Str8Buttah's "XYZ" Names His Top 5 Favorite Rappers

I love to know what people listen to...what inspire them to craft their own style. And having known XYZ (member of Str8Buttah) for some years now, and knowing his depth in Hip Hop, and versatility, I was curious to know who and who inspire him. By the way, apart from being a "one of a kind" multi-syllabic rhymer, he also makes some of the dopest Hip Hop beats I have heard from a Nigerian beat maker. He has made beats for such hip hop acts like Illbliss, Modenine, and ofcos, his group- Str8Buttah.



Below are his top 5 favourite rappers, in no particular order.


1. Yasiin Bey - I listen to him because he has a style that administers soul to the execution of the core essence of hip hop and he does it so effortlessly you start to believe he is not even trying + he got that rap-with-smile-on-the-face emcee look

2. Talib Kweli - His message is effectively packaged and transmitted in a voice, style, skill and delivery that no one can ever match.

3. Pharoahe Monch - I am a fan of complex lyrics, delivery and internal and multisyllabic rhyme schemes, this emcee is unbelievably the king of this.

4. Common - Poetry delivery on a soul-esque vocals. Rhyming scheme is super amazing.

5. Nas - Story telling has never been so vivid + god-emcee sentiments i can never escape.



















XYZ's real name is Niyi Faleyimu. A graduate of Computer Science from the University of Lagos. Hip Hop Producer, Motion Graphics / Visual Effects Artiste and Video Director are some other skills you can tag to his name. He is working on dropping some beat tapes in the future- you can check out music from him here- str8buttah.com