In light of these ongoing threads on 50 Cent, Eminem, Ja Rule, etc. and their talents or lack thereof on the mic, I'm calling on the orgers to post their lists for best MC's. I'll cover those MC's who have dropped an LP sometime in the last 5 years.

Mos Def
Common
Talib Kweli
Black Thought
Kelvin Mercer a/k/a Posdunous
Trugoy The Dove
Redman
Eminem
Big Boi & Andre 3000

Other greats who haven't played to their potential, IMHO

Jay-Z
Nas

kool g rap
rakim
kane
krs-one
ll cool j
del
pos from de la
guru

The most incredible and underrated of all time: BUSTA RHYMES

INSATIABLE said:[quote]The most incredible and underrated of all time: BUSTA RHYMES
quote]

Now, Busta Rhymes gets props for the 1st LONS jam and his classic flips on Scenarios I and II. Other than that, he's pretty much not lived up to his potential. Now, that's just my opinion.

namepeace said:[quote]

INSATIABLE said:

Okay, then you need to check out his solo albums a bit more. His latest album is crap since he's becoming more mainstream and normal. If you aren't fond of the more popular singles, then dig deeper if you want to find out why you're mistaken. His energy is electric. Although I LOVE the artists you mentioned, their vocabulary can't touch Busta. Just listen to his words, man... he's awesome!

INSATIABLE said:

I had the first one and was disappointed. I liked the cuts on the Funkmaster Flex mixtapes, but hated his Flipmode stable -- you could put Last Boy Scout and Lord Have Mercy on the WORST MCs list -- and his other stuff sounds crossover-eque to me. By virtue of his verse in Scenario ALONE, he belongs in the upper echelon. But, quite frankly, Common, De La, Mos and Talib have met or exceeded his flow. Just my opinion.

Redman
Mos Def
Talib Kweli
Common
Black Thought(of The Roots)
Xzibit(before Restless)
Saafir
Ras Kass
Eminem
Masta Ace
T.I.
Nas
Andre 3000
Big Boi
Pharoahe Monch

NPG


NPGMC

INSATIABLE said:

Since when did this become Blackbeat Magazine

MC Hammer was the fucking shit, I'm am 100% serious.

Run DMC
KRS One (and Boogie Down Productions)
Grand Puba
Sadat X
Kurtis Blow
Brand Nubian
De La Soul
Main Source
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth
Gang Starr
Whodini
Grandmaster Caz
D-Nice
Queen Latifah
Rah Digga (a lot of people sleep on her)
MC Lyte
Rakim
Afrika Bambaataa
Busy B!
Fat Boys
Chubb Rock
Biz Markie
Dice Raw
Ice Cube
Ice T
Black Thought
Chuck D
A Tribe Called Quest
Nas (when he was "Nasty Nas")
MC Serch
Scienz of Life
EPMD
Sequence (THE ORIGINAL Female Hip Hop Group)
Funky 4+1
Fantastic Romantic 5
2Pac
Heather B
Melle Mel
Heavy D
Ice Cream Tee
Nikki D

I love hip hop! Here are some of my favorites...

Boogie Down Productions "Criminal Minded" (Classic Album)
West Side Mob "Breakdance Electric Boogie"
Mantronic
Rodney O & Joe Cooley "Everlasting Bass," "Humps For The Blvd.", "U Don't Hear Me Tho'"
D-Nice "My Name is D-Nice", "The TR-808 Is Coming"
Queen Latifah "All Hail The Queen"
MC Lyte "Lyte As A Rock"
Grand Puba "2000" (the entire album is bangin')
Sadat X "Wild Cowboys" (Album)
Heavy D "Peaceful Journey"
Biz Markie "Make The Music With Your Mouth"
The Real Roxanne "Bang Zoom (Let's Go Go)"
Whodini "One Love", "Friends", "The Freaks Come Out At Night"
UTFO "You Cold Wanna Be With Me"
Kurtis Blow "If I Ruled The World", "The Breaks"
Fat Boys "Don't You Dog Me"
All Natural "Drug Wars"

VelvetSplash said:

A lot of people hate on him. But back in the day I was feeling "Pray" -- we used to do the running man to that.

JANFAN4L said:

I wasn't going TOO far back, but you HAD to go there with "Everlasting . . . BAAAYSS!"

"The TR-808 is coming . . . bright and early in the mo-oh-rning . . ."

"Stop/stop . . . Look/look . . . LISTEN!"

The Queen La debut LP was much slept on, and I dug "2000" as well as "Reel To Reel."

VelvetSplash said:

Yep on the first album.
"Turn This Mutha Out"
"Let's Get It Started"
"Pump It Up"
"Ring Em"

JANFAN4L's definitive list of MY fave MCs

CinisterCee said:

namepeace said:

Definitely. Queen La has been slept on in general. She caught some buzz with UNITY, but she's so much more than that one song. People need to check for her.

Grand Puba is a cool rapper. I wasn't really feeling his last record Understand This (2001), but 2000 is definitely a banger. Too bad cats slept. Reel To Reel is a classic.

D-Nice is so underappreciated. I wish he would resurface and bless us with something. A BDP reunion LP would be hot, but KRS seems like he's doing his own thizzle.

prince Be (of pm dawn)