2Pac? 50? Jay? Drake? Travis Scott? Lil Jon? Who Is The Greatest Surprise Ever In Hip Hop History??

[Premeditated]

I'm still bewildered, 13 years later at how Drake became the biggest rappers of his generation and one of the biggest of all time.

I use to watch this dude on Degrassi on the noggin channel after Moesha reruns back in the day. I use to roast him for looking dorky and being the only black dude on the show. mind you, he's 4 years older than me. He's canadian and I'm a cali nikka, so I already had an superiority complex. NEVER EVER, would I have guess that he would go on and be a rapper and people would take him serious.

 

[letti cook]

Wayne only because I thought he was done after 500 Degreez. I played block is hot and lights out on loop but couldn't get jiggy with 500 at all. His trajectory after that was wild to me cause even as a fan of HB era Cash Money, I never thought he'd end up being a legit iconic, influential figure.

 

[maxamusa]

NBA Youngboy

 

[Westbama Heartthrob]

Jay Z was born in the Marcy housing projects while Drake was on a TV show as a child. Not comparable at all

99% of people would’ve quit rap if every major told them they were trash and wouldn’t sell by 27

I get what you mean, but even still that wasn't really a boost to his success in rap

Plenty of former child actors tried to rap. They didn't get even a third of the success drake has had though

 

[puppetmaster]

Lil Wayne.

I won’t even front, I did not see the little wobbledy wobbledy kid rapper becoming the phenomenon he turned out to be.


I assumed he’d fall into the same not knowing how to pivot trap most of the “lil” kiddie rappers fell victim to.

 

[Street Knowledge]

I don’t want to conflate life journey with prospects of being successful in the music business. Even once they found their way to major platforms they still were long shots

Jay obviously is a worthy choice

Life journey is a factor in “success in the music business”

Look at Taylor swift

I get what you mean, but even still that wasn't really a boost to his success in rap

Plenty of former child actors tried to rap. They didn't get even a third of the success drake has had though

We are comparing him to other successful rappers come up.

 

[strictlystreet]

RZA. Not many people get a second chance in the business if you fukk up the first.

 

[Finesse]

Prolly Future no one saw the racks on racks guy becoming what he became. The most successful Atlanta rapper of all time.

 

[Yehuda]

Travis Scott.

 

[Marc Spector]

either lil jon or kanye west

 

[Ish Gibor]

I’m not hating on your pick but by that logic Drake was taking out bank loans to shoot videos at some point

If you think he got it out of the mud, you have no idea what his background is.

 

[Ish Gibor]

Jay Z cause he was rejected by all the majors and had to start his own independent label out his car

Agreed, after that it’s probably Master P with No Limit Records, Sean "Puffy" Combs with Bad Boys Records and let’s not forget others like, Buckshot the founder of Duck Down Music Inc.

 

[Devil Plisken…CMS]

either lil jon or kanye west

Kanye had

Life journey is a factor in “success in the music business”

Look at Taylor swift

We are comparing him to other successful rappers come up.

Taylor Swift wasn’t taking out loans to do anything. Her father was big business. If Drake was good like that it would have been on in 06 whereas most people couldn’t tell you who he was if you didn’t watch that show.

On top of that did you think the guy from “Replacement Girl” would have been the biggest star in the world ten years straight?

 

[Ish Gibor]

Life journey is a factor in “success in the music business”

Look at Taylor swift

We are comparing him to other successful rappers come up.

I’m confused. How did Taylor Swift got involved in the conversation about Hip Hop?

 

[MJ Truth]

DJ Khaled becoming as popular as he’s become amazes me.

Soulja Boy not only blowing up but being able to remain relevant for almost two decades is insane, even if a lot of it is just him getting clowned.

50 becoming a big time rapper doesn’t surprise me in the least. I felt he was headed that way from How To Rob. But him getting dropped and shot and coming back and turning into the biggest in the game and one of the GOATs in terms of success is mind blowing.

Nothing about Jigga’s whole ascent makes any sense to me. I’d argue he’s the most unlikely success story of the past 50 years when you take into account where he came from, what he accomplished, and how he went about doing it.

Believe it or not though, Eminem is the guy who surprised me the most. In hindsight it makes sense and is obvious how it happened. But I remember seeing My Name Is… premiere on MTV Jams when I was around 13 and me and my brother laughed at the video. We thought it was basically some Weird Al shyt.