Best rapper

[KCattheStripe]

The Reggie Jackson Award ( not the best but in the discussion) goes to: Gym Class Heroes.

[Schupac]

Yeah MattG.  I like them too, but after a lot of listens I tired of them.  Handlebars is one of the catchiest songs of the year and it's top notch, but beyond that there isn't that much.

I picked up their CD 4-5 months ago and kind of played it out, so maybe I have no one to blame but myself.

[Amir]

Mos Def

[indeedproceed]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xSfDiKiJzU

You guys are nuts. Gym Class Heros? Flobots? You're talking about the best out there, alive.

I mean really its pretty cut and dry. If you wanna look at their entire career, its Jay-z, with eminem, Nas, taking close but nope honors. Then you got guys like Talib, Mos Def, etc (Black Thought for my money. Its the dude from the Roots)...they just don't have the sample size big enough to compete.

Then, it becomes all about taste if you wanna say whos the best rapper right now. I think its Lupe, but I mean I could see other opinions.

Not Flotbots or Gym Class Heros.

[indeedproceed]

Mos Def

Black on Both Sides and Blackstarr Mos Def is totally different than anything else he's done. Black on Both sides is a top 25 rap albums all time for me..the rest? not so much...

[MaxPowers]

I'm not one for ranking anyone or thing by numbers...but these are my favorite rappers.

Ghostface
RZA
GZA
Vinnie Paz
Immortal Technique
Talib Kweli
Mos Def
Common
Chino XL
NAS

everyone else to me is in a class below in terms of commanding their flow and artistry or wordplay.

[MaxPowers]

If anyone hasn't heard Jedi Mind Tricks or Army of the Pharoahs, you seriously need to drop what you're doing and download some of their tracks. Vinnie Paz has some great basketball/crack dealing lines:
"I push tha rock and I Buck like I'm Michael Redd"

[MaxPowers]

I'm also a huge Rakim and Kool G Rap fan when it comes to old school. I saw Rakim at Rock the Bells in New York last year. He tore that $#!% up. I'm a huge Rage fan as well, and that was single handedly the best show I ever have or will see. By the way, in case you Rage fans haven't heard Zach has a new band with the drummer from Mars Volta called One Day As A Lion. It's unbelievably good. His lyrics on that album alone put him on my list as top MCs as well, and I have a unhealthy obsession with Rage and Zach as it is.

[boom]

Immortal Technique
Nas
Joe Budden
Talib Kweli
Jay Z
Eminem
Rakim
Common
Lupe Fiasco
Kanye West

Little Wayne and The Game couldn't touch anyone on the above list. Seriously, people placing these two rappers that high is why hip hop is in the state it is right now. Nothing but bubble gum ringtone rap. It's disgusting. And to think that The Game wants beef with Jay Z? He got rocked by Joe Budden, how is he going to go up against arguably the best rapper to ever live? What a joke.

[davemonsterband]

He's not a rapper per se, but I'm going with G. Love and the hip hop blues. I grew up in Nova Scotia fishing cod, drinking Golden Glow and snaring rabbits, the philosophies of rap, while appreciated and well respected, elude me...you'll never see this guy being the guy at the beginning of Office Space who's stuck in traffic. I like acid and mushroom jazz, as close as I get.

[MattG12]

Immortal Technique
Nas
Joe Budden
Talib Kweli
Jay Z
Eminem
Rakim
Common
Lupe Fiasco
Kanye West

Little Wayne and The Game couldn't touch anyone on the above list. Seriously, people placing these two rappers that high is why hip hop is in the state it is right now. Nothing but bubble gum ringtone rap. It's disgusting. And to think that The Game wants beef with Jay Z? He got rocked by Joe Budden, how is he going to go up against arguably the best rapper to ever live? What a joke.

the game can do a lot more than just touch joe budden.

[Celtic Justice]

Nas, Tupac, Eminem, Immortal Technique, Vinny Paz (from Jedi Mind Tricks), Big L

I think Jay-z's overrated, never was into what he was rapping bout, he definetly has a nice flow, but his content just doesn't interest me...esspecially once he got too commericial

take lil wayne off this list....i dont know how ppl are pumping him up so much, he's terrible

[P2]

Wow, obviously you guys only listen to Eastcoast. My Top 5 (the first 4, in my opinion, have released at least one legendary album):

1. MC Eiht
2. Dr. Dre
3. The Game
4. Snoop Dogg
5. Brotha Lynch Hung

[shookones99]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xSfDiKiJzU

You guys are nuts. Gym Class Heros? Flobots? You're talking about the best out there, alive.

I mean really its pretty cut and dry. If you wanna look at their entire career, its Jay-z, with eminem, Nas, taking close but nope honors. Then you got guys like Talib, Mos Def, etc (Black Thought for my money. Its the dude from the Roots)...they just don't have the sample size big enough to compete.

Then, it becomes all about taste if you wanna say whos the best rapper right now. I think its Lupe, but I mean I could see other opinions.

Not Flotbots or Gym Class Heros.

Great call on Black Thought.  I completely blanked on him.    I agree that Lupe is the best out there now.  The Cool is the album of the year IMO just above Unititled.

[PerkinsERA43]

The thing that bothers me the most about lil wayne is that his flow is actually good. Like, his songs are popular because they have catchy beats and good flow. The lyrics suck, and he is the most stereotypical rapper out there (and by that I mean he is exactly what the rap-haters hate about rap).  If I hear Lollipop one more time, I'm honestly going to put a bullet in my head.

best rappers (current):

Kanye West
Nas
Lupe Fiasco
Jay-Z
Talib Kweli
Dre
Eminem (top 5 all time in terms of flow/rhyme scheme)
and of course.... JURASSIC 5 BABY