Kanye for sure and it’s not even close.

There’s more people listening to music today than there was in the 90’s because streaming makes it easier.

There’s also more people today than in the 90s because well, you know population has increased we all know this.

Kanye has a larger discography and also has explored more deeply into different genres/fusions. Not that Tupac didn’t do this of course it’s just Kanye had more time to do it since he’s still alive.

Kanye is responsible for the literal sound of the genre for the last 2 decades, not to mention the style shifts and he played a major role for what rappers could be as artists and creatives

If we’re being real, a lot of Pacs influence died after Kanye came onto the scene because his influence was related to the gangster image which Kanye effectively killed

Ye is undoubtedly more influential and it’s not a debate

2pac

2pac was a real man. Kanye is a Hollywood b****.

it's interesting to think tho looking at pac's influence from 95-07(graduation) everyone wanted to be the next pac

all that influence/impact in 5 years minus prison time

of course kanye's had 20+ years, over 4x the amount of time as pac in the game so yeah it's him

but no ones hade as much impact in such a small amount of time as Pac

kanye not even close

I’ve dwelled on this for a while & it’s like Tupac’s main advantage is that he proceeded Ye & definitely influenced him, but the only person f***ing with ye’s scale of tangible involvement in modern hip hop is someone like dre this is not even considering the brand related stuff

I don’t see it. Wayne has more impact on the modern rap scene.

Drake and Travis are two of his most successful sons, but they also owe a large chunk of their influence to Wayne/Budden/R&B artists and kid cudi respectively

Wayne’s influence goes unmentioned, it’s a shame really

it doesn’t though lmao

Wayne’s lasting influence is more on the style
Of rap rappers are using where as ye is the sound.
Both impactful though
Wayne influenced the Thugger and futures
Ye influenced the Tyler and Travis

This. Wayne has more direct biters and clones who emulate his voice, rapping style, and look. Even Bino and Kendrick used to directly bite Wayne in their earlier projects.

Kanye has more influence on the soundscape though especially with 808's, Yeezus, and Graduation. So many rap albums including some released this year bit the production from that sound.

One could argue that Kanye helped birthed the Blog Era of hip hop too especially after his symbolic defeat of "gangsta rap" albeit I always felt that narrative was a bit exaggerated.

Edit: Wayne even influenced Eminem to use more punchlines in his rapping especially around the Recovery era.

Waynes influence is from a rap perspective and I agree he’s massively influential in that regard. I think part of it also is just how impactful and dominant the Atlanta rap scene has been which added to Waynes impact

But Kanye literally is responsible for the musical shifts the genre has seen and routinely was a trendsetter for the music, style, fashion, video direction, etc. for so many rappers since. J Cole literally spent his first few albums trying to chase that College Dropout sound as well. Uzi, Future, Juice WRLD, Gambino, Gunna, Thug, etc. may be influenced by Wayne when it comes to how they rap but it’s also clear they wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for 808s and Heartbreak. I think Kanye and Wayne are the two most influential artists over the last 2 decades but Kanye’s undoubtedly influenced the genre on nearly every level while Wayne mostly did it from a rapping perspective.

Also if you factor outside hip hop influence, Kanye wins this easy. He influenced or had influence on Frank Ocean, The Weeknd, James Blake, Lorde, Bon Iver, HAIM, PND, Madeon and Porter Robinson. Kanye’s the most influential artist the genre has ever seen and may ever see.

Tweet thread with 9 pages

People are programmed to have certain opinions they don’t even make an opinion based off of their own judgement

But yeah obviously Ye

I’m only responding to the Pac’s influence was related to a gangster image thing

This is spoken like someone who doesn’t know about Pac, Pac literally only had 1 era in his lifetime with a “gangster image” and it was the All Eyez On Me era. All his albums before that were conscious introspective albums so that is not true. Again I am not responding to the Kanye part just the gangster part.

