The Most Influential Rappers of All Time (in my opinion)

[MCheetah]

Who's the most influential rappers of all time? This is NOT "a list of my favorites." This is who I unbiasedly think are the most influential and greatest rappers of all time. Who are modern 16 and 17 year olds still going back to listen to, even today? Who has stood the test of time?

40) Will Smith

39) Kool G. Rap

38) little' Kim

37) Missy Elliot

36) Jadakiss

35) Beanie Siegel

34) Big Boi (Outkast)

33) Lauryn Hill

32) Joyner Lucas

31) Big Punisher/Fat Joe

30) Ice T

29) T.I.

28) Common

27) Mos Def

26) Kurupt

25) J. Cole

24) KRS-One

23) Scarface

22) Ghostface Killah

21) Method Man

20) Redman: Eminem and others have called him one of their favorite rappers.

19) Royce Da 5'9": Another underrated rapper who many sleep on.

18) Ludacris: He's another early to mid 2000's rapper who people seem to sleep on.

17) Rakim: He's one of the OG's and innovators of hip hop.

16) Kendrick Lamar: He's been ranked by many to be one of the best modern rappers today. I think he's alright.

15) 50 Cent: He was the biggest hip hop star in the mid 2000's.

14) Slick Rick: He was one of the Hip Hop originals and innovators in the late 80s.

13) LL Cool J: People seem to forget how popular LL Cool J was in the 90s.

12) Busta Rhymes: He has put out hits after hits after hits.

11) Dr. Dre: One of the West Coast innovators.

10) Andre 3000: He's on many people's Top Ten lists, surprisingly. I think he's okay, but wouldn't have personally put him in the top ten. But it doesn't matter what I think; people consider him one of the greats.

9) Nas (Overrated as F*ck): Many people liked Nas back in the day. I don't get why. I'm not a Zoomer; I actually grew up in the 90s. Nas was "influential," but I never understood why. Anyway, people say he's one of the greats, even though he's largely forgotten about nowadays, and I'm not going to be biased. But he has NOT stood the test of time.

8 ) Biggie Smalls (Overrated as F*ck): I liked Biggie Smalls. He was okay back in the day, but not a legend. Nobody under 30 listens to him anymore. Dare I say it (I know many will disagree), he has NOT stood the test of time.

7) Snoop Dogg: Snoop may be an old granddaddy nowadays, but he was one of the most influential.

6) Kanye West: Kanye is an arrogant egotist, but he knows how to produce music.

5) Ice Cube: NWA was one of the most influential groups in all of Hip Hop. Its too bad Ice Cube sold out to Hollywood, as well as Snoop Dogg. But still.

4) DMX: DMX is severely underrated, even today. His songs are still well known and he spent 7 years, from 1997 to 2004, on fire in the industry.

3) Jay-Z: He's been influential like very few. He's more of a businessman nowadays, but he's still a great rapper.

2) Tupac: Tupac Shakur was a legend in his own time, who never really got to shine due to a premature death by an unknown assailant (but we all know it was Puffy's hitman). Tupac was a lyricist and a poet, and still listened to, today.

1) Eminem: The greatest of all time. Everyone knows this. They try to deny this of Em, cause he's white. But everyone knows it. F*ckin'... EVERYONE! He's a master lyricist, master freestyler, and just a... Master of EVERYTHING in hip hop.

[Fuentes]

My top 5

2pac
Eminem
Jay Z
Dave East
G Herbo

[MCheetah]

Never heard of the last two, before.

[Fuentes]

Last two our kinda new but not new new Dave East is from Harlem and he is signed to Nas and he drops fire he played Method Man in the Wu Tang Saga tv series of there upcoming its pretty good and G Herbo is from Chicago and drops some flame bars too he raps about real stuff and the struggles of being use to ghetto and poverty but trying to always get better and live normal with the after affects

[Daniela1982]

Let's look at all the ones who were killed, probably by other jealous rappers.

[JesseJayNeak]

There are some I disagree with and also where's Kool Moe Dee? He's the one who changed hip hop forever

[Stoner710]

You forgot Tom McDonald

[MCheetah]

Who the hell is that?

Looking it up, he's a political conservative rapper.

[Stoner710]

Yea and he’s very influential all the rappers you mentioned are on the left

[MCheetah]

Not everything needs to be political. I'm so sick of politics.

[Stoner710]

Unfortunately everything in the United States is political even taking a shower is political in the United States, but aren’t you living in South Korea?