The holy trinity 68
The disparager
Who in your opinion are the top 10 rappers of all time? Whether it is due to favouritism bias, being the most influential, the best lyricist, the best flow etc, who are yours?
I will start.
1. Ice Cube - My favourite rapper and with obvious bias, he is the greatest in my opinion. If he died with only his first 4 solo albums released after he left NWA, he would have been immortalised like BIG and Pac and would receive the recognition he deserves instead of many only remembering him as 'an actor'. The main artist of the infamous NWA, his flow was harder than any and he spat rhymes with so much ferocity. Reality rap which got dubbed as 'gangster rap' by the media. He spoke hard truths about the struggles of the black community in the USA. He also wrote a lot of rhymes for Easy-E, and there is some debate that he also wrote some of Ren's. When he left the group, Ren and The DOC wrote the rhymes but NWA were not the same after his departure. No Vaseline is arguably the greatest rap diss of all time and Tupac even admitted Cube was one of his main rap idols.
2. The Notorious B.I.G - Not the most influential, but his flow was second to none and he was one of the greatest story tellers in the rap game. He has been immortalised by his death at such a young age, which in turn is maybe why he is viewed as the greatest by many. Juicy is iconic and possibly the greatest rap song of all time.
3. Rakim - Been in the rap game since his debut album in 1987, his influence on lyricism cannot be over stated, an MC that influenced all rappers that came after him. He pretty much invented complex, internal rhyming (multiple rhyming words in the same line or words that rhyme in the middle of a line instead of at the end) and he also never used profanity in his lyrics.
4. Tupac - The intent and meaning behind his music was often to open peoples eyes to the real struggles within the black community. Another rapper that has been immortalised due to death at a young age and again maybe put higher on the list of greatest rappers due to this. Hit 'Em Up is arguably the greatest rap diss of all time
5. Nas: Another pioneer at the top end of my list.His rhymes were complex, intelligent and extremely poetic, it is well known that B.I.G. 2Pac and Jay-Z were all heavily influenced by him and he had a huge influence on the underground rap scene.
6. Eminem. My 2nd favourite rapper of all time, especially his 2nd - 4th album music. He had a huge influence on making rap music more mainstream, mainly due to being a white rapper in a mainly black industry and because his music was mainly radio friendly, but he still did open rap up to a much wider audience. He possibly has the best vocabulary in the history or rap and is arguably the best lyricist, but I put him 6th behind all of the above because the ones that came before him all influenced him and it is easier to become great when you have so many others to take inspiration from. He also holds so many records for album sales and such.
It was difficult for me to choose number 7 - 1O but would probably include; Ice T, LL Cool Jay, Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick.
Honourable mentions include; Redman, KRS-One, Jay-Z, Run, Snoop Dogg, Too Short and The DOC.
I will start.
1. Ice Cube - My favourite rapper and with obvious bias, he is the greatest in my opinion. If he died with only his first 4 solo albums released after he left NWA, he would have been immortalised like BIG and Pac and would receive the recognition he deserves instead of many only remembering him as 'an actor'. The main artist of the infamous NWA, his flow was harder than any and he spat rhymes with so much ferocity. Reality rap which got dubbed as 'gangster rap' by the media. He spoke hard truths about the struggles of the black community in the USA. He also wrote a lot of rhymes for Easy-E, and there is some debate that he also wrote some of Ren's. When he left the group, Ren and The DOC wrote the rhymes but NWA were not the same after his departure. No Vaseline is arguably the greatest rap diss of all time and Tupac even admitted Cube was one of his main rap idols.
2. The Notorious B.I.G - Not the most influential, but his flow was second to none and he was one of the greatest story tellers in the rap game. He has been immortalised by his death at such a young age, which in turn is maybe why he is viewed as the greatest by many. Juicy is iconic and possibly the greatest rap song of all time.
3. Rakim - Been in the rap game since his debut album in 1987, his influence on lyricism cannot be over stated, an MC that influenced all rappers that came after him. He pretty much invented complex, internal rhyming (multiple rhyming words in the same line or words that rhyme in the middle of a line instead of at the end) and he also never used profanity in his lyrics.
4. Tupac - The intent and meaning behind his music was often to open peoples eyes to the real struggles within the black community. Another rapper that has been immortalised due to death at a young age and again maybe put higher on the list of greatest rappers due to this. Hit 'Em Up is arguably the greatest rap diss of all time
5. Nas: Another pioneer at the top end of my list.His rhymes were complex, intelligent and extremely poetic, it is well known that B.I.G. 2Pac and Jay-Z were all heavily influenced by him and he had a huge influence on the underground rap scene.
6. Eminem. My 2nd favourite rapper of all time, especially his 2nd - 4th album music. He had a huge influence on making rap music more mainstream, mainly due to being a white rapper in a mainly black industry and because his music was mainly radio friendly, but he still did open rap up to a much wider audience. He possibly has the best vocabulary in the history or rap and is arguably the best lyricist, but I put him 6th behind all of the above because the ones that came before him all influenced him and it is easier to become great when you have so many others to take inspiration from. He also holds so many records for album sales and such.
It was difficult for me to choose number 7 - 1O but would probably include; Ice T, LL Cool Jay, Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick.
Honourable mentions include; Redman, KRS-One, Jay-Z, Run, Snoop Dogg, Too Short and The DOC.