best rapper alive

vibe's best rapper alive mock ncaa tournament bracket thing: do we care about this?

^^successful thread

sorry jordan sargent

here's the link to vote if youre so inclined http://www.vibe.com/bestrapper/bracket1.html

where's g rap

wayne is going to win fwiw

Where's Sway?

flo-rida? srsly?

big boi vs. killer mike and beanie vs. jada are some good first round matchups

lol-rida

i feel bad for 8ball having to go up against scarface in the first round

Nas vs Joe Budden? Snoop Dogg vs Bow Wow?

haha yeah that bracket is obv where everyone who didnt fit somewhere else got thrown

andre 3000 v dizzee??

i voted dizzee even though i dont really believe it

too bad boosie's gonna get trampled by wayne in the 2nd round

how do they decide which clipse dude gets to go in the brackets

i want g-unit to collectively take a first round loss

NOOOOO LIL' WAYNE VS TRINA IN ROUND 1 :(((((

the gofugyourself one of these was fun, this will be too

Positive K write-in

lololol at Foxy vs Kanye

ok i am rooting for TI or trina. which in practice i guess means TI

No Rakim no credibility.

Shai for that one song on their yellow album

no trae or zro ;_;

Soulja Boy Tell’em

paul wall's there though!

xp

ouch at Bun vs Devin i m conflicted.

voted bun b

And why is 8Ball on this but not MJG?

ghost vs rae ;_;

voted rae, who will lose

voting soulja boy over eminem was fun

haha this may sound way lexbot the challops king of me but otm

em shouldnt even be on here

uh

what happens if one of the rappers is shot before the competition is over...

uhX2

delete ilm

statement was challops by design but putting him as a 1 is o_O

dude hasn't released an album in basically 4 years

then again im voting based on who i'd want to hear spit a verse today not achievements across careers

it's a mix of both innit. weighted towards today though

http://www.sendspace.com/file/msxb27

ppl are bitching about Em on there but not LAURYN????????

Went Rae. Went Bun-B.

I guess we could add a bunch of others - GZA, Freeway, AZ, Cormega, Pharoahe Monch, etc, but none of these are gonna win.

I also think there's a distinction to be made between "alive" and "releasing new stuff". ie: no to Rakim.

who is the best rapper alive IYHO, guyz?

(lol posts will be ignored)

prodigy and AZ should have been on there just cuz they have both done dope stuff recently.

i would probably be a nyc dork and add sean p, but that's just me.

I also think there's a distinction to be made between "alive" and "releasing new stuff". ie: no to Rakim.

It's called "best rapper ALIVE"!

yeah i heart lauryn but not everyone who's occasionally rapped ever is a rapper

i struggle a little over the hottest rapper right now (wayne) versus best rapper alive still releasing stuff (Jay-Z).

My favorite rapper? Probably Big Gipp, Ruck (Helter Skelter), or Cee Lo back in the day.

what is crooked I doing on here?

is the point of the thing that it's supposed to be ambiguous re: best rapper of the past 12 months or so/best person with blood flow to have ever released rap albums?

i like crooked i!

seems stupid that they wouldn't clarify

to answer whiney's question, based upon how i'm voting i'd go with boosie but he's gonna obvliously lose to wayne so more realistically id say big boi or maybe kanye

forks, i think crooked i got a lot of buzz off his weekly freestyles on hiphopdx that he did all year

yeah, it's always been ambiguous though. when people say "best rapper alive," i feel they mean "best rapper right now." not "best that's ever existed except big/pac."

clearly I have time to waste, but based on that bracket, my elite 8 are Jay Z, Missy, Devin, Luda, Andre, Snoop, Ghost and Big Boi. Pretty pedestrian.

Incredible.

Lauryn only sings occasionally, too.

Tonight I say Fat Joe.

now hany of these people are currently spitting hot verses? 5 or 6?

