I promised to come with the best rapper alive post, after i dropped the
Greatest of All Time Rapper article last week, so this is it. As i always try my best to employ ways that would allow me get to point in the shortest time possible, i would be using a list compiled from who and who other rappers think are the best. Over the last 3 years, i have compiled a list of rappers that other rappers have said they felt where the top 5 best rappers in the game, and that is where i would be starting from. The list i am about to drop was gotten from who
fabolous, jadakiss, rza, nore, joe budden, saigon, jay rock, twista, bow wow, fabolous, camron, killer mike rah digga juelz santana, and
slim thug consider to be the best. I would name the rappers that were in each of their top 5, and i would name the frequency to which they have appeared through this 16 rappers lists.
AZ (1), LL Cool J (4), Busta Rhymes (2), Common (1), Black Thought (1), Andre 3,000 (2), Lil Wayne (3), KRS 1 (1), Big Pun (1), Raekwon (1), Cool G Rap (4), Big Daddy Kane (2), Jadakiss (2), Eminem (3), Jay-Z (7), Ice Cube (3), Nas (7), Biggie (7), Tupac (9), Scarface (3), Rakim (3)
So, we have
Jay-Z, Nas, Biggie and
Tupac having the highest mentions. Because this article is about the best rapper alive, i would take out
Tupac and
Biggie, and we are left with
Nas and
Jay-Z. I know a lot of people say
Eminem is the best, but i am sorry, judging from my list, which i got from 16 rappers opinions on who they feel is the best, he wasn't ranked high enough. Personally, i think
Eminem is an incredible rapper. I think he is incredible with the wordplay, and his delivery is insane...but i think his delivery and wordplay are what really give him that edge, and not his lyricism. Maybe his first two albums were super lyrical (
The Slim Shady LP &
The Marshall Mathers LP), but his recent albums have been more about his wordplay and delivery than anything else.
Check out what
Saigon said, when asked about his top 5 dead or alive list-
" I think Nas is better than Eminem. There’s a lot of stuff Em’ made I didn’t like. Em’ has more stuff I didn’t like than Nas. Em’ is very very very nice with his words, his vocabulary is very extensive. He can put words together like no other, his wordplay is crazy but his content is not there for me. I can relate to Nas more content wise, that’s why I wouldn’t put Em’ on my top five."
I was thinking, two people from different parts of the world can't be thinking the same thing if there was no truth to it.
So, now we are back with
Jay-Z and
Nas. I am going to overlook the fact that
Nas already defeated
Jay-Z in a rap battle with
Ether, over
Takeover. I would like to look at each individually critically.
Wordplay-
Jay-Z is very good with word-play, but you can't say Nas isn't as good.
Lyrical content- I would go with
Nas here, although i do agree that
Jay-Z is also very lyrical.
Lyrical Recognition- They both have two 5 mics album ratings from The Source, but Jay's second one came years after the album was released.
Nas got 5 mics with
Illmatic and
Stillmatic; Jay-Z's first 5 mic album rating came with the release of his
The Blueprint album in 2001. And, later in the mid 00s, the people at
The Source reconsidered their 4 mic rating for
Reasonable Doubt, and changed it to 5 mics.
Story Telling and Creative Abilities- I think
Nas wins in this category hands down. He has shown his creative abilities time and time with tracks like "Rewind", "Undying Love", "Sekou Story"...the list is endless.
Consistency- Although Nas has 9 albums total, and
Jay-Z has a total of 11, the numbers of
Nas albums that are considered classic material and referenced are more than
Jay's. Think about it...take a minute to think about it; howmany people talk about Jay-Z's
Vol.3 album, or even a more recent
American Gangsta album?
Nas makes timeless music, and that's why people like
Lupe Fiasco can come forward and say he fashioned his
The Cool album to fit the concept of
Nas's "It Was Written Album". Or a rap vet like
Common would come out and say he was inspired to make his
'Be' album by listening to
Illmatic.
Let's even come to the present.
Jay has a collabo album with
Kanye West- take the Jay on that album and the Nas on the Distant Relatives album (2010) with Damian Marley, and tell me who was more on point with his rap verses.
At this point, it should be clear to you that i am going with
Nas. Nas is the best rapper alive. I just said that, but Busta Rhymes (another rapper that could be claiming the title for himself), in 2009, at a live concert of his, brought Nas out and said those same words. You can check it out here-
Busta Rhymes Says Nas is The Best MC in The World
Also considering the fact that even as low-key as he is (Nas), new rappers like J.cole and Drake boldly, individually at different times, said at interviews last year that they were studying Nas for the recordings of their albums. Consider the fact that
J.Cole was and still is signed to Jay-Z's
Roc Nation label. These are the new breed of rappers cosigning this man. And another new breed of rapper said something i would like to use here. Below is what
Saigon said about Nas-
- I’m going to have to go with my man Esco. I know everyone’s list be looking the same but you can’t leave these dudes out. But look at this guy’s body of work man. He probably had two so-so albums that weren’t that great beat wise; that would be Nastradamus and I Am. His only problem with him to me is his choice of beats but lyrically he’s never lost his step ever!
I’ve never heard a more vivid story rhyme than “Rewind”. He told a rhyme backwards and it was so vivid the song was its' own video. You don’t even have to put a visual to it, because you see it when he says it. Like the song he had “I Gave You Power”, the way he did it was crazy; even though that concept came from Pharaoh Monch. All the songs he did with DJ Premier. He’s got a classic, classic, classic catalog.
With New York Hip-Hop, aside from all the marketing and promotion, when it comes to raw talent he’s unmatched and we saw that with “Ether”. People will trash him for how he dresses or who he married, but when we talk about him being an MC, you can’t take anything away from that dude.
I say no more...the kid said it all.
