1. Kendrick Lamar- Kenny Kdot is back on
top of the rap game. His To Pimp A Butterfly album was a terrific follow up to
GKMC. Kendrick is just a breath of fresh air for rap, and right now, is the
best West Coast rapper. What’s next for this talented lyricist?
2. Drake-Drizzy is a really dope rapper.
Say what you want…but his melodic rapping is really effective. His
mixtape/album was really good. Drake’s been on seemingly everyone else’s rap
albums since 2014.
3. J.Cole-Cole world! J.Cole dropped a
really good album 2014 Forest Hills Drive late last year. It was incredible and
ultimately a shade better than Born Sinner. He shows shades of Jay-z, Nas, and
even Game these days.
4. Lupe Fiasco-Lupe dropped a classic on
us this year. Tetsuo and Youth is incredible, and notworthy. He hasn’t’ really
done much else lately though. He’s perhaps rap’s best lyricist. Listen to the
song Mural if you disagree.
5. Nicki Minaj-You gotta admit it, Nicki
Minaj may be the greatest female rapper of all time. I’m not saying she’s the
best, but she has done her thing. Pinkprint was a great album, matter fact it
was her best. She’s got the game on lock.
6. T.I.- The king of the south is back and
leading the south again. Just when I
thought he might be falling off, he dropped the solid Paperwork album. Oh yeah,
he put Iggy Azalea on.
7. Big K.R.I.T.- Another self-proclaimed
King of the South. KRIT is a dope producer, but his rapping has improved as
well. Cadalactica was just off the heezy. He’s had some good guest spots as
well.
8. Big Sean –Big Sean of GOOD music is
holding it down for Kanye who didn’t qualify for this list. Dark Sky Paradise
is one of the main reasons he’s in the top ten
9. Game- Game is pretty good still, but I didn’t
think his latest album Blood Moon: Year of the Wolf was all that. He’s still
pretty popular, and lyrically still pretty viscious.
10. Run the Jewels (Killer Mike & El-P)- To
ignore the impact of these 2 rappers would be futile. If this was a 2014 only
list they’d be in the top 5. RTJ2 was dope. Killer Mike and El-P may be the best
rap duo since Outkast.
11. Common- Again if this was a 2014 list
he’d be in the top 10. Common came back hard last year with one of his best
cds. The album is dark, which is uncharacteristic of a Common album.
12. Logic-The razor sharp lyricist dropped
a great debut album last year. He was Under Pressure to deliver a great album.
Ok I’ll stop.
13. Jeezy- (Young) Jeezy delivered a great
album as well. He also had a lot of good guest features. He raps faster than he
used to. He used to rap slooow.
14. Ludacris- I never thought Luda would
ever be on the list again. But here he is. He delivered the much delayed
Ludaversal this year. It was very good, in fact it was as good as 2008’s
Theater of the Mind.
15. Action Bronson- The white Mc is dope.
He sounds like Ghostface Killah which isn’t a bad thing. He’s goofy and has
sharp delivery.