Jay-Z
Lauryn Hill
Lil’ Kim
Cam’ron
Juelz Santana
Fabolous
Cassidy
Missy Elliott
Lil Mama
Lupe Fiasco
Q-Tip
Mos Def
Talib Kweli
Kanye West
Foxy Brown

Jay-Z
Lauryn Hill
Lil’ Kim
Cam’ron
Juelz Santana
Fabolous
Cassidy
Missy Elliott
Lil Mama
Lupe Fiasco
Q-Tip
Mos Def
Talib Kweli
Kanye West
Foxy Brown

i should have un-crossed kanye

kim is spitting plenty hot verses these days

i actually counted lil mama :/ (no tape store)

Dylan
Dylan
Dylan
Dylan
Dylan

lil mama is obv totes cool, haterz

better than fucking fabolous

shes not better than fab but i would prob uncross her name too

lex when was the last time you heard a hot kim verse, and post lyrics

yeah fab is a solid no-cross there

"freaky gurl" rmx i dont wannt post the lyrics

Ohh...
You want a freaky girl?
Welcome to Kim's World
You ain't gon' wanna leave
Just like a kid at Disney World
My deepthroat'll have you squirtin' like a watergun
Coochie overflowin' like somebody let the faucet run
Bust one, f**k it, I ain't done
I've got more to come
Friends? Tell' em... more to come
We gon' have some mo' fun
Yeaaaah...
Chew on me like some bubblegum
I'll lick you like a lollipop
Once you taste my honeybun
Inside a lil' secret
Just like my underwear
You know pain is pleasure
Can you make me shed a tear?
Smack my ass, grab my neck
Got 'em cummin' everywhere
I'mma freak so I don't care
Just don't get none in my hair
Now he callin' me wifey
And he wanna introduce me
Takin' me on shoppin' sprees
He wanna buy me Gucci
Zoomin' like a blue sea
On the back of his Suzuki
And I ain't even sex 'em
All I did was let him eat my pussy, Gucci

GOAT

Zoomin' like a blue sea

lol lyrics websites

didn't she have a verse of sexual seduction? it was okay not great.

she used to be awesome

you want a freaky gurl? welcome to kim's world
you ain't gon' wanna leave, just like a kid at disneyworld
my deep throat'll have you squirtin; like a watergun
coochie overflowin' like somebody let the faucet run
bust one, fuck it, i ain't done, i got more to come
friends? tell 'em all to come, we gon' have some orgy fun
yeaahhhhhh
chew on me like some bubblegum
'll lick you like a lollipop once you taste my honeybun
it's our lil' secret, just like my underwear
you know pain is pleasure, can you make me shed a tear?
smack my ass, grab my neck, got 'em comin' everywhere
i'm a freak so i don't care, just don't get nothin' in my hair

lol i typed it out and it was almost all off by heart

fuck i missed out on some shit

I think Jay-Z is still the best.

I mean, I think the criteria for Best Rapper Alive (BRA?) should be "Who would kill it the most if they released an album tomorrow." I mean, Kane or Kool G or Rakim in their prime (or even Marshall Mathers-era Em) might be tough competition, but Jay-Z still raps like a motherfucker.

so you're basically saying that american gangster is the best album that could possibly be released tomorrow by any living, active rapper

Scarface

so you're basically saying that american gangster is the best album that could possibly be released tomorrow by any living, active rapper

-- J0rdan S., Tuesday, July 22, 2008 10:16 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

I'm saying, what he's CAPABLE OF is. I think dude could have another Blueprint/Black Album up his sleeve; whereas the last two Em albums prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that dude is washed up.

ok agree with that

but there are like 10 rappers on this list that i'd rather hear a new album from tomorrow than jay

im not trying to get all kill yr idols or anything but dude's not putting out exciting music anymore

American Gangster was pretty great.

I kind of want a new Ghostface album.

