Whos the best rapper EVER?

[Third Degree MM]

Key word right there. Most hip hop heads from NY (that I know) usually know their rap history past & current are older (late 20-40's but there are many exception & I know some of them on this forum; oldgringo knows his ****.) Those are the ones that grew up in the "Golden Age" of rap from the mid to late 80's into the 90's. The reason why I say that I'm from NY & have been listening to it all my life is because the radio stations in NY played this before ALL radio stations anywhere when rap was pure. That's the era I come from.

what i mean by KIDS, is the mentality of kids, stubborn as it gets, some guys are 20, 30, and they claim NY has the best rappers all other areas have garbage, most will never accept some new MC is on the level of Rakim, Kool G. Rap, Big Daddy Kane, Kool Mo Dee, and Biggie, when in fact that new MC is right there with them when talking skills. some claim NY has the bets MCs ever(i agree, but..), yet the mofo's don't even know Pharoahe Monch, R.A. The Rugged Man, and other great NY MCs exists.

Some(not the heads) also claim violence is a must, when in fact, Hip-Hop was created to neutralize violence on the Bronx, yeah Hip-Hop has been evolving, but today's listeners don't even know who(THE FOUNDERS THE CREATORS) DJ Kool Herc, Kool DJ Dee, and Afrika Bambaataa, are, and that is so sad.

[Floyd Sinclair]

Pharoahe Monch is very talented, he has one of the best flows ever and hes a top notch lyricist...but its hard for me to put him in my top 10, hes really made no impact since simon says was semi-popular and that was probably at least a decade ago

[Third Degree MM]

Nas.

"Ether"-savage Jay-Z diss

"Dance"-powerful and elegant tribute to his mom.

by the way, Ether is miles ahead of "hit em up" hit em up is incredibly overrated.

[Third Degree MM]

Pharoahe Monch is very talented, he has one of the best flows ever and hes a top notch lyricist...but its hard for me to put him in my top 10, hes really made no impact since simon says was semi-popular and that was probably at least a decade ago

****KK impact, now you're also defending ignorance??? the song "crank that" has made far more impact than all of Pharohe's albums put together, SO??? does that supposed to mean the " boy soulja" is better??? THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE TELLING ME.

[Makabetlog]

2Pac deserves alot of credit. look at it this way. he came out with like a million albums after he died. so imagine this guys work ethic? and were talkin about classic songs in some cases, songs like until the end of time. pac should be in everybodys top 5 at the very least.

you talking about, after he died, he still keeps on releasing albums which is just recycling his old stuff.

[CrackYourJaw]

you talking about, after he died, he still keeps on releasing albums which is just recycling his old stuff.

Yeah, but he also had TONS of unreleased material.

He may not be the best ever, but his catalog is huge for dying as young as he did.

[Third Degree MM]

2Pac deserves alot of credit. look at it this way. he came out with like a million albums after he died. so imagine this guys work ethic? and were talkin about classic songs in some cases, songs like until the end of time. pac should be in everybodys top 5 at the very least.

as an mainstream artists he is great, but when talking skills, he is not on my top 100

[Third Degree MM]

Yeah, but he also had TONS of unreleased material.

He may not be the best ever, but his catalog is huge for dying as young as he did.

but at what cost? all that material is filled with simplified lyrics

[Knicksman20]

what i mean by KIDS, is the mentality of kids, stubborn as it gets, some guys are 20, 30, and they claim NY has the best rappers all other areas have garbage, most will never accept, some some new MC is on the level of Rakim, Kool G. Rap, Big Daddy Kane, Kool Mo Dee, and Biggie, when in fact that new MC is right there with them when talking skills. some claim NY has the bets MCs ever(i agree, but..), yet the mofo's don't even know Pharoahe Monch, R.A. The Rugged Man, and other great NY MCs exists.

Some(not the heads) also claim violence is a must, when in fact, Hip-Hop was created to neutralize violence on the Bronx, yeah Hip-Hop has been evolving, but today's listeners don't even know who know who(THE FOUNDERS THE CREATORS) DJ Kool Herc, Kool DJ Dee, and Afrika Bambaataa, are, and that is so sad.

Sad but true. I'm not one of those NY'ers that think all NY rappers are hot. Far from that & other regions have rappers that have been putting it down for a long time. My thing is when I hear young cats talk about how overrated BIG was & how he was just alright I gotta laugh. For a rapper to put out 2 1/2 albums & most put him in their top 5 or 10 of all time says alot what he accomplished in such a short amount of time.

[Floyd Sinclair]

****KK impact, now you're also defending ignorance??? the song "crank that" has made far more impact than all of Pharohe's albums put together, SO??? does that supposed to mean the " boy soulja" is better??? THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE TELLING ME.

you takin that too far Mr. Master Mason....**** Crank that. Its ignorant to think that impact is not important at all, it doesnt mean everything but it means sumthin. It aint nothin to get heated over homie, I listen to Pharoahe Monch and a couple of other back packers. You gotta look at the whole picture, you clearly have a bias towards impact...until you realize that, you are being ignorant.

Ill say this though...the amount of weight that impact holds continues to decline, but i personally think it will always be somethin that holds some weight. Now breathe deeply, calm yourself down, and think with an open mind.