Complex: 50 Best New York Rappers of All-Time

[Stick Up Kid]

These lists are always goofy.. they do the same shyt.. they purposely post a ridiculous list, to cause controversy to get clicks and views..

and we fall for it all the time.

 

[Shadow King]

50 Cent too high
Doom too high
Cardi too high and may not belong
Pop Smoke too high and may not belong
Jimmy Diddy and Ice Spice being listed

 

[FromStLouis]

Wrong thread

 

[CHICAGO]

Busta is the most surprising to me.

BUSTA IS MORE SURPRISING
THAN 50 & NICKI?



​

 

[Eastside Get The Money]

So sad that in hip hop any DJ can have a playlist that say dead nikkaz smh

 

[No Homo]

They stay disrespecting my guy AZ smh

 

[Finesse]

Nicki dont got shyt like this. Its a insult to put her over than Kim. If we talking HIP HOP.

 

[WIA20XX]

BUSTA IS MORE SURPRISING
THAN 50 & NICKI?



​

50 had arguably one of the biggest records of all time. Mixtapes were some of the best of the era. Did he start the "mixtape" movement? I dunno. (I don't think so) He basically was able to reach out to the West and The South. Lyrically? We've all heard better. In terms of making songs though, he's on

Nicki - she's arguably the best NYC female. Cardi and Ice Spice should not be on the list at all. But they making accomodations for young people, I respect that.

I'm interested in the list construction though. Cause Busta is not a name that you hear often in this conversation.

These lists always have the same type of folks

• The big mc's from the early to mid 80s - Run DMC, LL Cool J, Kool Moe Dee; Maybe a shout out to Melle Mel. Sometimes Doug E Fresh and Slick Rick.
• The big mc's from the late 80's/Yo MTV Raps Era - Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, KRS-1, sometimes Chuck D and Kool G. Rap.
• 93-97 - Then maybe you start talking about the next generation - Nas, Biggie, Jay - all these guys had national hits on Black Radio
• Grimy Dudes - Wu Tang, Boot Camp, Mobb Deep and the grimy type dudes. So the Redman when they include NJ, sometimes Guru, and possibly Jeru and Pharoah Monche if you got some real backpackers on staff - usually grizzled old cats like myself or young white dudes that listen to the stuff w/o context.
• 98-00 - The generation after that - DMX, Jadakiss, Cam'Ron
• 00 - and 50 Cent
• Since the South Took Over - ASAP, and now Pop Smoke.
• Gotta have females - Mc Lyte, Foxy, Nicki, maybe Lil Kim, Maybe Roxanne if it's a top 100 - (Latifah and Lauryn when they say Tri-State/East Coast)
• Latino Representation - Big Pun, and maybe Fat Joe if he lobbies hard enough.
• "conscious representation" - Mos Def, Q Tip. Maybe Grand Puba, maybe Trugoy, Maybe Wise Intelligent or Brother J. Talib Kweli in a top 100.

You'll rarely/never see - Cannibal Ox, El-P, Jean Grae, anybody on that Def Jux/Fondle Em Steez. That NYC that was on Stretch and Bobbito that only back packers listened to. Like MF Doom rarely makes these lists. (him being a Brit doesn't help either).

There are so many dope lyrical type rappers, but that wasn't even popular with regular people then. I know, I was there. I was spinning records and promoting shows. Females and G's were not coming out to see Natural Resources or Scienz of Life, it is what it is. (Mad Skillz and Canibus came out of that era, and never connected with the regular folks)

When you look at Busta and his era - Yo MTV Raps/Conscious rap era, and then into the Flashy suit/Neptunes era - he's stayed relevant and had a lot of hits.

But would I call him a top 10 rapper? He would not even come to mind to be honest.

Like is Busta much better than Big Daddy Kane or Q-Tip? Cause that's basically his lane in terms of skill and content.

• He was never as deep as Rakim.
• Never political like Chuck D.
• Not great with the stories like Slick Rick.
• Not great with the poetry or the imagery like Nas.
• Not really that clever.
• His punchlines are not that witty or insightful.
• In terms of personality, he's not seeing ODB, Biz Markie, Sean Price.

So it is surprising to me that Complex would put him in the top 10.
Like him being on the cover of Men's Health.

And I like Busta.

I actually think he's generally under-rated as an mc - he's just not top 10 status.

