The
Best Rappers Ever
This is my list of my
top rappers ever, I’m not trying to please anyone with this list: I’m not going
to put any rappers on my list if I haven’t really heard their stuff. Yo enjoy
the list & leave a comment.
20) Snoop Dogg- Snoop is a decent
rapper but I feel he should be no higher on this list. He literally talks about
the same thing(s) on every album. Snoop is here mostly for longevity in the
game. It also doesn’t hurt that he has a lot of hits. His first album was a
classic(Doggystyle) and he’s made some good ones since then but not many have
come close to that.
I’m
not sure what my favorite song by him is. Snoop may be washed up now but he is
one of Rap’s greats.
19) DMX- The Darkman X makes
the list. People forget just how good this guy was. DMX was the flagship artist
for the Ruff Ryders label. I really like X’s delivery and flow. He’s had his
share of good albums, although he hasn’t released a great album in a long time.
DMX is one of the most hardcore rappers the game has seen. My favorite song by
him is X Gon Give it 2 Ya.
18) Missy Elliot- Missy is my favorite
female rapper. Her style really set the standard for what a female MC should be
back in the last decade. While she may not be a great lyricist, her music is
very varied and fun. She’s been given some of the greatest beats courtesy of TImbaland.
I would like to see a new Missy album very soon…its been about 7 years and that
is entirely too long of a drought. My favorite Missy Elliot album is Miss E…So
Addictive. All of her albums range from good to great.
17) Lil Wayne- I’m not a huge Wayne
fan but the guy is extremely talented. He hasn’t been the rapper he was from
06-08 lately but he still makes my list. Weezy has interesting wordplay but he
rarely talks about anything of great substance. Carter 2 & 3 were great
albums, and Carter 4 wasn’t bad either. My favorite Wayne song is Best Rapper Alive
from Carter II. Wayne has been slacking lately but hopefully that won’t
continue much longer.
16) 50 Cent- 50 could be higher on
this list but he came out with a bang and has been fizzling out ever since. 50
is a really versatile rapper with great delivery and good flow. 50’s Get Rich
or Die Tryin album is his best, but I think ever since then he’s been losing
motivation to make great music. However he is still a great rapper, with a
knack for making hits.
I
think my favorite song by him is Patiently Waiting.
15) Ludacris- Alias is Chris Lova
Lova. Ludacris was my originally my favorite rapper. He is a funny rapper who
specializes in punchlines. Luda has never made a classic even though his Word of
Mouth album was excellent. Luda is a very versatile rapper as well: club songs,
love songs, and even some introspective songs. There’s too many songs to say
which is my favorite. Unfortunately I think Luda is passed his prime. He has
been in the game for over 10 years…
14)Talib Kweli- Talib is I think, a
very underrated rapper. He is very conscious, and a great storyteller. All of
his albums I have heard are good to great. It’ s a shame the first time I really
heard him was on one of Kanye West’s songs. My favorite Talib Kweli song is Get
By which was produced by Mr. West. I thought his latest album, Gutter Rainbows
was good, but I couldn’t help but feeling that Talib could do better.
13)Common- Common is an elite
rapper from Chai Town. He is a conscious rapper who has had a great career. I
like how Common story tells, the description of him being Chai Town’s Nas is
pretty accurate. Common has had some really good albums like Be, Finding Forever,
& The Dreamer, the Believer. Universal Mind Control was poor however. My
favorite Common song is Testify. Unfortunately I feel he is past his prime but
he’ll be good enough to make this list regardless.
12) T.I.- Man the self
proclaimed King of the South has so many hits, but his last album wasn’t very
impressive(No Mercy). However I have no doubt T.I. will bounce back from that
poor outing. After all 2 of his albums, King and Paper Trail, are 2 of the best
dirty south albums I’ve ever heard. T.I. isn’t a punchline rapper; he has more
of a rhythmic style, and he’s pretty much mastered it. My favorite song of his
to this day is What You Know.
11)Game- “The” Game has been a
favorite rapper of mine ever since his first album came out. Since then there’s
been nothing but lyrical growth. So much so that I think he’s left every member
of the G-Unit in the dust. His wordplay is great, but the name dropping is a
little annoying. His 2nd best album is a toss up, but I think it
goes to the recently released Red Album. I don’t know if Game will crack the
top ten but he is the best west coast rapper today. One of my favorite songs by
him is The City.
10)Lupe-Lupe can rap circles
around the completion. His “Go Go Gadget Flow” song is proof of that. Lupe has
2 great albums, and a good one in L.A.S.E.R.S. It’s hard to pick one Lupe song
as my favorite but obviously Kick Push and Dumb it Down are up there.He likes
to take on the persona of different characters in many of his rap songs.
Hopefully Lupe’s next album will be near or of the caliber of his first two.
