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Examining rap artists: Who is the best rapper ever?
By Grant Whitney ’17
March 30, 2017
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Since its conception and mainstream growth in the 1970’s and 1980’s, rap music has transformed into a diverse genre in American music, in terms of both sound and content. What began as simplistic rhyme schemes delivered by MCs like Melle Mel now includes a wide array of rappers, from Kendrick Lamar to Domo Genesis and more. The proliferation of rap invites the question: Who is the best rapper ever? This debate is highly contentious and wholly subjective, but I will attempt to answer nonetheless. Full disclosure: There will be no mention of Lil Yachty on this list—give him time.
Part of the difficulty in answering this question lies in the far-ranging role of rappers. For the purpose of this article, the ideal best rapper ever would excel in several categories: flawless delivery, meaningful content, consistently high quality raps and linguistic ability. Let’s break down each one of these elements.
Delivery involves a certain level of understanding of how to use tone and dynamics over the beat to express a message. It is closely intertwined with “flow”—the rhythmic element of rap—although not entirely the same thing. The Notorious B.I.G., or Biggie, was the indisputable master of both delivery and flow. His voice enhanced the beat through an uncanny ability to feel the music. “Hypnotize” is the archetype for perfect flow; it combines Biggie’s undefinable yet perfect “rap voice” with a seamless harmony of lyrics and instrumentals, all over Diddy’s absolutely filthy beat.
As flawless as Biggie’s delivery was, his unfortunate early death left us with only a small sample of his rapping ability. Moreover, the content of his rap focused more on materialism and a less-than-deep meaning of life than anything else. This area is where Nas excelled, particularly through arguably the greatest rap album of all time, Illmatic. The album immediately propelled Nas into rap royalty through its shockingly raw depiction of Queensbridge, NY. Nas’s ability to express the brutal truth about social injustice and modest life through complex, multisyllabic rhymes gave his rap enormous meaning. Very few rap albums, including Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, have incorporated such meaning into their songs.
As much as I would have liked to, I still can’t honestly call Nas the best rapper ever. None of his albums after Illmatic displayed the same virtuosity and authenticity. This highlights a common theme among rappers – the tendency to burn out or sell out to pop music. Very few rappers/rap groups have avoided this fate. Outkast released consistently fantastic albums throughout the 90s and early 2000s. However, neither André 3000 nor Big Boi have had impressive solo albums. Jay-Z may have been the biggest name in the rap game during that same time, as he released 12 solo albums in the 90’s and 2000’s, but Jay-Z’s raps generally lack the deep meaning seen in Illmatic and the rawness heard in Kendrick or N.W.A.’s music.
So who is the greatest of all time? Plenty of rappers have reliably shown ingenious flow, lyrics that make you think twice and a mastery of lyricism, but only one has displayed incredible talent in all these categories: Eminem. Ever since his debut in 1996, Eminem has pumped out album after album. He is the best-selling rap artist of all time. His delivery is uniquely combative. Eminem raps as if he has a personal vendetta against the beat, balancing harsh aggression and sarcasm with ease. While his content has garnered criticism for its outlandish lyrics, one listen through any of his albums tells a tortured story of his strained (at best) relationship with his mother and his deadbeat father, his fierce defense of his daughters, his tumultuous relationship with Kim Mathers and his disdain for music industry critics. Lyrically, Eminem is unparalleled. He layers rhyme over rhyme, often rhyming multisyllabic words both inside and across lines. A close analysis of his “Lose Yourself” reveals incredibly complex rhyme schemes without losing the content of his message. His demolition on Jay-Z’s “Renegade”—one of Jay-Z’s best and most sincere songs—proved that Eminem is on another level. We are lucky to have grown up with his music.
Of course, there is no objectively perfect rapper. Eminem will always have his die-hard supporters (Stans), just as Kendrick, Kanye and countless others will have theirs. Listening to Kendrick compete for the title of GOAT has been a pleasure, and I am excited for his future work. Feel free to send me your thoughts on the debate; I’ll always welcome the opportunity to listen to good rap music.
As a postscript, I thought long and hard about including 2Pac. 2Pac was an incredible artist, and he was arguably the most poetic rapper mentioned in this piece. His songwriting ability was among the best in the rap game, and I would argue that he would be the best rapper ever if rapping only consisted of artistry. But 2Pac made 11 studio albums to Biggie’s two, and we still can’t decide who is better between the two of them. I’m not convinced that 2Pac would have achieved the level of fame that he did were it not for Biggie.