 

[trap101-ETHout-Allegri-In]

I got love for Pop, but he is rather high.........at most 48th

 

[Playaz Eyez]

50 had arguably one of the biggest records of all time. Mixtapes were some of the best of the era. Did he start the "mixtape" movement? I dunno. (I don't think so) He basically was able to reach out to the West and The South. Lyrically? We've all heard better. In terms of making songs though, he's on

Nicki - she's arguably the best NYC female. Cardi and Ice Spice should not be on the list at all. But they making accomodations for young people, I respect that.

I'm interested in the list construction though. Cause Busta is not a name that you hear often in this conversation.

These lists always have the same type of folks

• The big mc's from the early to mid 80s - Run DMC, LL Cool J, Kool Moe Dee; Maybe a shout out to Melle Mel. Sometimes Doug E Fresh and Slick Rick.
• The big mc's from the late 80's/Yo MTV Raps Era - Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, KRS-1, sometimes Chuck D and Kool G. Rap.
• 93-97 - Then maybe you start talking about the next generation - Nas, Biggie, Jay - all these guys had national hits on Black Radio
• Grimy Dudes - Wu Tang, Boot Camp, Mobb Deep and the grimy type dudes. So the Redman when they include NJ, sometimes Guru, and possibly Jeru and Pharoah Monche if you got some real backpackers on staff - usually grizzled old cats like myself or young white dudes that listen to the stuff w/o context.
• 98-00 - The generation after that - DMX, Jadakiss, Cam'Ron
• 00 - and 50 Cent
• Since the South Took Over - ASAP, and now Pop Smoke.
• Gotta have females - Mc Lyte, Foxy, Nicki, maybe Lil Kim, Maybe Roxanne if it's a top 100 - (Latifah and Lauryn when they say Tri-State/East Coast)
• Latino Representation - Big Pun, and maybe Fat Joe if he lobbies hard enough.
• "conscious representation" - Mos Def, Q Tip. Maybe Grand Puba, maybe Trugoy, Maybe Wise Intelligent or Brother J. Talib Kweli in a top 100.

You'll rarely/never see - Cannibal Ox, El-P, Jean Grae, anybody on that Def Jux/Fondle Em Steez. That NYC that was on Stretch and Bobbito that only back packers listened to. Like MF Doom rarely makes these lists. (him being a Brit doesn't help either).

There are so many dope lyrical type rappers, but that wasn't even popular with regular people then. I know, I was there. I was spinning records and promoting shows. Females and G's were not coming out to see Natural Resources or Scienz of Life, it is what it is. (Mad Skillz and Canibus came out of that era, and never connected with the regular folks)

When you look at Busta and his era - Yo MTV Raps/Conscious rap era, and then into the Flashy suit/Neptunes era - he's stayed relevant and had a lot of hits.

But would I call him a top 10 rapper? He would not even come to mind to be honest.

Like is Busta much better than Big Daddy Kane or Q-Tip? Cause that's basically his lane in terms of skill and content.

• He was never as deep as Rakim.
• Never political like Chuck D.
• Not great with the stories like Slick Rick.
• Not great with the poetry or the imagery like Nas.
• Not really that clever.
• His punchlines are not that witty or insightful.
• In terms of personality, he's not seeing ODB, Biz Markie, Sean Price.

So it is surprising to me that Complex would put him in the top 10.
Like him being on the cover of Men's Health.

And I like Busta.

I actually think he's generally under-rated as an mc - he's just not top 10 status.

Busta > Price, Biz, and ODB

 

[Playaz Eyez]

Nicki dont got shyt like this. Its a insult to put her over than Kim. If we talking HIP HOP.

People are gonna claim her Monster verse is better or on par with this, but all that woman did was scream, use funny voices, and make funny faces in the video, and it just happened to be the closing verse.

 

[Cladyclad]

People are gonna claim her Monster verse is better or on par with this, but all that woman did was scream, use funny voices, and make funny faces in the video, and it just happened to be the closing verse.

That itty bitty joint was diamond in the hood

 

[Low End Derrick]

Complex always rub their hands on their devious birdman shyt when they post these lists

 

[Bugzbunny129]

Listen i dig the doom love and hes one of my fav mcs. But the top 10 is ya generic top 10 with a few longevity grabs and some girls, idk if im saying doom is better than guys like slick rick qtip raekwon pun etc

 

[UnQuantized]

No AZCan't take the list seriously. Large Professor should be in for Breaking Atoms album alone. Phife Dawg is not a great rapper but weirdly many of his lines and verses stick in my memory.