Who is greatest rappers of all time

Not only has LL toured with Run-D. Common is the creator of some of the most poignant songs in rap history. From to about , Kanye was consistently in the discussion for best rapper alive, every year. The only unfortunate thing about Meth is that he never managed to translate his skills into making albums — Tical is his best album, and I could name five other Wu solo albums that are way superior.

Only 10 years removed from his debut album, and Kendrick Lamar is widely regarded as, not only the best rapper of his generation, but one of the greatest rappers of all time. No other rapper has ever had quite a run like Lil Wayne did during that to period. Then Tha Carter III drops in and cements his status, not only as the best rapper alive, but as the biggest rap superstar in the world. MF Doom is simply the greatest underground rapper of all time.

With an abstract, stream-of-consciousness style that Ghostface Killah inspired, Doom went on to drop classic album after classic album with his low-key, rugged monotone. What Slick Rick lacks in output relative to the other rappers on this list , he makes up for being a top five most influential hip hop artist of all time.

Rick the Ruler took the art of storytelling in rap to another level — painting pictures with different vocal inflections — something that Big and Eminem would go on to do — and why there have been plenty of rappers who are worthy of the title, Slick Rick is the original, and greatest storyteller of all time.

How often does that happen? The epitome of a crime-hardened, street commentator, Scarface raps as if the whole weight of the world is bearing down heavily on his shoulders. Rap fans have really, really short memories.

They see Ice Cube these days and they see a Hollywood actor who occasionally raps. But in the earlys, there were a few back-to-back years where Cube was absolutely the best rapper alive. Aside from Chuck D, no other hip hop artist was wreaking havoc on the industry like Cube. With a booming voice, a fearsome mic attack, relentless rhymes and fearsome battle reputation, KRS-One has been dropping knowledge non-stop for over 30 years. Rap fans forget how dope Eminem really is.

But even though he perfected his rhyming ability, Em went beyond that — separating himself from rappers like Canibus and Ras Kass — and honed his songwriting craft. This is perfect lyricism mixed with perfect songwriting. The fact that Black Thought has been getting his flowers these recent years, after 20 plus years of being one of the most consistent and slept on rappers in the game, makes me happy.

The God MC approached the art of rapping like a jazz musician — effortless, smooth and with no boundaries. There have been so many things written about Ra that anything I write now would be superfluous. The bottom line is: Rakim is the most influential hip hop artist of all time, and one of the greatest rappers to ever touch a mic.

There are a lot of hip hop heads out there who get triggered when someone declares Tupac is the greatest rapper of all time. No, he did not. The best rapper from the Wu-Tang Clan.

A top-five hip hop storyteller. The most consistent, hardest working artist. He goes toe-to-toe with best kind of lyricist and holds his own every time. Joshua : Big L is the freestyle hero. His album Lifestylez ov da Poor and Dangerous , while a masterpiece, cannot fully capture his ability and legacy. The greatest punchline technician in rap history, his ability to consistently throw haymakers in quick succession is unmatched in the pantheon of rap.

Anyone who has not taken a deep dive into this various freestyles and dusty bootlegged footage owes it to themselves to do so. Dropping classic albums and mixtapes alike, and inspiring a generation that exists today. His run in the mids crowned him the new rap prince. Even years later, despite complaints a lot of people still look forward to hearing from Ms. Lauryn Hill. Her lyrical ability is beyond measure which puts her in her own lane, especially being a woman!

George : Kendrick Lamar, or as I refer to him King Kendrick, deserves his Top 10 slot for so many reasons as he checks so many boxes. He is an elite lyricist. His lyrics are full of feeling and depth. His flow is distinct which makes him recognizable. His musical choices often attract non hip-hip heads, i. He also came along at a time when mainstream hip hop was, for the most part, lacking lyrical depth.

Many people have frowned at putting him on top list, saying he is too new. Not true — his first mixtape was released in and he is still growing 13 years later artistically, continuing to find mainstream success along the way which is very hard to accomplish in this current era.

