Best rappers of all time

Finally, a definitive list of the best rappers of all time, ranked by fans all over the world.

Our editorial content is not influenced by any commissions we receive. Complex is proud to present the Best Rapper Alive, Every Year Since , a comprehensive look back at every year of rap and which MC moved the crowd the most. Rap fans tend to get into arguments with other rap fans, and it doesn't take much more than someone declaring their Favorite Rapper. Your favorite rapper is a personal preference, one that requires the most subjective defenses. The choice is yours. The favorite rapper discussion is cool and all, but the coveted distinction in hip-hop is still being named the GOAT Greatest of All Time.

Best rappers of all time

The ranking was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip hop music 's inception and was compiled by the magazines' respective editorial boards. To determine the rankings, the boards created a list of criteria based on a rapper's artistry, achievements, and cultural influence. It received criticism due to its exclusion of rappers who are not based in North America , as well as the omission of dancehall and reggaeton artists. Billboard and Vibe presented the first set of rappers on January 11, , and ten more rappers were announced over the course of three weeks. The top rankings were unveiled on February 8, , which crowned Jay-Z the greatest rapper of all time and Nicki Minaj the greatest female rapper of all time. It sparked multiple debates within the hip hop industry, many of whom criticized the publications and artists featured in the premier positions. Billboard initially created a list of the 10 greatest rappers of all time in November , with the top position held by The Notorious B. The updated list, published in stages between January 11 and February 8, , expanded their reach to include the top 50 rappers of all time, instead of The rankings were based on the votes of ten journalists who were apart of Billboard and Vibe 's editorial boards , and was led by Datwon Thomas, the editor-in-chief of Vibe. To "keep [the] pool of nominees a little more focused," the journalists chose to exclude dancehall and reggaeton artists and only center on rappers based in North America , regardless of merit. The editorial boards then ranked the qualifying rappers based on the following criteria: [2]. Acknowledging that lists tend to "draw their share of criticism and praise from industry pundits and the public alike," the rankings were heavily discussed and deliberated amongst the editorial boards in order to rationalize a "well-thought-out, authentic, list that reflects hip hop's foundational pioneers, evolutionary trailblazers, and contemporary mainstays. Curtis Roberts of We Got This Covered believed that it was a mistake of Billboard and Vibe to create the "head-scratching" list due to the publications prioritizing a rapper's popularity over their content.

Sue us. Paak, Cole made it clear that he can excel far outside the context of his own carefully constructed, self-produced albums. In between, he served nine months in prison for sexual abuse, a sentence cut short by Suge Knight paying his seven-figure bail.

If you want the intelligentsia up in arms about aesthetics and the merits of conscious rap, broach the subject over dinner. You want to hear a Harlem barbershop hella vociferous with avowed expertise, mention some list compiled by a music mag. That was me over a few days in April as I prepared my list of the five all-time greatest rappers. Rap music was born in the Bronx. Many of its pioneers were former members of crews or gangs and used battling as an alternative to actual violence as well as a way to foster esteem. Rap has remained the most competitive music genre, one whose artists tout themselves as the biggest, best, greatest. But a few things first.

They need to have been on the scene long enough to prove they can stay consistent, too. Finally, at the end, there are still more rappers who have what it takes but need a bit more time for refinement and maturity. Does skill earn you money, or just respect? The answer might surprise you. Some may scoff at this placement on the list, but Lil Wayne is deserving. He actually popularized, and some might argue, invented the use of analogies instead of similes in his wordplay along with his Young Money labelmates, which plays out more like a joke with a punchline than anything else. His standout skill is that he never wastes a line. Trivia: Wayne started his professional career at age 13 when Birdman signed him to Cash Money Records. He later joined the Hot Boys, which launched several bestselling artists like Juvenile.

Best rappers of all time

Ranking musicians is an impossible task, of course, because everyone brings their own criteria and preferences. For example, we recently tried to rank the greatest American rock bands , and we realized there was no perfect science. Rap is so much more about the way something makes you feel, which makes it very hard to judge and quantify. How exactly does one define greatness?

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Chilling backstage while Jay, 'Ye, and Nicki performed "Monster," a rejuvenated Eminem was returning to the forefront of the rap conversation after kicking his drug habit, abandoning the accents, and dropping the well received Recovery. More MF Doom. Six months after the death of Tupac Shakur, Biggie was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles in Even before dropping his major label in , the ATL trapper was a legend in the streets with a classic mixtape and hype that was out of this world. More Eminem. Want to know what everyone in the music business is talking about? Snoop Dogg. Best Hip Hop Albums Ever. More JAY-Z. For decades, the Missouri MC has been grinding away, building his fanbase one show, one fan, and one piece of merchandise at a time. His work with G-Unit, however, was more promising. With the level of success that DaBaby saw in , there were bound to be detractors. Hov has been hailed as the GOAT more than perhaps any other rapper in history, which is just a testament to how the culture views him. Biggie is timeless. She reminded us that rap is a game of characters.

Determining the best rappers of all time is no easy task. Hip hop fans could spend hours debating who should top this list. The MCs featured below represent pillars of rap across decades with their groundbreaking artistry, lyricism, flow, legacy, and impact.

While the Mobb Deep rapper may not have possessed the effortless rhyme schemes of Nas or the explosive delivery of Biggie, his talent lay in meticulously crafting each bar as a standalone masterpiece, delivered with an ice-cold, unwavering intensity. But Drake didn't claim his championship ring until rolled around. The influence speaks for itself. His ability to produce vastly different albums like Future and Hndrxx within a week of each other speaks to his versatility and creativity. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Warren G. Billboard and Vibe presented the first set of rappers on January 11, , and ten more rappers were announced over the course of three weeks. Similar to 50 Cent in , Ross didn't put out a ton of solo material, but his Ashes to Ashes mixtape was released in the closing days of and carried into as he prepped Maybach Music Group's Self Made Vol. Although Q-Tip may be the stronger lyricist, no MC will make you smile like Don Juice, channelling his inner Biz Markie with a range of witty rhymes and carefree flows. But we still did our best to try and answer some important questions. Call it "emo" if you like, but feeling regret over a lost lover, feeling proud of your accomplishments, and feeling like you're the best but still have 10 years left is what we ought to expect from brash young men. His simple, almost old school-esque rhymes were instantly memorable "One, two, three and to the four, Snoop Doggy Dogg and Dr. Top Producers Who Also Rap. Friday releases kept him consistently anticipated week to week, and when My Be autiful Dark Twisted Fantasy finally did arrive it was hailed as an instant classic and arguably Kanye's best album.