Dart's Top 50 G.O.A.T. Emcees List (As Of February 2008)

nomos

nomos

Administrator
stelfox said:
there's no way that anyone who likes hip-hop can't find this a compelling and frequently astounding record
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well i'll go back and have a listen but i might have to prove you wrong, because i really do like hip-hop but i've never liked him. you're right that his image has inflected the whole thing for me but i didn't know anything about that when i first heard it.
 
M

mms

sometimes
polz said:
i like BDP a lot, but KRS-One 2nd place? The way he tends to emphasize every word sometimes sounds like someone at an office party "rapping" ("who protects us from you", his preaching on by all means necessary)

never liked 2pac and biggie
never understood the fuss around rakim, nas or jay-z
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so what mcs do you actually like??
 
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crackerjack

Well-known member
No women at all? Agree about Shante, and where's Lyte?

And Lauryn Hill? Before she lost her locks and her marbles she was fucking incredible.
 
nomos

nomos

Administrator
polz said:
never understood the fuss around rakim, nas or jay-z
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It was the First Commandment of the Canonical Elders that Rakim should top any and every list of hip-hop MCs for all eternity. I do like him but it would be nice to see the top 10 shaken up once in a while.

For my tastes, I'd have put Sadat X higher and jettisoned Puba. GZA definitely ahead of Melle Mel. And I'd add Jeru and Baby Bam in there. Kool Keith would be near the top along with Q-tip and MF Doom/Zevlove X too. Maybe one or two more from Hiero. And like I said Ramm has to be near the top not only for being one of the most inventive people on the mic so early, but for influencing so many others. Actually I'd put Busy Bee in there too because of his charm.
 
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gumdrops

Well-known member
Sick Boy said:
Don't be ridiculous.
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how can grime have a respectable top 50 when its only been going for a fraction of the time hip hops been going? sure you could name 50 grime mcs but once you get past maybe number 20 its going to start looking a bit shit.
 
S

Sick Boy

All about pride and egos
gumdrops said:
how can grime have a respectable top 50 when its only been going for a fraction of the time hip hops been going? sure you could name 50 grime mcs but once you get past maybe number 20 its going to start looking a bit shit.
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He said 50 MCs who are ANY GOOD AT ALL.

I can list 50 MCs who are very talented right off the top of my head. It obviously wouldn't look very canonical because of the time the genre has been around, but that's not what he was saying. He was being a prick.
 
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gumdrops

Well-known member
forget canonical, that list polz just made gets to 50 and the quality is STILL pretty damn high. you get to 50 for grime and whos going to be there? one of the hoodstars?!
 
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crackerjack

Well-known member
thanks Polz.

So that's actually a top 60 given the number of ties (and glad to see Lyte scraped in).

Some questions:

Were Big L and LL alphabetically conjoined or something?

Why is Ice Cube so low?

Am I the only person who thinks Redman should be in the top 10? I know he's not the greatest lyricist, but he just livens up everything he touches.

Q-Tip < Treach???


Aceyalone is boring as hell.

And I repeat, where is Lauryn Hill?
 
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stelfox

Beast of Burden
Sick Boy said:
Don't be ridiculous.
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in a list of 50 you'd have maybe 20 top-class MCs, the rest of the list would get progressively worse. it would be a great-to-mediocre running order, not a list of truly awesome artists. it isn't a big enough scene and hasn't been around long enough to do this. constant comparisons to hip-hop do not help it, either. it's a small, immature scene that's growing older and wiser, but it's just not that established yet. i'm not slagging grime off — i'm the last person to do that – just being realistic.
 
S

stelfox

Beast of Burden
Sick Boy said:
He said 50 MCs who are ANY GOOD AT ALL.

I can list 50 MCs who are very talented right off the top of my head. It obviously wouldn't look very canonical because of the time the genre has been around, but that's not what he was saying. He was being a prick.
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you really can be quite rude and obnoxious, sick boy. 50 who are any good at all *is* a stretch. i stand by that statement. you'd have some greatness at the start, then a lot of people who don't really deserve to be in lists, really, just people who can get by in grime, but are not genuinely good MCs. i'm not being a prick, it's just a fact.
 
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fokse vektaire xeven

fokse vektaire xeven

Arab Nazi
stelfox said:
theres no way that anyone who likes hip-hop can't find this a compelling and frequently astounding record
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verdicts being the warp and woof of the aesthetic experience ;) , absolute judgments like this- along with these best of lists etc.- are near pejorative as they allow no room for variance. they are only functional discursively as points of potential disagreement. it's too subjective to be a one size fits all situation... i can assure you plenty of people who take hip hop seriously have little interest in this record, just as many undoubtedly do.
the point is it set a formula which seemed ultimately divisive and damaging to nyc hip hop. it was undeniably a watershed of sorts- but i didn't think it a good one. though like i said i like a couple of the tunes!
"who's in your top ten? is it emcee shan, is it emcee ren?" (/nas) i see poor shan didn't make the cut. del the funkee homosapien? :confused:
as an out of leftfield inclusion i would have had scaramanga shallah in there, unlikely as i know it is. he only had five minutes in the sun- but he shone :cool:
 
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