My top 10 favorite rappers/MCs/DJs

Links are to youtube or vimeo (*cough* Jay-Z on Tidal *cough*).
They're mostly NSFW lyrically.

In no particular numerical order, except via tiers:

S
1. Biggie
2. Gift of Gab
3. Q-Tip and Phife Dawg
4. Rakim

S-
5. Nas
6. Killer Mike
7. Jay-Z
8. Nelly
9. André 3000

A
10. Tupac
11. Nicki Minaj
12. Lil Wayne
13. Boots Riley
14. Eminem

I'll recognize the unquestionable brilliance of others such as Mike Shinoda too. I like Linkin Park and Fort Minor, sue me.

This list brought to you because I just watched Lin-Manuel Miranda do his top 5.

The criterion was personal preference, lyricism, and sound (generally). I concede my taste is confusing, inconsistent, questionably informed, and ordered unconventionally. I'm a fan not a head and I can't speak very intelligently about hip hop but I've had many good recs from my friend Dan Lee and Jesse Thorn (Bullseye).

Updated 29JUL2026.

Hey White People!

Black fathers, mothers, daughters, and sons are being murdered.

The state is essentially sanctioning these lynchings, and you aren't saying much of anything.

What many of you ARE saying is that "all lives matter," or looking for justification for the murders.

The rest of you aren't saying anything at all. You're posting about the fourth of July, or about emails that should have been more secured. Maybe you don't like to "get political."

It's fine to not get political if you're white, because you can afford to. This political cycle won't change much for you. You'll complain about Trump or Clinton for a few years.

Everything is political for black people; they have no choice, because they are dying at the hands of the state. They are dying for no reason, in most cases innocent. In the case of allegations, they are being executed instead of receiving trial.

I'm not choosing to write this because I'm a conservative or a liberal. I'm writing this because people are dying and few of my white friends are saying anything at all. My black friends are saying plenty, but I'm not convinced you're listening.

All lives won't matter until black lives matter, so save that s*** for another day. I chose to use that crass word, because it speaks to the nature of the "all lives matter" statement.

ALM is willful ignorance and white silencing of the devastation and horror that black families feel when their fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters are killed at the hands of those supposed to be protecting them. No one disputes that life matters. It's in our Declaration of Independence. We get it. It's supposed to matter.

I'm not blaming you or myself for hating black people, because most of you DON'T.

I'm not blaming you for anything.

But if you stay silent now, or the next time, or refuse to LISTEN and LEARN and EDUCATE yourselves, you are becoming complicit. Your silence is deafening. And that is worthy of blame.