VSB’s Absolute, Yet Debatable List of the 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time…Definitely, Maybe

You’ve probably seen a ton of lists circulating on social media lately ranking the 50 greatest rappers of all time. I don’t know who did the first one, but somehow Joe Budden—an extremely talented and gifted wordsmith—ended up in the No. 3 slot ahead of arguably, at minimum, 10 rappers easily better than him. Because the original list’s creator has a sense of humor and because God ain’t done with us yet, a slew of lists hit the internet in tremendous fashion, splayed out in all manner of fucktasticness. I saw one list that included both Benzino and Silk the Shocker. And while I’m sure they both enjoyed their rap careers, I can’t imagine either of them would make their own top 50 lists.

OK. I realize that’s a lie. There isn’t a rapper alive who isn’t going to put themselves on their own list, much less place themselves outside of the top 10. Point is, a list with Silk the Shocker and Benzino on it exists, making that list entirely moot. Similarly, I saw one with RZA as the GOAT, and well, apparently RZA has time to make lists since he’s not even in the top 5 rappers in the Wu Tang Clan; how would he be the overall GOAT? I live for this shit.

As it turns out, the only way to both rectify and participate in the hip-hoppery happening on the internet is to throw my own list into the fray. This list will be done off the top of my head and will be better than anybody else’s list. In fact, my list will be the GOAT list of GOAT rappers. You ready? Good. We ready. Oh, and as is customary in matters of frequent dispute: Fight your moms, fam.

Biggie

Jay

Andre 3000

Black Thought

Redman

Eminem

Nas

Ice Cube

Tupac

Scarface

Fabolous

Prodigy

The Game

Mos Def

Royce Da 5’9”

Big L

Kurupt

Lil Wayne

Joe Budden

Lauryn Hill

Kool G. Rap

Rakim

Kendrick Lamar

MF Doom

T.I.

Big Pun

Cam’ron

Ghostface Killah

Raekwon

DMX

Mystikal

Jadakiss

Styles P

Method Man

Ras Kass

Phonte Coleman (Little Brother)

J Cole

Pusha T

Mac (No Limit)

GZA

Lil Kim

Common

Inspectah Deck

Drake

Lupe Fiasco

Snoop Doggy Dogg

50 Cent

Big Boi

Nicki Minaj

Busta Rhymes

Correction: 8/7/2019, 12:55 p.m. ET: MF Doom was added at No. 24 to replace Jadakiss, who appeared twice.