Every rapper is a student of hip-hop. Before the glitz and the glam, they all grew up listening to the music and stan-ing their favorite rappers, and that's what keeps the hip-hop culture alive.
Answers to the million-dollar question of 'Who is your top-five rappers' always vary and depend on someone's economic and background status. So, it's not a surprise when a West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg mostly puts fellow West Coast rappers like Slick Rick and Ice Cube on his list while new-gen Lil Uzi Vert will tell you differently. It's all about personal preferences, and a favorite rapper doesn't have to be a household name either.
That's the beauty of hip-hop. It doesn't matter what color, what generation you come from, or who are the rappers that influence you. It's always about what message you can contribute to the culture. "Nothing has brought more races and more people from all different walks of life together than hip-hop," Eminem puts it best. "On the other flip side of that coin, we don't get to choose our parents. We don't get to choose what color we're born."
From Eminem to Pusha T to Kendrick Lamar, these are your 15 favorite rappers naming their favorite rappers.
15 Snoop Dogg
Favorite rapper: Snoop Dogg
Nobody knows about giving themselves a pat in the back more than Snoop Dogg. The Doggfather stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2017 and revealed his top-three list. " "Slick Rick, Ice Cube... and Snoop Dogg," the rapper said, followed by an enormous chanting from the audience.
"I want to thank me for believing in me, I want to thank me for doing all this hard work," Uncle Snoop said in 2018 during his Hollywood star acceptance speech. He followed it up with his 2019 self-appreciation album, I Wanna Thank Me.
14 Ice Cube
Favorite rapper: Chuck D
Ice Cube has named Chuck D of Public Enemy as his favorite rapper. Back in the late 80s, when Cube left NWA, the PE frontman mentored him for Cube's debut album as a solo artist, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted. "Chuck is my favorite rapper of all time, because of message and content," It Was A Good Day rapper said during his The Combat Jack Show interview. "[Those skills in Chuck D are] off the meters compared to any other rapper in the game. Salute to Chuck; he really kicked this off."
13 Eminem
Favorite rapper: LL Cool J
When he was a teen, young Marshall Mathers rapped to LL Cool J's I'm Bad, shirtless, to attract his highschool sweetheart Kimberly 'Kim' Scott. Decades later, LL sat in Eminem's car and drove around while blasting to Em's 2009 album, Relapse. In 2008, when LL stopped at Em's Shade 45 radio, the boss called the station, claiming as 'Jason from Miami' and mimicking LL's signature hits flawlessly. "I've been a fan forever ... When are we gonna hang out? I got a [TV] cable in my house," 'Jason from Miami' said. Watch the wholesome clip here.
12 Common
Favorite Rapper: Nas
Before Kendrick Lamar started popping up, Common was, and is still is, a household name in the conversation of the best conscious rappers. His favorite emcee? Nas, who was once collaborated with him on his 2011 song, Gettho Dreams, which serves as the lead single of his ninth studio album The Dreamer/The Believer. "Nas, that's my favorite. Nas is poetic with it, and I feel like if you write his lyrics on paper, it would be like literature," Common said during his interview at MSNBC's Morning Joe in 2011.
11 Pusha T
Favorite rapper: Big Daddy Kane
Nosetalgia rapper Pusha T has an opinion on the old school rivalry between lyrical marvel Rakim and Juice Crew frontman Big Daddy Kane. "Wrath of Caine (Pusha's mixtape) is basically, of course, the obvious play on the whole street life," the coke-rap trailblazer told MTV News in 2013. "But while I was recording it and getting it right, I came to the realization that Big Daddy Kane was better than Rakim ... Big Daddy Kane is probably one of the flyest, most influential rappers."
10 Drake
Favorite rapper: Lil Wayne
Drake wasn't lying when he proclaimed that "for anybody that doesn't believe in me, your favorite rappers do." His list of all-time favorite rappers range from Eminem to Andre 3000, but we have to credit Lil Wayne, who put a one million bid when he signed Drake to his Young Money imprint back in 2009.
9 Jay-Z
Favorite rapper: The Notorious B.I.G.
Jay-Z puts his longtime friend and legendary East Coast rapper, Christopher 'The Notorious B.I.G' Wallace, as his all-time favorite rapper. "Well, I guess I would choose him because of his ability to tell stories, to be humorous, to be dead serious. He just had it all," Jay said. In 2017, however, after accepting an award at The Songwriters Hall Of Fame, Jigga wrote an entire laundry list of his favorite rappers from old schools KRS-One and Chuck D to new school Drake and Mac Miller. See the full list here.
8 Kendrick Lamar
Favorite rapper: 2Pac
Young Kendrick Lamar witnessed his childhood idols, Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur, between the set of California Love music video. It inspired him to be what he is today.
His favorite rapper? "Tupac inspired me just the simple way of how he put his words together," Kungfu Kenny told Variety. "You really felt them, you felt the passion behind them. They meant something, not only to him, but when you heard it, you actually got a full experience rather than just words."
7 The Notorious B.I.G
Favorite rapper: Too $hort
"[Too $hort] That's my dog right there," Hypnotize rapper talked to Peace Magazine for their A Rate-The-Rappers Session with The Notorious B.I.G column. "That's my man. The caliber of shit he got. Cocktails shit, I ain't got to see that s**t yet. I know that s**t was hot! I was with him in Atlanta, and we were just kickin' it and s**t. That's my dog. I love that man."
6 Nicki Minaj
Favorite rapper: Jay-Z
No shade intended against Cardi B, but when it comes to being a wordsmith, Nicki Minaj holds the queen status. Jay-Z's classic The Blueprint was the reason why Anaconda rapper named her 2014 album The Pinkprint. "I think everybody knows how obsessed I am with Jay Z. He's always been my favorite rapper," she told Big Boy on Power 106 in 2014. "Him and Wayne."
