[goneParticipant]

Top 10 lyricist of all time?
Mine

1. Rakim
2. Tupac
3. Nas
4. Biggie
5 Krs One
6. Big daddy Kane
7 kool g rap
8 Jay z
9. Black thought
10. Mos def

Just missed: lupe, Andre 3000, jadakiss, chuck d

[LeroyJenkinsParticipant]

1. John Cena

2. John Cena

3. John Cena

4. John Cena

[Malik-UniversalParticipant]

lmaoooooooooooooo leroy…

ur list isnt bad… i dont see how people like mos def… i dont think hes bad… but i dont seem to grip his style very well

can someone actually explain his lyrical style

cuz i have no idea

and lupe is DA BOMB!!!

and pac shouldnt be on that list… he wasnt a great lyrist… not bad, but i think overrated in terms of lyrical ability

[DanEboyParticipant]

Guru is top 10 in my book.

[apb540Participant]

Tupac was a great lyricist so idk what your talking about Universal. 

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

I love Guru as well DanEBoy, as GangStarr is my favorite group, but I do not know he is in my 10.

1. Biggie (I flip on this often, but to me he was the best)

2. KRS-One

3. Rakim

4. Big Daddy Kane

5. Nas

6. Kool G Rap

7. Common

8. Eminem

9.  Jay-Z

10. Tupac

Incredibly difficult to make this list, have a lot more difficulty than I feel I used too. Others I love include many listed by WizKid, Black Thought, Mos Def, Talib Kweli (who says things I can not believe at times, ridiculously gifted), Pun, and you have to respect what Chuck D was talking about. Also love Posdnuos, Q-Tip, Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal, think MF Doom is crazy, Paul Barman may not be the best, but he is crazy. Honestly, Chuck D thinks LL Cool J is one of the best, and of course Canibus gets brought up there. I am probably leaving many out, Method Man can spit fire (as can Redman), Jeru the Damaja dropped classics, Raekwon, OutKast (Dre and Big Boi), Slick Rick (Who was usually always in my top 10), Del (Ice Cube’s cousin, and Cube wrote a lot of great stuff), Pep Love, Ill Bill speaks the truth, Pharaohe Monche and Busta Rhymes are fire as well. Also, for newer guys, Phonte, Elzhi and Royce. Jadakiss is definitely my favorite of the Lox, and I think Apathy kills tracks on the regular and I have a lot of respect for Immortal Technique. Very hard for me to make a top 10 list, but I am happy with my top 5. After that, it gets tricky.

"While you try to sound all hip-hoppy, I inspire the leaders that you copy….."-Paul Barman, Props: The guy is hilarious and he is just flat out smart. Prince Paul took him in from the jump and he gets fantastic production and tends to murder tracks. Plus his commentary on things in hip hop and society are just spot on at times. I feel he MURDERS this track, which is at least produced by ?uesto (one of the leaders many copy).

[OhCanada-Participant]

Biggie is the most overrated MC ever. 2Pac is the most underrated, you can never put into terms the impact he had on the world, and if you werent there to feel it you missed out. Tupac tried to make a difference with his lyrics, he tried to fix many issues with our world and he was getting it done until he left us. No rapper comes close, lyrically sure they do but, Hip Hop is more then just words looped over a beat..

BTW noone who listens to Lil B, that new Prep School Gangster Skateboarder Group, Wiz Khalifa, Rick Ross, etc. is aloud to post in this thread. Whoever says Lil B is Top 10 gets negatives for life on every post they make.

[DanEboyParticipant]

Thank you OhCanada. Biggie to me is kind of whack. I never was a fan. He had good samples and beats but his lyrics were too ‘champagne and caviar dreams’ for me.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

I am kidding Bonner, you are great lyricist, but a Raptor fan, so your opinion does mean next to nothing.

Kidding again. But, I call Bull$hit on your Biggie criticism. I mean, you are kind of up your own @ss on this one dude, I LOVED Tupac as a kid, enough to think that Biggie was garbage as a kid and so on and so forth. But, as I grew more accepting of all hip-hop in general, and realized how ridiculous most beefs truly were (the Tupac/Biggie beef being maybe the most overplayed one EVER), I listened to the music of Christopher Wallace. His flow and lyrics, are incredible to me, and many other people.

If you are talking about content, you may have a point. Also, Tupac was definitely a poet and was very socially conscious. Yet, he played up the gangster persona just as much if not more than Biggie, especially near the end of his life, and even if Biggie "jacked his style", as Pac claims he did, well, Biggie owned it. The authenticity and cadence of his words are on a different level. If you do not understand that, well, that is your opinion, but in my mind YOU my friend, are missing out.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and do not act like I do not have an intimate knowledge of the catalogue and history of Tupac, because you would be sadly mistaken. But, to me, Pac is usually the one who is overrated by many who do not necessarily have a wide view on hip hop music. I am not saying that is the case with you, as it seems you probably do have your own opinions here, but you also forget that he called this post "The Top Ten Lyricists of All Time". Yes, Hip Hop is much more than words looped over beats (whatever you meant by that), but lyrically, Biggie was a master. The way that guy put words together, and the skills he possessed as an MC, were ridiculous. He did not have the catalogue of music or the longevity Tupac did as an artist (after all, Tupac released music for a long time before Biggie even came on the scene. Not to mention, Tupac’s posthumous albums, in my mind, leave A LOT to be desired.), but his skills were not at all overrated in my opinion. 

DanEBoy, "Juicy" and "Sky’s the Limit". What else is under that category? I like Biggie tracks that many people leave out of his greats. Meaning I guess, I liked the stuff that Diddy (or whatever the hell he calls himself), did not put on the radio.

[i’m jus so offendedParticipant]

1. Lupe -unmatched, his metaphors and story telling are unreal, most people don’t even understand his ish

2. Eminem:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwyOfqbP8JU

3. Mos Def: example of Em, Mos, and Black Thought –   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbvgK1DMExM

4. Immortal Technique – Revolutionary underground story teller

5. Biggie – I just feel like his content wasn’t the same as the other guys, still top 5, probably top 3, i just have different opinion

6. Common – poet, story teller, has some of the best 2 bar lines ever

7. Kanye West – may take heat on this one but his lines are memorable and content is things not many will talk about/put themselves out there so much

8. Black Thought – so underrated, "dear diary, my fans still swear by me"

9. Joe Budden – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UE1lFpXcM0&feature=related (fuck Nicki)

10. Talib Kweli – another dude with great content, watch "Get By"

[i’m jus so offendedParticipant]

Nas needs to be top 5, get rid of Talib

[OrangeJuiceJonesParticipant]

 Jay Electronica, anyone? 

[McDunkin]

my favorite overall? Phonte

and i have always prefered big boi over andre 3000

[ProudGrandpaParticipant]

All Right, all ready, the show goes on…

[Malik-UniversalParticipant]

@ apb540

i have listened to tons of pac… in terms of lyrics he is overrated imo… he was a very good rapper no doubt… but his rhyme skehmes wernt that great… he influcned so many people… i like pac no doubt… but i think hes overrated in terms of his lyrical ability…

 

the messge in his lyrics were unreal in that apsect

[McDunkin]

This needs to come back…

[Author]

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