Clear all the madness ... let the record show ... this is SUPER SERIOUS persona-shaping doctrine of your TOP 5 EMCEES OF ALL TIME.
I've never officially stated my list on paper, in person, nor online, so let me just begin with my most notable exclusions ...
I'm not hearing this jive about
Kanye West being in this exclusive group ... I'm not placing
LL Cool J nor
Big Daddy Kane in there neither ... and you can miss me wit dat
Eminem or
KRS-ONE belonging in there as well ... nuff respect due to them all, but they are all considered exceptions to me, and before I dive right in allow me to throw in one more HUGE exception that will really scratch the needle on the record:
Notorious B.I.G. ... that's right Biggy comes up short, perhaps because I'm not from NY, perhaps it's due to his early demise, but at any rate I can't put him on.
Okay, okay, okay, let the commotion die-down ... HERE WE GO, HERE WE GO, HERE WE GO HERE WE GO, HERE HERE HERE GO:
5. Tupac (same early demise as Biggy, but more influential)
4. Ice Cube (Loved Chris Rock's point about him being Eazy-E too ... so much more I can say)
3. Jay-Z (I've done a road trip wit da homie, bumpin' nuttin but the Jiggaman as well @Rosario)
2. Nas (Miss Info said it best: 8:29 mark)
1. Rakim (Da God MC)
-and for my secret weapon 6th man off da bench: Andre 3000
