Name a rapper you actually like, past or present, but that you think is overrated

[BulletProof]

For me Hov.

He's in the back part of my top ten but he's defintely overrated and made biting acceptable.

 

[Creflo ½ Dollar]

J Cole


His mixtapes was great...his best album was born sinner by far...

Everything else is weak ass fukk to me. I used to argue mofos down by how great Cole is but soon as he started get top recognition I didn’t feel the same way. Not that I was being a hipster but his rise correlated to the falloff of quality music with him.

 

[prophecypro]

Roc Marciano..

tried multiple projects, and i just cant make it through an entire song of dude.. thecoli.com treats dude like hes the next coming of Nas, but everybody gonna like who they like..

Not so much Roc but Im starting to feel this way bout a lot of these New Boom Bap dudes who people swear are nice and better than the OGs now (The Griselda dudes, Chris Crack maybe even Droog now). They don't be really saying much but appropriating Ghost and G Rap

 

[Peak]

Another one

Jadakiss. One of the greatest rappers ever, legendary verses, etc. But his albums are mediocre as shyt. He's in my top 20 all-time because of the Lox work, freestyles, mixtapes over the last 25 years. But in NY a lot of people have him top 5 all-time and that's crazy considering he doesn't even have a 4 mic solo album.

I'd take Styles and Sheek over Jada anyway.

 

[The Ruler 09]

Rick Ross is good and has improved but some people think he's better than Biggie apparently and I don't think he's close to Big.

 

[The Ruler 09]

J Cole is a weird 1, his skill is better than his album out our overall thus far. For people to say he's in a top 10 or anything as of yet is a big reach.

 

[Peak]

Big Pun - Capital Punishment was a great album. But he was a PR G Rap. There was really nothing unique about him he just came at the right time.

Common - Common was a case of being caught in you own hype and becoming pretentious with it. His latter weren't saying shyt but he had the neo soul crowd so was able to ride the wave.

ASAP Rocky - epitome of style over substance. Live.Love.Asap is almost a classic due to two things: beats and delivery - he really said nothing memorable.

Roc Marci - was underrated when he should have been rated (UN-Marcberg) and was Overrated when he shouldn't have been (Reloaded to now). I think in a lot of cases fans are mad that they missed the wave and then overcompensate by placing guys like Marci on pedestals they no longer should claim.

Nas - his best album in the 2000s remains a compilation of cutting room floor songs. For a goat contender his albums do not match his stature in the game.

 

[FunkDoc1112]

Rakim Allah (ducks rotten fruit before continuing)

granted yes he came out the gate on some young mike jordan shyt, everything he spit was perfect in execution, he shifted the culture and dropped an undisputed classic. but honestly, his run was what.. 1986 to 1992? once it hit '93 and the new school emerged with nas, buckshot shorty, wu tang, redman (year earlier but fukk wit me), b real (2 years prior) and busta (2 years prior) it was an absolute wrap for rakim as far as being a viable artist who still made an impact on the culture. nobody was pining for a new rakim album in '95 when we were bumpin cuban linx, he was done...

meanwhile class of '85 LL, class of '87 KRS One and class of '89 Kool G Rap all adjusted their pivot and found their respective lanes within the new hip hop arena. so why is he widely considered better than the aforementioned?

The other knock on Rakim is he never varied up his content...even at his best 99% of his albums was just him rapping about how dope he was, just kind of generic. Never really got a sense of who he actually was. Even other rappers largely on the bragging tip inject personality into it like Reman but Rakim never really did that

 

[Dafunkdoc_Unlimited]

LL Cool J. Never liked him and always thought cats put him on a pedestal he didn't deserve especially due to the love songs.

The other knock on Rakim is he never varied up his content...even at his best 99% of his albums was just him rapping about how dope he was, just kind of generic. Never really got a sense of who he actually was. Even other rappers largely on the bragging tip inject personality into it like Reman but Rakim never really did that

We knew enough about him from his rhymes, like, for instance, we knew he was part of/down with the Nation of Gods and Earths from him spittin' about mathematics/degrees.