And I could use a new Young Dro, quite frankly.

he put out a pretty good mixtape

I only end up listening to mixtapes once :(

i guess people would say that big doe was as staid and mechanical as i claim american gangster is, but ghost still raps his ass off and his kind of recession into this pretty unadventurous sound fits him w/o the misguidedness that i think has driven jay's last two albums. it seems therapeutic to ghost, maybe. plus him rapping over old soul songs will always be a good look.

i guess jay would land around the 10 mark in terms of ppl from this list who'd i want to hear an album from tomorrow: boosie, dro, rich boy, jeezy, ti, kanye, cam, wayne would def be above him (include pledge allegiance II in there), then he would slot in with ppl like clipse, luda, lupe, busta etc

I mean, also, given his verse on the Busta remix, Kane could conceivably drop an album that slaughters everyone.

gucci mane is probably the one dude in my top 10 alive that's not on this list

maybe freeway too

cam!! xxp

seriously killa season is wack and i didnt even bother with that mixtape but at this point he is endlessly more fascinating to me than jay-z

i mean i guess jay hasn't exactly had an I.B.S. or anything but nah man i can't ride w/you on that

like if jay just kept putting out coasters for the next ten years i'd download em just to listen for the occasional quadruple entendre.

haha i.b.s. isnt interesting

one for the press packet there

of course ill check for every jay album from now until infinity and im sure ill be convinced that his next one will be good but if a new cam lp and a new jay lp dropped from my ceiling right now id reach for the cam one first

id even say the same about juelz

look, using jay as a barometer here is unfair and probably pointless because his best days are obv behind him, so putting him up against dudes in their mid 20s who've got "potential" and have only released 2-3 cds isnt fair to jay because ill probably pick the dude with 2 albums over the dude with 9 or w/e probably every time

using jay as a barometer here is unfair and probably pointless because his best days are obv behind him

I don't think this is true.

i.b.s. isnt interesting

-- J0rdan S., Wednesday, July 23, 2008 3:01 AM

ha tell cam's tummy that

Whiney, have you actually listened closely to, say, "No Hook," and compared it to just about any Jay verse from 2002 or earlier? His breath control and his command of rhythm and flow are fucking shot, and he's sacrificed all of the authority in his voice for that annoying whispering shit. And he's gotten so wound up in his one-take-never-write-anything-down mythology that he's really not recording solid, precise performances on record most of the time now. He's still got lyrics, but sometimes he gets so much more wound up in the wordplay and the "get it?" clarifications that even that doesn't feel as effortless anymore.

The sad thing is there are actually a lot of rappers that didn't lose any of their ability to flow after they hit 35 or 40. Jay just isn't one of them.

yeah for real if anything on anything hes recorded lately has the energy of 'money cash hoes' i would love to hear it

I agree with people who said Ruck/Sean P, AZ, and Pharoahe Monch should be on the list, even if they're considered "old", all of them have released pretty dope albums lately. And I don't see the reason why Raekwon is on the list and GZA isn't, as far as I know neither of them has released any proper solo stuff for ages, so either they should both be in or both left out.

Raekwon is (or was?) on Interscope and got people hyped up about a sequel to his first album, it's all about that and not what he's actually done lately.

Dylan
Dylan
Dylan
Dylan
Dylan

-- Bodrick III, Tuesday, July 22, 2008 10:54 PM (Yesterday)

^^^ i just saw that skit for the first time since it originally aired yesterday & it totally held up. i was laughing just as hard if not harder than the first time i saw it.

Not to take this thing too seriously, but Common as a 4 seed? Really? And no Prodigy? EGHCK.

I'm saying, what he's CAPABLE OF is. I think dude could have another Blueprint/Black Album up his sleeve; whereas the last two Em albums prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that dude is washed up.

-- Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, July 23, 2008 2:30 AM (14 hours ago) Bookmark Link

honestly, for some reason i could imagine Em coming out with some left field surprisingly good album out of the depths of his howard hughes bullshit more than I could imagine an actually great Jay album.

