Personally I’ll go with Zay, Thugger, Yung Booke, and Shad Da God. It’s crazy that before then I’d always get annoyed by the type of music my friends used to play and insist that I wanna play my own tunes

Guess it also comes with maturing, as I’m now open minded to different kinds of rap and cool with the trap rap people play. I cringe looking back too glad I gained more self awareness

Lil Yachty

I’d have to say B.o.B RaRa Shad da God Spodee T.I. Tokyo Jetz Trae tha Truth Young Dro Yung Booke

ti king album

thug

Prolly Uzi or Carti

Real asf

Carti and Young thug

i still can't listen to any of that trap crap

griselda saved rap

jk lol future

future, rick ross and thug

Thug & Future up there

Chief Keef

Flocka

Never had it tbh never really boxed anyone in if moved me then it’s “real”

Kanye, probably

I'd even say OF in late 2010/early 2011.

that wasn’t the first album/artist I listened to that I didn’t consider “real” hip hop (keep in mind this is back in the early 2000s when real hip hop = underground lyrical miracle backpack s***. not saying ti isn’t real hip hop.. just at the time my definition of “real” hip hop was diff)

But it was def the tipping point. After that album I was f***ing w anything w rap in it.. and not just backpack s***.

Rocky, Q, Waka

young thug after stoner dropped (2014)

Champagne

First male rapper for me who was making s*** like 5am and I get lonely too

kanye west - yeezus

Honorable mention: Keef

i never subscribed to this mentality. i stanned Lil Wayne

Chief Keef
Young Thug

both definitely opened my eyes a lot more when they were coming up

although I never had that mentality bc i never originally came into hiphop through very lyrical rap

damn trae? based

basic answer it was either

or

i'd heard three 6 n some houston rappers as a kid but didn't think they were different to pac, then i was downloading tech n9ne discog and then...