The Best Rapper from Boston now is: SLAINE
The Best Rapper from the suburbs of Boston: Mic Stylz
The Best Conscious Rapper: Talib Kweli
The Best Political Rapper: Immortal Technique
The Best Rap Producer: RZA
The Best Rap group: Jedi Mind Trick
The Best Rap group ever: Wu Tang Clan
The Best Rapper: Jay-Z
The Best Rapper ever: Notorious
I was feelin your list until i saw best rap group and best rapper. I'm a huge fan of Jedi, but i can't put them down as the BEST rap group - jus allah isn't even with them anymore and he was definitely the best in that group after vinnie paz. They can't touch A Tribe Called Quest, Cypress Hill, or Bone Thugs (my vote).
Sorry but i'll take nas 10 times out of 10 over j-z, it's not even close in my opinion.
Jay-Z has the best resume any rapper who has ever lived and he's sick with it too. If where just going by rap I'd say Nas peaked higher than Jay-Z winning the battle with illmatic but losing the war with Career.
Remember Jay-Z is Nas's boss.
Jedi is the essence of hip-hop right now with no cooperate sponsorship.
After reading this entire thread I gotta say Jsaad's response here basically sums up my feelings(in fact everything he said in this thread is exactly what I would've said). If you want to talk about the best rapper he must rank highly in these categories:
-creativity
-originality of flow
-impact on the genre, on the us, and global(crossover appeal)
-record sales
-sheer sickness of the lyrics
-and of course, longevity
To me those are the main 6 factors you must consider in this argument and there's no doubt Jay-Z is among the top of all of those. Jay-Z has cast a giant shadow over hip-hop pretty much since Biggie died and it really hasn't been that close.
However if we're talking best rapper strictly based on lyrics...it's has to be Nas who is up there in almost every category though his impact hasn't been as wide and far-reaching. I submit that Illmatic is one of I think the top 5 greatest hip-hop albums of all time. Memory Lane is a song that to me just epitomizes Nas' style.
http://www.youtube.com/v/JXBFG2vsyCM&hl=en&fs=1It blends in perfectly with the hook. It's smooth yet relentless. It just keeps comin at you; it just flows like a river that just can't be stopped. And there really aren't any curse words. It's a work of art IMO and so is the whole album. Got my man Q-Tip from Tribe on One Love. It Ain't Hard to Tell is just a raw, gritty, grimy "My better is better than your better and there's nothing you can do about it" song. Nas was 20 when he released this album back in '94 and it still stands the test of time. Not surprisingly considering the time period. '92-'96 is widely considered hip-hops greatest period in terms of talent.