Let's be clear about Top 5 (current/all time) Rapper qualifications

[Hood Critic]

Does qualify:

1. You have to have more than 1 classic song.
2. More than 1 of your classic songs has to be a SOLO.
3. You have to have at least 1 undeniable classic album and 1 good/arguable classic.
4. You currently/have had to have done more rapping than singing/harmonizing through out your career.
5. You have to have been in the game for at least a decade to be in the all time conversation.

Does NOT qualify (none of this sh*t has anything to do with rapping):

1. Your business acumen. That makes you a decent to good entrepreneur...that's it.
2. Business ventures and brands. This just means you have a good manager and a decent personal brand.
3. Your sales/streams. A major label push and marketing budget does wonders. Even if you only did 20K first week, you would have likely did less than 10K without the label.
4. Your wealth.
5. The p*ssy you lay in.
6. Your social media followers. That just means you're entertaining (intentionally or unintentionally).

Discuss...

 

[Ohene]

Nah...certain people were impactful as ambassadors of hip hop; introducing it to the mainstream.
and for that reason...things such as business ventures/brands should hold weight in my opinion. sales equate to popularity as well. It isnt that it is a weighted factor to the point that Nelly and 50 Cent should be considered better than Nas but you cant ignore that there's a correlation between sales and a rappers spot on the all time list. Pac, Jay, Em, Big, Scarface Nas etc etc were all commercially successful artists so why exclude this? If you have never been certified by the RIAA...I cant put you in that top 5.


one thing youre missing...features.

you have to have classic guest appearances (whether on posse cuts or other rappers /singers albums). At least three... with a stint that if nikkas saw your name as a feature on a random artists' song ...they were listening off the strength

thats what boosts rappers like Jadakiss, Styles P and Raekwon. Jay and Nas as well who are already in evryone's top 5.
nowdays, dudes like Future, Drake, Kendrick get that type of recognition.

 

[Inspect Her Deck]

Does qualify:

1. You have to have more than 1 classic song.
2. More than 1 of your classic songs has to be a SOLO.
3. You have to have at least 1 undeniable classic album and 1 good/arguable classic.
4. You currently/have had to have done more rapping than singing/harmonizing through out your career.
5. You have to have been in the game for at least a decade to be in the all time conversation.

Does NOT qualify (none of this sh*t has anything to do with rapping):

1. Your business acumen. That makes you a decent to good entrepreneur...that's it.
2. Business ventures and brands. This just means you have a good manager and a decent personal brand.
3. Your sales/streams. A major label push and marketing budget does wonders. Even if you only did 20K first week, you would have likely did less than 10K without the label.
4. Your wealth.
5. The p*ssy you lay in.
6. Your social media followers. That just means you're entertaining (intentionally or unintentionally).

Discuss...

Seems pretty reasonable

The biggest and almost only factor I rate is discography, but remember that the discography effectively takes all these things into consideration. Each album in a given discography is the manifestation of all other factors coming together, the hit singles and other songs, which themselves are a product of the level of skill displayed by the artist with regards to flow and lyrics and technical ability and voice/delivery etc.

Some people are better at writing individual songs than putting it all together as a cohesive unit in an album form but albums are ultimately what you have to show for your work. Hence discography is the biggest factor to me. To be near the top 5 without a stellar discography you have to have some elite GOAT level mic skills.

 

[TheRtist]

Seems pretty reasonable

The biggest and almost only factor I rate is discography, but remember that the discography effectively takes all these things into consideration. Each album in a given discography is the manifestation of all other factors coming together, the hit singles and other songs, which themselves are a product of the level of skill displayed by the artist with regards to flow and lyrics and technical ability and voice/delivery etc.

Some people are better at writing individual songs than putting it all together as a cohesive unit in an album form but albums are ultimately what you have to show for your work. Hence discography is the biggest factor to me. To be near the top 5 without a stellar discography you have to have some elite GOAT level mic skills.

basically

 

[The Ruler 09]

To me it's who's got the best music, and all the elements that encompass that.

 

[Spitta Andretti]

With those qualifications these 5 rappers make sense .. In no order they fit the bill

Em
Biggie
Pac
Jay
Nas

 

[Hood Critic]

Nah...certain people were impactful as ambassadors of hip hop; introducing it to the mainstream..

