1. Nas
2. Biggie
3. Rakim
4. Canibus
5. Jay Z
6. Prodigy
7. Tupac
8. Redman
9. Ras Kass
10. Scarface
2. Biggie
3. Rakim
4. Canibus
5. Jay Z
6. Prodigy
7. Tupac
8. Redman
9. Ras Kass
10. Scarface
Violent J
Esham
Jamie Madrox
Shaggy 2 dope
Monoxide
Tech n9ne
The R.O.C.
Blaze Ya Dead Homie
G Mo Skee
2pac
RAS KASS
DEL
GIFT OF GAB
TASH
CROOKED I
DEFARI
TRAY DEEE
DOC
SAAFIR
KURUPT
I'll come back later and put them in order, but
Lupe
Nas when he's in that zone...its very rare nowadays
96-97 Jay-z
Mos Def
The Gza
Canibus
Daylyt
Ra
Royce or/and Thought
Los or/and Common Sense
This is hard because there are people I love who probably belong on here (Prime Cube, Face, Ras Kass, Chuck D, Chino XL, Pun, etc...) but I tried to keep it totally and completely pen to pad based only. Cube was excellent but his voice/presence had a lot to do with how them lyrics felt. Same with Face and Chuck. Ras Kass has verses that literally inspired me to learn and read and change my life...but I think I love Ras more for his content/information than his actual lyrical mechanics on the pad. That applies to Cube, Face and Chuck too. Chino and Pun are phenomenal but a lot of that had to do with their flows and shyt...though on paper they were amazing too, I just liked these other 10 a little more. Then, you have to factor in time periods and generations...I think if Kane or Ra came out post-2010 they would be aliens for real, like otherworldly shyt...they came out in the 80's with very very little reference points to trace back to and draw from in terms of high level lyricism. Great thread, shyt was fun because I purposely didn't read any other posts in here, didn't want to be influenced in any way.
Yeah, the battlers definitely should count, probably the best rappers on earth. I was gonna put Lux at 10 but I haven't heard enough of his shyt off the stage, I gotta catch up.I see you have Daylyt, I almost put Lux on my list but I almost thought that was cheating but I probably should’ve went with my instinct. Lmao.
'represent' and 'what goes around' come to mind for nas dumbing outI feel Nas never even went FULL steam..i can hear there's higher gears there.