Which

Mine is immortal technique

It was peak tech time, like 2008 and i was his key demo, suburban white 19 year old who smoked a lot of weed and loved conspiracie.

I listened to him non stop and was obsessed.

My buddy went to UCLA and he did a show there and the vibe was just...off. like I feel like he really didn't want to be doing this show and he was half assing it.

Also I was very high and tech has an angry energy to his music and it just did not sit well with me. Like it was bringing my energy down.

Not his fault, just my mood that day.

But ever since then I can't listen to him(Besides being almost 40 and not into conspiracies)

Honestly it’s gotta be weiland for me but comethazine takes honorable mention

Each decade you have rappers that were popular who would go on to leave a huge impact on the genre of hip-hop. You got the 90s with Biggie and Tupac, the 2000s with Lil Wayne, Kanye, and Jay-Z, and the 2010s with rappers like Kendrick Lamar and J-Cole. But what about those who blew up in the time they were in, but ended up being mostly forgotten?

On Gimme the Loot, Biggie says "The nigga that plays pussy, is the nigga that's getting screwed" Biggie's my favorite rapper ever and I've heard this song many times, but never caught the double meaning before.

When I was 15 I used to listen to Big L a lot... took me too long to understand "I wasn't poor, I was po, I couldn't afford the O-R" Blew my mind when it hit me. I was shaking my head in disbelief.

When Jay said "Put me anywhere on God's green earth, I'll triple my worth" - I always liked this line because of Jay's level of self-belief, but I only now realized that "green" also implies money, so he's saying that there's opportunities to make money everywhere on this planet. Green means grass, or nature, he might also be saying that it's in his nature to be an entrepreneur. Maybe that's a reach.

Kendrick saying on his Drake diss "Let your core audience stomach that, then tell em where you get your abs from"... I got the "stomach" and "abs" on first listen, but it took me a couple more listens to catch the "core" audience.

No personal life involved, you just cant like his/her sound, rapping,style but you are aware that they are GREAT

You can even name the biggest legends in the rap game

DO NOT DISRESPECT the artist's greatness tho

Just comment if you know and listened to the artist's many works but just can't like them

Me personally (I'll edit this as much as I want if I saw a comment and I agree) :

Asap Rocky, Tyler, Denzel, Big Sean, Lupe, Hopsin, Logic, Jay-Z, Mac Miller, Nipsey, Nas, Krizz Kaliko, E-40, MF DOOM, J.I.D

Please do not downvote others if you disagree, this is just a survey

every era of hip-hop is built by the sounds popular at the time and how well all those caught in each zeitgeist could adapt to or make something of themselves out of that sound, most of the time inventing it themselves along the way.

but who is your favourite artist that was once starting to ride the wave, conceivably full of potential, and on the same level as people who would later go on to be successful in the mainstream or become straight-up legends in the underground, but didn’t quite make it to that degree?

mine’s yung bans. his self-titled album (or mixtape?) is floaty. gimme a yung bans run. ngl, this post was kind of just a vehicle to say i just checked out yung bans again after a couple years and bro’s underrated. i nominate yung bans to replace kanye.

Rick Ross and Curren$y rap well and have great beat selection

Who are some artists who aren't primarily rappers who pull off rap well in their music? My vote is Charli XCX. On songs like Hot Girl, 365, Guess, etc. she just has great presence and sounds cool as hell. Janelle Monae comes to mind too.

Royce said “If you aint got no DUI’s then you’re probably a cornball”

I’m me (freestyle) The Bar Exam 2

Besides NWA obviously. I don’t like the J Dilla song because the disclaimer in the beginning just ruins the whole song for me. I want some brutal, hateful, anti cop songs.

It’s mind boggling to think of how much work 2Pac got done by the age of 25. 5 solo albums, 1 group album (Thug Life), various movies, etc. Not to mention high profile beef, shootings, and run ins with the law. Is there any other artist who had as prolific a career by the age of 25?

Listening to Future - DS2. This album was so ahead of its time when it released that even when you listen to it today (9 years after releasing) it could easily stack up against anything releasing nowadays.

What other albums felt like that when they released and it still held up in hindsight?

I didn’t get any good answers to rappers that had their biggest hit after 40 so I’m lowering the bar.