This can only happen once though. And that arguably happened in '86 with Run DMC and Aerosmith.

 

[Cel 510 kid ados forever]

Pac nas em ice cube too short..album sales great songs. very influential and created a lane and was original. my top 5

 

[Ohene]

This can only happen once though. And that arguably happened in '86 with Run DMC and Aerosmith.

i suppose "introducing" is the wrong word.

i didnt live in the 80s and was young in the 90s...but i think that we can agree certain crossovers have helped evolve and catapult the genre incrementally. Whether it was LL Cool J, Dre/Snoop, Wu Tang, Bone Thugs, Puff Daddy etc....artists like these damn near started movements and introduced different derivatives of hip hop to the main stream IMO

 

[Ohene]

Seems pretty reasonable

The biggest and almost only factor I rate is discography, but remember that the discography effectively takes all these things into consideration. Each album in a given discography is the manifestation of all other factors coming together, the hit singles and other songs, which themselves are a product of the level of skill displayed by the artist with regards to flow and lyrics and technical ability and voice/delivery etc.

Some people are better at writing individual songs than putting it all together as a cohesive unit in an album form but albums are ultimately what you have to show for your work. Hence discography is the biggest factor to me. To be near the top 5 without a stellar discography you have to have some elite GOAT level mic skills.

i agree. Certain factors have certain weightings and discography is probably the largest. Still, a nikka like Jadakiss who has relatively trash albums...but laid down some of the slickest verses we've ever heard on Ruff Ryder albums, soundtracks, Rocafella albums, DJ Clue Tapes, Lox Albums, Bad Boy albums etc...can still reasonably be argued as a top 5 rapper in my opinion

With those qualifications these 5 rappers make sense .. In no order they fit the bill

Em
Biggie
Pac
Jay
Nas

Everyone will wanna sub at least one rapper...but you cant knock it.
Personally I'd put P > Em

 

[Hood Critic]

i suppose "introducing" is the wrong word.

i didnt live in the 80s and was young in the 90s...but i think that we can agree certain crossovers have helped evolve and catapult the genre incrementally. Whether it was LL Cool J, Dre/Snoop, Wu Tang, Bone Thugs, Puff Daddy etc....artists like these damn near started movements and introduced different derivatives of hip hop to the main stream IMO

Movements are part of the "culture" and important to it but it didn't make any one rapper a better rapper than they already were. Perfect example, Dipset.

 

[Inspect Her Deck]

i agree. Certain factors have certain weightings and discography is probably the largest. Still, a nikka like Jadakiss who has relatively trash albums...but laid down some of the slickest verses we've ever heard on Ruff Ryder albums, soundtracks, Rocafella albums, DJ Clue Tapes, Lox Albums, Bad Boy albums etc...can still reasonably be argued as a top 5 rapper in my opinion

Possibly. I mean Kiss' track record speaks for itself but at the same time I don't think he's the most skilled either. He's that dude that'll give you a 7-8/10 pretty much every time but with some fluctuations.

The people I'm referring to in lack of discog is someone like a Pharoahe Monch, who's arguably the most talented rapper ever but doesn't have the discog to match, at least when we talking top 5 convo.

What would you make of rappers like Inspectah Deck? Amazing lyricist, murders guest features and overshadows pretty much everyone on the mic, but has no discography to speak of.

 

[Inspect Her Deck]

For the record my top 5 is centred around artists who have great discographies, at least if it isn't a consistent discography from start to finish the peak work has to be right up there with the very best. Gotta have at least 2-3 classics to be in that discussion too at the top end of one's work.

Mine:
1. Ice Cube
2. Ghostface Killah
3. Redman
4. Jay-Z
5. Common

HM: Scarface

 

[FeloniousMonk]

This can only happen once though. And that arguably happened in '86 with Run DMC and Aerosmith.

Ultimate pop/rock crossover song.

Rick Rubin was genius for even thinking of using rock Aerosmith as a way to introduce hip hop into the mainstream via Run-DMC.

 

[10:31]

Face
Cube
KRS
Cool j
Rakim