the literary piece’s namesake, which saw the former asking, “Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?” The level of layers created as a result of JAY-Z's verse was enough to generate deep discussion about faith and theology long after the song was released.

4. J. Cole: “Say hello to Miss Thang, I forgot yo’ name, she yellow, and even white women want a n**ga, Othello...”

Taken from the classic mixtape Friday Night Lights, “Premeditated Murder” saw Cole rapping about his life post-fame and fortune. “Othello” – or “The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice” – was a tragedy written by William Shakespeare about a Black Venetian army general who was married to a white woman. Alongside plays like “Macbeth,” “King Lear,” and “Hamlet,” “Othello” is widely considered to be one of Shakespeare’s greatest works.

5. Ad-Rock: “You slip, you slack, you clock me, and you lack, while I'm reading ‘On the Road’ by my man, Jack Kerouac...”

While admittedly more of a surface-level bar, Ad-Rock's lyrical acknowledgment of “On the Road” is notable. Written by Beat Generation pioneer Jack Kerouac, the novel was a look into counterculture and the post-World War II era. Essentially, it chronicled the lives of characters and their carefree travels, much of which included jazz, poetry, and drug use. The song itself, “3-Minute Rule,” can be found on the Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique LP.

6. MF DOOM: “They came to ask him for at least some new tracks, but only got confronted by the beast with two backs...”

An essential cut from the DANGERDOOM album The Mouse and the Mask, “Sofa King” – named after a joke from “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” – saw MF DOOM delivering the dense, multi-layered bars that became the late rapper and producer’s signature. Above, he delivered a clever line from William Shakespeare’s “Othello”: a crude, sexual reference that DOOM utilized to tell a story about being rudely interrupted.

7. Kool A.D.: “I’m in outer space reading Frankfurt School treatises that curl the common man into fetuses, Nietzsche told me that the nostril’s where the genius is...”

Kool A.D. got deep on this Das Racist standout. For some context, the Frankfurt School is a group of sociologists and philosophers who critiqued social systems like capitalism, fascism, and communism. Several books have come from this collective, many of which are used in various institutions across the globe. The Friedrich Nietzsche line is a nod to the autobiography “Ecce Homo,” in which a passage from its “Why Am I a Destiny” section contained the rather cryptic line, “My genius lies in my nostrils.” Notably, Nietzsche suffered a mental breakdown a short time after he wrote that book.

8. Black Thought: “The Black Thought emcee, professionally push pen to paper like Chinua Achebe...”

First off, credit goes to The Roots for naming their fourth studio album Things Fall Apart, a nod to Chinua Achebe’s debut novel of the same name. The book, which in turn was titled after a line within William Butler Yeats's poem "The Second Coming," follows the life of an Igbo during pre-colonial life in Nigeria and the effects of the arrival of European missionaries and armed forces on the African continent.

9. Mike G: “Nothing but rage in my entity, a page for a symphony, still a f**kin' Firestarter, lighters ain't on this degree, my shining will never stop...”

For his Ali EP, Odd Future alum Mike G worked with Syd to create the masterpiece that is “King.” The entire song serves as a tribute to legendary American author Stephen King, and the titles of his many books were peppered throughout the song. For example, classics like “Rage,” “Firestarter,” and “The Shining” are cleverly referenced in the above quote alone.

10. No Malice: “B**ch tell me she love me, but I know she's a whore, s**t could get ugly should she talk to the law, and that's just what I get, it's the roses of war...”

“The War of the Roses” was a novel by Warren Adler that depicted a typical nuclear family in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, things take a dark turn, and marital bliss descends into a bitter divorce. As such, No Malice’s flip of the book’s title beautifully matches his own relationship woes – especially when it could harm how he chooses to make money.

11. Q-Tip: “They know the Abstract is really soul on ice, the character is of men, never ever of mice...”

On the closing verse of the iconic A Tribe Called Quest single, Q-Tip managed to sneak in a reference of John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men.” With that said, it almost seems like the book’s title is where the similarities end – Steinbeck's novel was about two migrant ranch workers trying to make a living during the Great Depression.

12. stic.man: “You better listen while you can, it’s a very thin line between animal and man...”

Taken from Let’s Get Free, this dead prez standout saw stic.man drawing inspiration from George Orwell's “Animal Farm,” which used an allegorical story of animals on a farm to represent the Russian Revolution and the rise of authoritarian rule under Stalin in the Soviet Union. According to Genius, both the book and song use this farm/animal metaphor to explore how a socialist revolution can lead to a new hierarchical society rather than true equality for all.

13. Lupe Fiasco: “And I'm brainless, which means I'm headless, like Ichabod Crane is...”

Songs like this can keep college courses fed for an entire semester – even if there’s no actual message (outside of Lupe’s genius reaction to those requesting that he simplify his music). The opening line from the track’s final verse uses a character flip from Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” which in turn begins one long punchline about the Headless Horseman. You can actually hear Lupe breaking down why that was created here.

14. André 3000: “Hopped into my car, drove far, far's too close and I remember my memory's not sharp, butter knife, what a life, anyway, I'm building y'all a clock, stop, what am I, Hemingway?”

On Frank Ocean’s channel ORANGE single “Pink Matter,” André 3000 lamented about a long-gone relationship and – about midway through his verse – likens himself to journalist and author Ernest Hemingway. It’s the mention of a clock that brought many to think that the OutKast talent was also referencing Hemingway’s “The Killers,” in which a slightly off clock in a diner has a large effect on the short story.