Hip-Hop & Rap / “Who IS the BEST Rapper?”

January 19, 2012

The legendary question that is asked Time and Time again amongst hip-hop/rap listeners: “Who’s the best rapper?”

it's NOT that simple im afraid......

As an eclectic Hip-hop listener there are a few things that people MUST realise before they ask this question.

1) Not all Hip-Hop/Rap is the Same: Just like any other “Parent Genre” of music Hip-Hop or “Rap” as it is commonly referred, Has sub-genres or Categories.

ie. Country Music: Red-Dirt, Americana, Honky Tonk. Rock: Alternative, Heavy metal, grunge, punk

For an even MORE direct example…

Gucci Mane

Common

TOTAL

OPPOSITES!

however, most people will group and judge Hip-Hop under one umbrella. Heck even religions have separate denominations (Christian: Baptist, Disciple etc.)

Now, I’m not going to go full in on each Genre of Rap music however there needs to be a CLEAR disambiguation between the type of rap music there is… different strokes for different folks type of thing, moving on.

2) Hip-Hop/Rap is like a Sport: The comparison here is that not all ARTISTS are created equal either, hell some rappers I have a REAL hard time even CALLING artists but i digress.

ie. In football you have a variety of positions… you can’t compare the worlds greatest Kicker to the worlds Greatest Quarterback… they do different things

ladies who like to accessorize: you can’t compare the worlds Sexiest Earrings to the worlds Sexiest Belt JUST because they’re clothing accessories

Car-Audiophiles: you can’t compare the worlds greatest sub to the worlds greatest set of tweeters

get it?

cool!

Now, as a poet and self-proclaimed “Nerd,” I’m the first person to admit that I am NOT a sports fan but the general principle here Still stands. Certain rappers are good for certain things and people. They have their on genre and their own target audience.

What’s that you say? Examples? Sure here you go!

Just some examples of how the sounds and or Styles can even be different.

Some rappers are so talented, versatile, very popular or have enough tenure to adapt to almost any genre and appeal to a wider audience without sounding stupid. Most of these artists are the ones who do lots of features (guest appearances) with OTHER artists regardless of Rap-Genre or REGULAR genre.