Plugged In

Have you ever played the Top 5 game? It’s pretty simple, find a group of people and ask them to list their Top 5 artists, albums, producers or pretty much anything else and I grantee a larger conversation will ensue. Personally my Top 5 list in most things changes with the season, but for the purposes of this post I’ll try to explain mine and some of the reasoning behind them.

If I had to pick my Top 5 rappers of all-time, it would probably be Kanye West, Jay-Z, Drake, Common, and Future. My top 3 are usually the same but the last two spots alternate for me often. My Top 5 producers would probably be the Alchemist, No I.D, Kanye west, Pharrell, and J Dilla. In a lot of ways both of my lists are connected. Kanye West and Pharrell are both responsible for producing some of my favorite Jay-Z songs. At the same time, No I.D and J Dilla both produced and influenced work by Kanye West and Common as well as tons of other Hip-Hop classics.

Keeping things strictly about the art, I think all the artists I listed have shown over their careers how diverse they are. These artists constantly push the limits of rap and what is ‘okay’ to speak or rap about and most importantly they each directly help define Hip-Hop. Personally I believe, Jay-Z is the pinnacle of rap when it comes to stardom, wordplay, diversity and almost anything else you can think of. He is 55 years old and still in a class of his own amongst rappers and probably the only unanimous ‘g.o.a.t’ in the rap world, much as Micheal Jordan is to basketball.

Being a kid that met Hip-Hop on the Southside of Chicago, Common was always a forefather to us. He embodies everything that is Hip-Hop and constantly verbalizes his ideology through his music, not a single wasted bar. Focusing purely on the art, Kanye West is one of the best musicians of our generation. He has shattered the image of Hip-Hop and rebuilt it from scratch multiple times. This accompanied by his nearly flawless discography and unbelievable ability has amazed me over the years.

In the same vain in which I hold Jay-Z amongst rapper, I would say I hold The Alchemist equally as high amongst producers. The Alchemist’s longevity speaks for itself and he seems to be no where near stopping. Since I was a kid, I could always count on him to deliver some amazing beats and its just amplified over the years with projects like his recent one with Larry June and 2 Chianz, Life is Beautiful. Below is one of my favorite songs by The Alchemist.