His '7 MC Theory' has yet to be surpassed.​

 

[Cryptocurrency Scarface]

Jay Electronica until he has 2 classic Albums then we can have some GOAT conversations

 

[ig88]

Nozz. Street dreamer dude. Big wasnt a fan of him.

Pac neither.

Ive watched nozz get dikk rode by everyone who listens to hip hop as the best for 20 years...even tho noone was really bumping his music..

Nas became the goto “wannabe down” rapper ever who people acted like noone could touch when imo he dont even have the best album in his hood, maybe not even top 3.

I think hes a solid mc. Top 10 but i felt other artists way more. Nas was kinda superficial imo. You wasnt getting emotion from nas like pac or ghost. Werent getting authentic street verses like rae or mobb. Nas then is like kendrick now to me. Tho kendrick takes it way overboard.

Yea. I just got a thing the way everyone dikkrides him but has a general lack of knoweledge on everything else. Annoys me.

 

[Playaz Eyez]

It’s 100% André 3K. If you don’t have an official solo RAP album, you shouldn’t be getting put higher than good-great rappers that actually do. Big Boi actually has merit to be looked at that way. 3K doesn’t.

I can only stomach trap if it's straight rappin', no autotune, and the rapper gotta have some type of skill. None of that mumble shyt.

Peewee Longway.

I'd take Styles and Sheek over Jada anyway.

Styles has been better than Jada since Gangster & A Gentleman. And Sheek’s 05 album is better than a LOT of Jada’s stuff.

 

[Playaz Eyez]

Roc Marci - was underrated when he should have been rated (UN-Marcberg) and was Overrated when he shouldn't have been (Reloaded to now). I think in a lot of cases fans are mad that they missed the wave and then overcompensate by placing guys like Marci on pedestals they no longer should claim.

Reloaded and Pimpire Strikes Back are better than any of his releases beforehand.

 

[BmoreGorilla]

To be fair, it's not like Rakim chose to take a vacation all those years. I remember reading somewhere else that when he stopped working with Eric B., there was something in his contract that blocked him from doing any solo albums. It hurt because hip hop was still moving at a fast pace back then and it didn't start to slow down until the mid 90s.

LL, G. Rap, and KRS were able to find their lane in the new generation because they kept releasing new material and made sure their names stayed relevant. Rakim didn't get that opportunity. Had he dropped something in '93 or '94, it would have been a highly regarded classic.

You notice that once Rakim came back, he started doing more work. His potential album with Dr. Dre would have done for him what the 90s did for LL, G. Rap, and KRS. But it fell through because Rakim wasn't willing to sell out and compromise his artistic integrity for what Dre wanted him to do. Had things worked out, Rakim would have been down with Dre, Eminem, and 50. It would have went from the platinum trio to the platinum quartet, and Rakim would have continued being a big name in the 2000s.

I feel you but imo he started to sound on Don’t Sweat the Technique. I might get flamed for this opinion


I don’t think that forced break hurt his relevancy at all becuz when the 18th Letter dropped he was still highly regarded as the the GOAT. He even had a lead single from Premo who was one of the go tos at the time. He never evolved tho which I think hurt him more than anything

 

[Mike the Executioner]

I feel you but imo he started to sound on Don’t Sweat the Technique. I might get flamed for this opinion


I don’t think that forced break hurt his relevancy at all becuz when the 18th Letter dropped he was still highly regarded as the the GOAT. He even had a lead single from Premo who was one of the go tos at the time. He never evolved tho which I think hurt him more than anything

The only thing I didn't understand was the video for "Don't Sweat the Technique." Whose idea was that?

But you're right about his music never evolving. I said the same thing in a thread comparing him to Nas and I said that Nas took his music to places Rakim never did, and I don't think he ever could have regardless of his talent.

I do think Rakim was really interesting when he did explore other topics ("In the Ghetto," "Mahogany," "Know the Ledge," "Show Me Love"). One of his most well-known songs is about getting money ("Paid in Full"). But I think he was just more comfortable with his conscious battle raps and didn't care if there was a market for it. He comes off like the kind of person that would want to go platinum for who he really is, not because he was following trends or chasing the radio.