Kanye himself is influenced by 2Pac so Kanye coming onto the scene was an example of bis influence not him killing it and lots of rappers have been inspired by his conscious side post Kanye.

For example Kendrick Lamar Big Krit and J Cole are openly inspired by 2Pac in a major way as well as Kanye. Drake even listed Pac as one of his favorites and influences in a 2013 interview but that one isn’t as prevalent

And then 2Pac’s “gangster image” influence also did not die when Kanye came onto the scene, he was still an influence to Lil Wayne and a lot of southern rappers like Lil Boosie and Gucci Mane. And rappers like 50 Cent Eminem and The Game were still influenced by him and all these rappers went on to influence people of their own so the linage goes back to 2Pac. He also was referenced by Kodak Black with the Lil Big Pac mixtape and sampled consistently by The Diplomats. There are literally so many examples I can keep going

So the point of the post is Pac was not a gangster rapper he was a conscious rapper, and he has more influence than the gangster image. And if you’re such a Kanye fan which I am too I beg of you to do some more research on 2Pac because 2Pac is Kanye’s idol and it isn’t for being a gangster, it’s for being a very young thoughtful intelligent artist who lost his life to due to some bullshit.

It isn’t always people being programmed, there just truly is more to Pac’s influence than a lot of you clearly realize.

I think rap is the only culture where its people and outsiders actively denounce legends for no good reason, Kanye is my favorite rapper and has more or equal influence to any other rapper but there still is a certain amount of respect that should be shown to Pac that is NOT being shown in these replies and it makes me sad because our culture is not being protected or reserved. In 30 years young rap fans are going to talk about Ye this way and it is sad. Lets respect the legends and give them their actual due credit, not just saying “no disrespect” while having a very clear lack of knowledge and respect

Just chill with the “its not even close” s***

Some of the biggest rappers of all time are largely influenced by Pac

Like again I’m not against niggas picking Ye but all that its not even close s*** is disrespectful

I never said Pac was just a gangster rapper but that’s ultimately what his image was tied to and remembered for. It inspired a lot of gangster rappers from Wayne to even Kendrick but I think Pacs lasting influence is as a symbol, not for his music or his rapping style. A lot of rappers love the symbol of Pac being a gangster who wasn’t afraid to die for what he believed in even if it meant being the only one in the room to say what was on his mind and that’s what they attach to Pac. But ultimately that’s his influence. Kendrick, KRIT, Cole can all say they’re influenced by Pac but ultimately their music is a lot more influenced by the artists that came after him and really the influence is coming more from Eminem/Wayne/Kanye for Kendrick, Outkast/Three 6 for KRIT and Jay Z for J Cole

Pac is known for a gangster image to people who don’t know much about him. Anybody who knows anything about Pac understands he was much more than that, and you can’t tell somebody who was openly influenced by him that they weren’t. Influence translates in different ways because people sound different.

Kendrick is definitely inspired by both sides of Pac and you can hear it in his music, and I definitely hear a strong influence with Pac in the way that Cole writes, Cole’s writing is a lot more similar than Pac and Nas than it is to Jay Z (im not saying Jay Z isn’t an influence to Cole they all are) and even Ye has a strong Pac influence in his writing style especially on his first 2 albums and he says so himself and those albums went onto to influence so much s***.

Pac’s influence is in his image, but also his content and writing style. I think production just changed a lot since he died so its hard to hear when someone is inspired by him but that doesn’t mean people are. Its just when they are they’re gonna use a different type of production usually

Influence is linear bro, its not something that dies. Pac’s influence is still alive and felt just like the people who inspired Pac.

Cole, Ye, Kendrick and many other huge rappers would disagree with you and the way you’re talking about Pac. It isn’t informed or respectful and I urge you to do more research on Pac.

/thread

2pac by a good bit, could do a full breakdown but this article should tell you something

vogue.com/article/meet-akiko-rapper-learned-english-from-tupac-songs