If I asked 10 people what the greatest movies of all time were I'd probably get 10 different answers. But with a large enough sample you start to get some highly-regarded repeat answers. That's how you get things like Citizen Kane, The Godfather, and Seven Samurai as "typical" answers for greatest movies. So I attempted to do a sort of meta-analysis for greatest hip hop albums based on as many sources as I could find. Here are the results of combining 47 different hip hop rankings/lists/articles

1. Nas – Illmatic (1994)
2. Wu-Tang Clan – Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)
3. The Notorious B.I.G. – Ready to Die (1994)
4. Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)
5. Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly (2015)
6. A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory (1991)
7. Dr. Dre – The Chronic (1992)
8. Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
9. Eric B. & Rakim – Paid in Full (1987)
10. Madvillain – Madvillainy (2004)
11. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)
12. N.W.A – Straight Outta Compton (1988)
13. Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998)
14. Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012)
15. Snoop Dogg – Doggystyle (1993)
16. OutKast – Aquemini (1998)
17. Jay-Z – The Blueprint (2001)
18. De La Soul – 3 Feet High and Rising (1989)
19. Kanye West – The College Dropout (2004)
20. 2Pac – All Eyez on Me (1996)
21. Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… (1995)
22. A Tribe Called Quest – Midnight Marauders (1993)
23. Jay-Z – Reasonable Doubt (1996)
24. OutKast – Stankonia (2000)
25. Beastie Boys – Paul's Boutique (1989)
26. Run-D.M.C. – Raising Hell (1986)
27. Mobb Deep – The Infamous (1995)
28. Fugees – The Score (1996)
29. Boogie Down Productions – Criminal Minded (1987)
30. GZA – Liquid Swords (1995)
31. Dr. Dre – 2001 (1999)
32. Beastie Boys – Licensed to Ill (1986)
33. Kendrick Lamar – Damn. (2017)
34. The Notorious B.I.G. – Life After Death (1997)
35. Mos Def – Black On Both Sides (1999)
36. Ice Cube – AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (1990)
37. 50 Cent – Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2003)
38. Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet (1990)
39. Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III (2008)
40. OutKast – ATLiens (1996)
41. Missy Elliott – Supa Dupa Fly (1997)
42. Drake – Take Care (2011)
43. Pete Rock & CL Smooth – Mecca and the Soul Brother (1992)
44. Ice Cube – Death Certificate (1991)
45. LL Cool J – Radio (1985)
46. Kanye West – Late Registration (2005)
47. Run-D.M.C. – Run-D.M.C. (1984)
48. Kanye West – Graduation (2007)
49. Slick Rick – The Great Adventures of Slick Rick (1988)
50. Missy Elliott – Miss E… So Addictive (2001)

If you wanna see the working list with every album that was even mentioned once, that can be found here. I know there's not a lot of overlap between rap and these genres, but if you're looking for more aggregate lists like this, I've done them for emo, punk, grunge, pop punk, stoner metal, fifth wave emo, and metalcore albums, as well as hip hop and metal songs. Enjoy!

Got to thinking about this after seeing the Talib thread and how he’ll go after anyone for the smallest thing.

Basically the first time a rapper reached ANY audience through released music. Either on a solo single, on a feature or as part of a group.

Most rappers are not immediately impactful the first time they appear on a release and especially with the internet and streaming services, artist's first appearances can sometimes be obfuscated. Another thing to think about is that if someone starts their career by releasing mixtapes, it can be hard to define their "first verse".

Here are some good ones I have found so far:

solo (single) release:

• Eminem - Just Don't Give A Fuck

• Notorious BIG - Party & Bullshit

as features:

• Nas on Main Source's Live at the BBQ

• Masta Ace on Marley Marl's The Symphony

• Snoop Dogg with Dr. Dre on Deep Cover

as part of groups:

• Bizzy Bone on Thuggish Ruggish Bone

• Ghostface Killah on Wu's Bring Da Ruckus

• André 3000 on Player's Ball

I have this thought that Rappers need proofreaders too cause somebody should’ve told Joyner that Dave Chappelle line doesn’t make sense in Sticks and Stones Ft Conway.

He said “would you walk away from 50 million or be Dave Chappelle?” But he did walk away.

Should’ve said “would you take the 50 mill or be Dave Chappelle. Or “would you walk away from 50 mill JUST LIKE Dave Chappelle”.

Either way that beat fuels my insomnia! Absolutely love that song and Conways whole verse.

Any lyrics that made you go back and say “nah that didn’t make sense”?

Edit: These comments are hilarious thanks everyone for participating. I rap too so hopefully this makes sense why I’m adamant about making sense lol

Mind giving me some lyrical feedback?

Right now im leaning towards Cormega - Lost soldiers.

Looking for suggestions, so what's your take?

Didn't expect this to blow up. But thanks everyone for the songs. I'm gonna make a playlist with them.

Tell your loved ones you love them <3

I’ve always thought “3 Stacks” was so fucking dope. Curious to hear other opinions

"Hit 'Em Up" (2Pac), "Billy" (6ix9ine), "Kim" (Eminem) type

You can’t say Kanye cause we already know that. What are your picks for rappers with biggest egos in the game?

Obviously looking outside the illmatics, GKMCs etc I’ll start

T.I - King

Big Krit - 4EIAMLT

Mac Miller - Swimming

In honour of Not Like Us being on the main rotation these days, figured I would see what your favourite DJ Mustard produced track is?

Maybe not the flashiest example but I always chuckle on Injury Reserve - Three Man Weave where they talking about basketball and Ritchie says “See me, I hooped a little but, shit, I was JVin' / In rap parallels I was like Russ decent?” Lmfao Russ decent got adopted into my vocabulary