Billboard Reveals List of the 10 Greatest Rappers of All Time

Last weekend, Billboard released a series of "greatest of all time" lists. Among various lists, there was one for the best rappers that ever existed.
With heavyweights like Ghostface Killah, Nas, and Notorious BIG, the list presents some controversies and/or omissions that have caused discord among fans of the genre.
Check out the following list of the ten greatest rappers of all time, according to Billboard.

10 - Lil Wayne

Lil Wayne's commercial success speaks for itself -- just ask Elvis, whom Weezy surpassed three years ago as the top artist on the Hot 100 of Billboard. But putting that aside, his dizzying series of mixtapes, albums, and collaborations from 2004 to 2009 is undoubtedly the most prolific example of meticulous quality that hip-hop has ever seen. No MC has rhymed as well over such a long period of time.

9 - Kendrick Lamar

Unlike many legends from the '80s, the greatest rappers of the '90s -- from Jay Z to Andre 3000 -- maintained relevance in the next decade and beyond. One of the reasons for this is that the techniques remained the same until Kendrick Lamar came along. From his triple and quadruple time rhythms, his ad-lib layerings, and his multi-personality voices, the Compton rapper is undoubtedly the greatest craftsman of rap to emerge in this millennium, his lyrical content has never suffered. His last three albums  -- Section.80, Good Kid Mad City and To Pimp a Butterfly -- are three of the most vivid and current.

8 - Ghostface Killah

The Wu-Tang Clan established itself as one of the most consistent hip-hop collectives of the '90s, with each member bringing a different vibe for RZA to shape sonically. Ghostface Killah stood out among them as the most lyrically skilled, his rhymes were coded in terms and intricately woven together like a complete machine. In his solo tracks, where he was more comfortable, he played with rhyme schemes like a professional to craft some of the best releases in rap over the last two decades.

7 - Lauryn Hill

As one of the most versatile artists in hip-hop, Lauryn Hill propelled her group The Fugees in the '90s with professor-level raps and velvet vocals. However, it was with her debut album in 1998, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, that she truly came into her own. Her ability to hit a fierce nerve ("Lost Ones") and then switch to a sentimental ballad ("Ex Factor") was just a mark of her artistic genius on the project, something that few have managed in their records since then.

6 - Andre 3000

As the better half -- no offense to the also impressive Big Boi -- of Outkast, Andre 3000 was a flexible anchor bringing five impeccable albums to the group, unparalleled by any other hip-hop act of the time in terms of quality, success, and innovation. Of course, that was Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, which was truly double, and Andre's half was undoubtedly one of the most influential of the 21st century, showcasing later stars like:Drake, Lil Wayne, Kanye, or any artist with that eclectic melancholic sentimental vibe of today.

5 - Nas

Before his debut album, Illmatic, he had significant hype from critics and fans who called him the next Rakim. Twenty years later, Illmatic is widely regarded as the best hip-hop album in history, a perfect blend of street poetry and dream team production -- with Stillmatic and It Was Written being other excellent works in his catalog. Even his compilation of leftovers The Lost Tapes is better than most albums from other rappers. Need more proof that Nas deserves to be here? He defeated none other than Jay Z in the greatest lyrical battle of all time, with perhaps the cruelest diss of all, "Ether."

4 - Rakim

The line between old-school and new-school is not a year; it's a person: Rakim. His debut album with Eric B, Paid In Full, was a quantum leap in terms of microphone techniques, from complex internal rhyme schemes to his smooth flow delivery. He also built an image never seen before through his lyrics - criminal, intellectual, god, and everything at once -- and laid out a blueprint for rappers from Nas to Kendrick Lamar, which is still followed today by various other artists.

3 - Eminem

Shock rap often remained underground, with rappers like Ill Bill and Necro thriving, but Eminem is one of the few who broke through and brought it to the mainstream. Thanks to his "beep," rhymes about rape, murder, drug abuse, and other subjects were delivered in a tongue-twisting manner. All of this could be seen as attention-seeking ways to keep his name in the spotlight if it weren't so technically impressive.

2 - Jay Z

Jay Z used to employ a much less relaxed, agile flow, as evidenced by his debut album Reasonable Doubt, but he developed significant skill in the years leading up to its release. This improved with each album through his tight flows and clever wordplay delivery. Since his emergence, the Brooklyn rapper has developed a remarkable discography featuring fully consistent rhymes, with numerous classics.

1 - Notorious B.I.G

Dying young can often make you a hip-hop star, but Notorious B.I.G. hit his peak stardom early in his career. His storytelling rhymes drawn directly from his experiences on the streets of Brooklyn materialized in his instant classic Ready To Die, a wild mosaic of visual rhymes delivered with masterful language skill. By the time his group Junior M.A.F.I.A released their debut album, his second bold double album Life After Death was on the shelves, and at the time of his death in March 1997, he was already considered the greatest rapper of all time. Unlike anyone else on this list, Biggie never released a bad song or single, not even a vague line.
 
Source: Rap24Horas