That Amerikka’s Most Wanted/Death Certificate practically invented that one two punch tho, there’s a lot of similarities there actually. Ultimately the cube ones are more important though

Chris Rock talks about seeing cube live at the Apollo and the atmosphere being like he was Hendrix or something. He had a crazy impact and aura and was THE guy, I think he actually had one of the highest peaks ever with that run as well

okay @insertcoolnamehere been a minute since I've bumped this and I forgot how nice Wayne was at his prime lmao easily top 5, take Biggie out, I apologize

You could swap out Big with Nas

If anything, put Cube ahead of Wayne then, but imma be real I'm taking Wayne over Cube as a lyricist overall

Wayne was insane man I was violating

Was listening to this Wayne verse yesterday when Speakerboxxx / The Love Below turned 20

Incredible

He said

Make a movie of our lifestyle, but they earn
Like a dead body burned on the mantle piece
That's why I try not to lie on wax like it's candle grease

Yeah Wayne top 5

Wayne really is just nuts with the bars man he just lets it shine the most on his tapes but even on his albums/features he was/is snapping

But those tapes were just

His best man goddamn

NEVER GIVE A B**** MONEY BLOOD OR KIDNEYS

I BEEN AROUND STILL AROUND LIKE THEM GEICO CAVEMEN

Yeah the only thing holding Wayne back is that a lot of his best work ain’t on streaming
Regardless
Objectively top 5

I'm on the Wayne objectively top 5 train

If anything his mixtapes being his best s*** just makes for a rawer case for that top 5. Like that's hip hop

South deserves rep in the top 5 too I mostly listen to southern rap. Texas and Tennessee especially but GA/LA/FL are great too any many other states

That’s a tough one tbh

This is probably how I’d do it right now

1. Nas
2. Jay
3. Pac
4. Rakim
5. Wayne

6. Cube
7. Scarface
8. Big
9. KRS
10. Drake

I'm going, as far as an "objective" top 10, factoring in album quality/rap skill/influence/catalog size/popularity in total:

1) Nas
2) Jay Z
3) 2pac
4) Lil Wayne
5) Kendrick Lamar
6) Drake
7) Eminem
8) Ice Cube
9) Rakim
10) Lupe Fiasco

no real order for 6-10 but that's probably my order for 1-5

Very interesting with the Lupe pick. I thought of him, black thought, Ghostface, and Kool G rap but when I’m tryna be objective it’s tough with them

Not mad at that list but my only thought is LL might deserve a spot given the criteria

My personal top 10, going off the strength of lyricism alone even if I don't love their music per se, would be

1) Rakim
2) Kool G. Rap
3) Paris
4) Mos Def
5) Nas
6) Pharoahe Monch
7) Ras Kass
8) AZ
9) Andre 3000
10) Black Thought

no order

Only Paris, Mos, Nas, Monch, and 3 stacks have ever made something I've truly loved in terms of albums though

Dope. In my heart I lowkey want to rank Mos Def as #1 on a real list but his catalog makes it a little tough to justify lol. He and Andre are probably the two most perfect rappers in a vacuum to me

idk, other than that December 99th project and True Magic he's got a pretty crazy catalog

Who is Paris

Really good conscious rapper from the early 90s. Still active and dope today too, fwiw he was a big influence on Eminem

Em & Drake & Kanye over Nas???