The ability to maintain major mainstream relevance and success while still pushing artistic boundaries alone earns his spot. Does popularity equal skill and vice versa? The answer might surprise you. But in the meantime let's do this, counting down the list of the best rappers of all time Some may scoff at this placement on the list, but Lil Wayne is deserving.

Ignore his silly auto-tuned sing-song rapping in his radio-centric singles and you'll find a truly skilled lyricist. For decades now he's honed his craft to include multisyllabic rhyming, clever rhyme schemes, and gobs of wordplay. He actually popularized, and some might argue invented, the use of analogies instead of similes in his wordplay along with his Young Money label mates, which plays out more like a joke with a punchline than anything else.

His standout skill is that he never wastes a line. They're packed full of these jokes that happen so fast you can't even take them all in with one listen. He later joined the Hot Boys which launched several best-selling artists like Juvenile. He's sold over million records, landing him as a world's best-selling musician. Yes, he wears a Doctor Doom mask. Yes, his lyrics are often comical and goofy. And yes, you'll rarely hear a more complex rapper than MF Doom. There's countless videos on YouTube trying to dissect his rhyme schemes, and they all fall short.

Good luck analyzing it live as you listen. MF Doom, like Kool G Rap, is highly respected by other, far more popular rap artists, but never rose to stardom himself.

It's not stopped him from having widespread success in the underground scene and even bridging over to voiceover work for cartoons. He's been known to send imposters on stage to perform his songs while hiding behind the mask. Royce has been around forever, even hired to ghostwrite for P. Diddy and Dr. Dre in the past. His most notable skill, that you hear less in his current, more pop-oriented sound, is his incredible rhyme schemes.

In a couplet, his first bar will be incredibly short, allowing the 2nd bar to be extremely long, and when it lands back on the final multisyllabic rhyme, you get your mind blown.

He's also extremely skilled with internal rhymes that are either stand-alone or are parts of the external rhyme. Over time his lyrics became more authentic and mature, where the message fits perfectly into the complexity of the rhyming rather than suffering from it. Trivia Facts: Royce came up with Eminem and even had a duo called Bad Meets Evil, which nearly 20 years later would finally come to fruition.

A series of bad business events kept him from rising to the top with his Detroit co-horts like D12, but eventually he hit it big with the group Slaughterhouse. Many of the best rappers of all time call Kool G Rap one of their own favorites.

He was an early adopter of multisyllabic rhyming while maintaining that smooth New York flow that inspired several others on this list. While G Rap never hit mass popularity due to his mafioso style of lyrics, anyone who knows rap knows he's a top rhymer. His breath control, visual narratives and imagery, and flow are only part of what land him on all the "best" lists.

If you've never heard him and listen to him, he'll sound extremely familiar due to how many other artists have tried to emulate him. Big Pun, for instance, got his mafioso style from G Rap.

Trivia Facts: He's literally your favorite rapper's favorite rapper. He's recently put out a group album with Necro, a runner up below also from New York. The "G" in his name stands for Giancana, based on Sam Giancana. Nas has all of the skills of anyone else on this list but likes to be less strict with the rules of technical rhyming.

This looseness allows him to have far more involved lyrical content. He bridges the gap between annoying and preachy and casual, where you actually learn things by listening.

Nas is one of those examples of someone who has just enough skills from all the various types that come together but never get in the way of the lyrics pretty much the opposite of Tech N9ne below. He's in all of the top lists, partially by learning from Kool G Rap and growing from that foundation. Trivia Facts: Nas has released eight consecutive platinum and multi-platinum records in a row. He's sold over 30 million records thus far.

Sage Francis comes from the intellectual "backpacker" school of rap, destined to never be mainstream but provides more value packed into each song than any other sub-genre of hip-hop. Francis can do it all as good as any other artist, but his real strength is his story telling and imagery. Francis could easily be listed even further up the list, but his content is so thick with intellectual content that it holds him back in terms of pure enjoyment.