I am wasting time and consequently really got into this.
I have been listening to alot more 'underground' recently (i.e. anything post-'99 that isn't bait. Or Kanye West.) so I think I am more qualified to do an all-time top 10. So, if you stripped away any sterling production work these are the MC's I think would look best naked. Lyrically. Or something. Oh yeah g.a.y is bad isn't it? Unless you're Mace.
Of course it all depends on your criteria. Sometimes you want some conscious ****, other times militant Nation rhetoric, slang poetry, abstract nonsense or just classic gangsta (see: Chris Rock's routine on white guys rapping along to NWA). But these guys are pretty consistent in my mind, in order:
1. KRS One
2. MF Doom/Zev Love X
3. Ice Cube
4. Posdnuos & Trugoy (of De La Soul, interchangeable tbh)
5. Rakim
6. Ghostface Killah
7. Q-Tip
8. Mos Def (a bit up his own arse for someone with only one and a half good albums to his name IMO, but they are really good)
9. Slick Rick
10. Chuck D
(10.5. Kool Keith)
Honourable mentions: Raekwon, ODB, GZA, Meth and the rest of the Wu (duh); Notorious B.I.G (I only have 'Ready To Die', but it's insane and I imagine that speaks for the rest of them), Eminem, old Busta Rhymes and Guru. Jay-Z and Kanye are up there, but unfortunately they are both bellends. Yes I am a professional playa-hater.
I've pretty much exhausted my old skool options by now (except for a few I never got into like Tupac), however the list is bound to change the more contemporary stuff I get round to absorbing.
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