9) Big Pun- Big Pun(isher) is a
rapper I recently started really listenin to a couple years back. His flow is
incredible, I don’t really know of many rappers(dead or alive) that can touch
this flow. The latino rapper had 2 great albums, but there’s no doubt that
Capital Punishment was the better of the two. My favorite song is Still Not a
Player, and that’s no surprise. If BP were still alive I think Fat Joe would
have rapped a lot LESS, but don’t get me wrong I like Fat Joe.
8) Outkast-Who doesn’t like Outkast?
Well I decided to put both Big Boi and Andre 3000 together due to limited space
on the list. They are both incredibly talented dirty south Mcs. Their list of
hits is long, Their longevity in the game speaks for itself. They are Hip Hop’s
best group(Sorry Roots & Slaughterhouse). I’m really lookin forward to
their next album. It’s long overdue. My favorite Outkast song is The Whole
World which is from their greatest hits album.
7) Kanye West-Let me just say that
Kanye is my favorite rapper and has been since about 2007. Mr. West has really
gotten better on the mic, and his production skills have given him some of the
best(if not the best) beats in hip hop. Kanye just seemed to get better and
better after each of his albums. College Dropout was a classic…..Late
Registration wasn’t far off, nor was Graduation. 808’s was him experimenting
and getting things off his chest. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was another
classic. Kanye just seems to posses a lot of good abilities like a complex
flow, and clever wordplay. I don’t see him being pushed back but maybe gaining some
ground on this list in the future. As far as my favorite song, there’s too many
to pick just one.
6) Ice Cube- U may be scratching
your head at Ice Cube being this high up, but for those who have heard his
first albums and last couple albums, it won’t surprise you. Cube really keeps
it real in his rhymes, not to mention he has a great delivery. His first 2
albums are some of rap’s best, and he hasn’t really fallen off either(although he
almost did about 10 years ago). Ice Cube was the epitome of a West Coast
rapper. I cant really pick one song of his as my favorite but his Raw Footage album
got me hooked on his music.
5) Eminem- Marshall Mathers is by
far the most exciting rapper I’ve ever heard. Slimshady is no joke and he
usually kills every other rapper’s verse when he’s featured on a song
(Renegade). Em is terrific storyteller and is really good at painting pictures
with his rhymes. He also has a lot of different rap styles…some which are
better than others. His sense of humor is also a major trait of most of his
songs. There are soooo many Eminem songs I like but I’d have to say Loose
Yourself is my favorite. /s
4) Jay-z- Shawn Carter is one of
the more commercially successful rappers. He actually just barely got the #4
spot above Eminem. Jay is no slouch lyrically, boasting a really impressive
flow. He’s been blessed with some of (if not the best) production Hip Hop has
had to offer. What strikes me about Jay-z is he seems to rap really well quite
effortlessly. Jay isn’t in his prime anymore, but in my opinion he was in top
form a couple of times. There’s no doubt that the Blueprint 1 is one of the
best rap albums ever(if not the best). I
don’t have 1 single favorite Jay-z song but Big Pimpin always goes hard.
3) Nas- This
may be a shocker to some. Nasty Nas usually trails Jay-z on every list I make
but that is not the case now. Nas is consistent….and he’s the best storyteller
of any rapper I’ve ever heard. He doesn’t really excel with party songs but his
songs are tremendously relevant and interesting. Nas has a Illmatic which is
one of the best rap albums ever, but he also has a strong catalogue with Life
is Good, Untitled, and Stillmatic. Nasty Nas almost made the #2 spot, but came
up a little short to the next rap juggernauts. I like a lot of Nas songs, like
The Don lately, but Hero is one of my all-time favorite song by him.
2) 2pac- This was a tough
decision. Tupac is regarded as the greatest rapper ever, but I think he was the
most versatile rapper. There literally wasn’t a type of rap song that Pac
couldn’t do, and do well at that. I think that Pac was in his prime around the
time of Me Against the World and All Eyez on Me. Pac was a great storyteller,
and he made some really conscious music along with thug life type songs.
There’s a lot of Pac songs that I like but my favorites would be Hail Mary and
California Love.
1)
The
Notorious B.I.G.- Biggie Smalls aka Christopher “Frank White” Wallace, is
the top rapper. This was not an easy decision. He died at only twenty four so
you can’t really say he had reached his prime yet. His flow was legendary. His
delivery was always right on point. I know if he had not died Bad Boy would
still be up there. I personally just really got to hear his first 2 albums in
2005 and I was instantly hooked. Ready to Die is a classic and Life After Death
is great too.
Juicy
would be my favorite song by BIG. He truly was ahead of his time.
Honorable
Mentions
Mos
Def
Raekwon
Cassidy
Ghostface
Killah
Q-Tip
Lil
Kim
Clipse
Young Jeezy