This is the New Consensus Top 5 All Time.

[Chip Skylark]

If you was doing real consensus, Eminem would be in it

That's why consensus means nothing to me.

Yep

There’s no way Eminem isn’t top 5.

 

[Chip Skylark]

Lol no he didn't and doesn't

His classics are GKMC and TPAB

Section 80, very good. DAMN is very good. Mr Morales... eh. GNX... very good.

Anyways, rappers eligible for top 5, in no particular order:

Biggie
2Pac
Jay-Z
Nas
Ice Cube
Scarface (too regional, not his fault)
Big Boi (his solo career is very good, not elite like Cube after NWA)
Andre 3000 (solo career: non existent)
Rakim (important pacesetter from a critical perspective, but surpassed eventually)
LL (same as above)
Kendrick (plenty of deserved critical acclaim, but nothing we haven't seen before. Until last year he hasn't had a grip on the commercial sounds, let's see how long his new dominance lasts without a foil)
Eminem (technically up there, sometimes too much for his own good. Has the numbers, but only 1-2 classic albums)

Requirements:
Multiple classics
Critical acclaim
Commercial appeal
Elite songwriting ability
Genre pacesetters

Final selection is bolded. Don't care to rank them. But I can't make a case for any of the others out leaping the bolded. They're in the conversation though, not mad at anyone's list that includes the others.

Face too regional? Huh?

 

[Conan]

NIkka, Face influenced like 4 outta 5 nikkas in ya top 5. How is he ”too regional”?

Face too regional? Huh?

Was speaking personally. I heard Cube much earlier compared to Face in NY. Cube over Face is just personal preference, I respect Face and his pedigree

 

[Mike Wins]

If you was doing real consensus, Eminem would be in it

That's why consensus means nothing to me.

Truth. I been saying this, everyone using sales, critical reviews and industry publications in the spirit of being "objective" is really just saying who is most popular among mainstream white audiences and publications is the best.

If you going by "objective" measures like sales and industry accolades then Eminem is your undisputed GOAT, probably followed by Kanye.

Even in a place like this, so many don't want to stand on and defend their own opinion.

 

[spliz]

I'm still struggling to see why and how Tupac and Biggie are top 5 still.

Kendrick, per actual hip-hop lovers, has 3 back-to-back-to-back masterpieces, the GOAT diss, and doesn’t really have a flaw in his game besides features.

Where the hell is Ice Cube in this (one of the pioneers in gangsta rap, which has roots all throughout the music landscape, best artist on a legendary group, 3 classics in a row, countless hits, longevity, etc.)?

No one in real life is picking that lil nikka over Pac unless they hate either Pac or they Stan Kendrick.

 

[spliz]

If you was doing real consensus, Eminem would be in it

That's why consensus means nothing to me.

Basically. And son don’t sniff my top 5.

 

[PHamm]

Cube ahead of jay Nas big

 

[Knucklehead]

You guys are going to collectively lose your shyt when the next generation starts writing these lists and Travis Scott, Playboi Carti and a bunch of guys you’ve never heard of start supplanting your “consensus” picks on these lists you already get so upset about.
I coach a youth football team and these kids are all extremely into hip-hop and guys like 21 Savage and Lil Baby are their “old school” Jay, Nas, Pac and Big are dinosaurs to them. Just warning you.

 

[Mastamimd]

You guys are going to collectively lose your shyt when the next generation starts writing these lists and Travis Scott, Playboi Carti and a bunch of guys you’ve never heard of start supplanting your “consensus” picks on these lists you already get so upset about.
I coach a youth football team and these kids are all extremely into hip-hop and guys like 21 Savage and Lil Baby are their “old school” Jay, Nas, Pac and Big are dinosaurs to them. Just warning you.

I'm 43 and guys like Rakim, Kane, KRS, LL, G Rap etc are all but excluded from conversations like these

Unfortunate because they're unbelievably influential, but their prime was during a time where most hip hop fans today weren't even born

 

[SunZoo]

Only for casuals

Nas
Jay
Eminem
Big
Pac
Scarface
Ghostface
Ice cube (maybe)

In no order these are the top 7-8 greatest ever. At no point in time has Kendrick been a better rapper than them…. Yet. I’ll argue k dot could be top 10 though

I still won’t put him over Cube and Common. Well not yet. Cube late 80-early 90s run is still a top 3-5 run of all time.

He’s over Wayne and LL now but I also have Drake and Cole higher than them now too.

And the Eminem hate has to stop. 99-2005 Eminem is arguably the greatest rapper to ever step foot on the planet. I don’t listen to dude like that anymore but there’s only a handful rappers who have been better than that era Eminem. Nas, early 2000s Hov, Big, mixtape Wayne, early Lupe maybe mid 2010s Lu.

Em is top 5

Kendrick himself would tell you this.

 

[Nuuko]

Truth. I been saying this, everyone using sales, critical reviews and industry publications in the spirit of being "objective" is really just saying who is most popular among mainstream white audiences and publications is the best.

If you going by "objective" measures like sales and industry accolades then Eminem is your undisputed GOAT, probably followed by Kanye.

Even in a place like this, so many don't want to stand on and defend their own opinion.

You do realize that Eminem has no real accolade? he doesn't have a single critically acclaimed album, his industry accolades mostly consist of billboard and mtv awards lol

Kendrick is by far the most acclaimed and decorated rapper all things considered. And if you're talking about Grammy, Jay has 25, Kanye 24, Kendrick 22 (despite being much younger), Eminem 15.

After Kendrick, it's probably Outkast and Kanye West.

 

[krulesweatshirt]

Today's consensus is way different than it was 15 years go.

Consensus as of today looks like this:

Nas
Jay
Kendrick
Wayne
Kanye

Eminem hasn't been mentioned for years, he's being clowned for being the first "respected" artist to drop more bad than good albums. And people are saying Biggie's catalog is way too short (with his double album have too many fillers)

 

[28 Gramz]

Wayne is better than Kendrick and clearly top 5.

 

[Number21000]

This is correct, although I'm not sure about big

Nas
Jay
Kendrick
Ye
Andre

 

[tweezy]

They died. Crakkas are obsessed with death and nikkas are obsessed with what crakkkas promote to them. The same with Dilla. He's an all time great producer, but the man simply couldn't get placements the last year of his life and no one was buying his records. As soon as he dies, white folks act like they'd been fans of the man since he was learning to use the MPC 60 starting all of this "goat" talk. And it's disrespectful to those that were putting in work producing classics BEFORE him and AFTER his death. Biggie had 2 albums and 3 years active in hip hop(after his first release) and this mf got in the rock n roll HOF before Rakim, LL(he's in now), Nas, Wutang, De la Soul, and many others with at least 20 years in the industry . Make it make sense to me.


Had Nas been killed before IWW dropped, he would never have had a chance to make those average albums and people would overrate him. Some get special treatment in death and others, like Big Pun, are ignored.

This, nobody but old heads like us still have these 2 in the top 5 lol