Which rapper do you think, old/new, best represents hip hop

[emin3m_stan]

This is all pretty arbitrary. Wreck's classification seems to be who is the greats.

Anyway, similar to name, when I was younger Mos Def and Talib Kweli seemed to encapsulate Hip Hop for me.

Specifically this song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeTnog5RRQo

I was just about to say Mos Def & Talib, glad you mentioned them, cause I totally agree. Two dope MCs who don't get quite as much recognition as they deserve.

Common is the same way. I Used To Love Her- probably the best storytelling song in hip hop history.

& Edit: Big L is one of the best, I totally forgot about him, mistakenly, emin3m_stan.

In fact my top 5 rappers of all are:

01. Eminem
02. 2pac
03. Nas
04. Jay-Z
05. Big L

With Biggie being in the mix/conversation.

2GunzUp, I like Jeezy's music, but he's not lyrical at all, not even in the least bit, or stretch of an argument. 50 isn't lyrical either. He's not a gangsta rapper, he's a wanna-be gangster rapper, pop artist, who I think people talk about all the time, but who I feel is totally underrated a lot.

Id swap Jay-Z for Dr Dre personally love the rest of the list bro.

[Wreck]

Lil Kim is underated she would eat Niki poser Minaj for breakfast wouldnt even class Niki Minaj as Hip Hop old school shits on new school.

Lauryn Hill still the best women to ever rap.

Agreed, Lil Kim is horrible.

Only reason The Source gave her a 5 mic rating, is because she was fucking one of the writers that reviews the albums. So it's a biased review basically.

& emin3m_stan, I like Dre's music but:

01. Jay has had a lot of classic albums, Dre has only had 2, so limited material, in order to compare the 2.

02. Dre doesn't even write his own lyrics. Em, Snoop, Xzibit, Jay, Royce, etc. have all ghostwritten for him, speaking about the Chronic 2001 album that is.

03. Even though Jay bites his lyrics, which I absolutely hate, he isn't original for that, but he doesn't even write lyrics, he thinks of them in his mind, & records the song based off of lyrics composed in his head. Now that's pretty amazing/incredible I would say.

[Blu]

Mos Def always had that image of "hip-hop" to me.

Just look at this picture, that shit's hip-hop right there:


Pac was just the image of the black struggle, like Eminem was with white America. They may have impacted the game, but there was nothing really significant with their acts. I mean, when you look at Em, do you really go, "Oh, that's hip-hop right there." Probably not, in fact you probably say that when you look at Pac more than when you look at Em.

Same goes for the other artists.

This is all pretty arbitrary. Wreck's classification seems to be who is the greats.

[Wreck]

Mos Def always had that image of "hip-hop" to me.

Just look at this picture, that shit's hip-hop right there:


Pac was just the image of the black struggle, like Eminem was with white America. They may have impacted the game, but there was nothing really significant with their acts. I mean, when you look at Em, do you really go, "Oh, that's hip-hop right there." Probably not, in fact you probably say that when you look at Pac more than when you look at Em.

Same goes for the other artists.

This is all pretty arbitrary. Wreck's classification seems to be who is the greats.

Very good points here, I agree.