Except for the songs that made my Top 20 songs of 2003 and the representative tracks from my Top 20 Albums of 2003, these are the rest of the best indie and indie-minded hip hop tracks of 2003, volume one. To be eligible, a song needed to be included on an album released in the United States between December 1, 2002 and November 30, 2003.

1. GZA “Intro/Auto Bio” Legend of the Liquid Sword (MCA)
2. Murs “You and I” The End of the Beginning (Definitive Jux)
3. Common “New Wave” Electric Circus (MCA)
4. Bubba Sparxxx “Jimmy Mathis” Deliverance (Interscope)
5. J-Live “Walkman Music” Always Will Be EP (Fatbeats)
6. Akrobatik “Remind My Soul” Balance (Coup D’Etat)
7. GZA “Did Ya Say That? ” Legend of the Liquid Sword (MCA)
8. Murs “God’s Work” The End of the Beginning (Definitive Jux)
9. Aesop Rock featuring Mr. Lif “11:35” Bazooka Tooth (Definitive Jux)
10. Lifesavas “Skeletons” Spirit In Stone (Quannum Projects)
11. Bubba Sparxxx “She Tried” Deliverance (Interscope)
12. Aceyalone featuring Riddlore & Self Jupiter “So Much Pain” Love & Hate (Project Blowed/Decon)
13. Gang Starr “Nice Girl, Wrong Place” The Ownerz (Virgin)
14. K-Os “Freeze” Exit (Astralwerks)
15. Lifesavas “HelloHiHey” Spirit In Stone (Quannum Projects)
16. Nappy Roots “Twang” Wooden Leather (Atlantic)
17. Aesop Rock “Babies With Guns” Bazooka Tooth
(Definitive Jux)
18. Aceyalone featuring El-P “City of Shit” Love & Hate (Project Blowed/Decon)