Rap fans loves to debate who the best rapper dead or alive is. Is it Biggie, Pac, Big Pun, Jay-Z, Eminem? The list goes on and on and there are solid arguments to be made for almost all.
However, Queens MC Nas says "there is no best or greatest mc."
In an interview with Vibe, Nas breaks down his reasoning.
"It makes sense temporarily when you’re striving to be number one. It makes sense for [the fans] to see that, but you have a long run to be the greatest. To me, people already felt like they were [the greatest] in more ways than they should have and I think that hurt them. There is no greatest of all time. We won’t know that until we’re 60 years old. I think there will be like four to five great ones at the end of the day, but there will be none that’s greater than the other. Impossible."
"Jay-Z is showing you: I won’t be stopped ever. And that’s motivation for everyone else."
I would like to think I [fall in the four or five greatest] ’cause Biggie and Pac did it and they died young. It’s hard to jump up in that category, though. You might look back and say that ODB was the best because he expresses something that you might find [interesting] 20 years later. You might find something that you never thought at this time was incredible."
Prodigy of Mobb Deep made a very similar argument months ago in a letter from prison when he wrote "there are a lot of greats, it would be unfair to single out 1 as the greatest."
Instead of listing a top 5 best rappers, Prodigy listed a top 40 that had no significance in the order. Prodigy's handwritten list lumps in groups, duos and solo MCs all together. Check it out below.
So are they right? Is it impossible to have a definitive top 5 Greatest Rappers Ever?
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