I liked American Gangster mostly but it seemed to weighed down by its own conceits and shit....if it were all as good as the best stuff on it (Roc Boys etc) but it's just not...

and actually the more I think about it, it's kinda bullshit that Crooked I gets on instead of Sean P, who's at least released some proper albums that were great and shit lately, and i like crooked i.

crooked i still maintains a lot of real rap dudes checking for his internet freestyles and shit - even though hes dropped some of my favorite albums of the last couple years you cant deny the sean p shit is selling to jedi mind tricks fans

Yeah...I don't think long hiatuses are usually a good omen, especially for a rapper, but you never know when someone like Eminem could come out of hibernation with something fresh. Jay makes a half-assed guest appearance on every other 'event' album a few times a year so it's hard to imagine him dropping an album that would actually surprise me.(xpost)

mos def being listed is pretty ugh

haha yeah. besides Rising Down, when's the last time he even had a guest appearance that wasn't just sangin'?

aight....round 2

hey trina did better than i thought she would!

GO T.I.

yeah considering that like a quarter of the winners got over 90% of the vote (lol @ T.I./Shawty Lo), Trina did kinda decent. but then there are a lot of vehement Wayne-haters who'll vote for anyone put up against him.

everyone vote for lil boosie

i know there were probably a ton of ppl just voting for the highest seeds but ice cube 90% e-40 10% is o_O

also luda 95% young dro 5% >_<

I voted for 40 : D

We only got Soulja boy to 5% u_u

me too!

also i wonder if all of soulja boy's 5% came from this thread

xp!

i wanted to vote for Boosie but i was trying to be 100% honest w/ my votes and just couldn't force myself to click on him.

Bun vs. Scarface very hard.

soulja boy's sneakily a really good rapper sometimes (get silly remix, shoppin spree/gucci bandana, marco polo), though his ratio of awfully hilarious lines to hilariously awful lines is v v close to 1:1

jeezy vs luda too. i actually can't remember who i voted for like a minute ago, prob jeezy purely on the strength of how hard i've been rinsing 'put on' this week

the ones in the pimp c bracket are really the only tough ones (wtf @ ghostface v. nelly)

i voted boosie, scarface, jeezy, t.i.

Soulja Boy i can't even vote for as a joke, i like some of his songs OK but he's like a little kid who hasn't instinctually developed vocal inflection yet and talks like a zombie.

SHE GOT A DONK

(Chorus:)
She Got A Donk
She Got A Donk
She Got A Donk
She Got A Donk (Faster)
She Got A Donk
She Got A Donk
She Got A Donk
She Got A Donk
She Got A Donk
She Got A Donk
She Got A Donk
She Got A Donk
Shake Some Wit It
Shake Some Wit It
Shake Some Wit It
Shake Some Wit It
Shake Some Wit It
Shake Some Wit It
Wow,Wow,Wow,Wow,Wow,Wow,Wow!

best couplet of 08:

Im On Fire!, Hot-Tamale!, Soulja Boy Tellem, Me And My Compadres!

anyway the only one outside of the pimp c bracket that i actually ahd to think about was busta v game, not cuz i like either all that much but both are between C/B- grade rappers and rarely either higher or lower. i think i voted for busta

also i hope kanye smashes jay in the final of that bracket

juelz beat cam'ron? weird

also real weirded out by jadakiss crushing beanie sigel

yes homo

oh don't get me wrong I kind of love "Donk"

Big Boi vs. 50 Cent will be interesting, voter turnout-wise.

method man beat redman ???

yeah that was weird

i think i voted for juelz

over fab? gtfo

nooo

over cam

ill vote for fab over jay probably too

woulda been more fun if we gambled on how this was gonna turn out

most of the brackets have pretty super obvious winners: Jay (or maybe Kanye?), Wayne, and Andre. the 2Pac bracket is the only one where I really don't have a clue how it'll shape out, Nas seems like the safe choice but I'm not sure he'll actually win.

i hope snoop beats andre, and think he has a chance

Re: Meth beating Red... Meth has been more consistent lately. i voted for Redman, but they're pretty close. 4:21 surprised me by sounding really fresh.

killer mike should have been in this.

he was, vs Big Boi

Which was widly unfair seeding.

yeah, probably

1) get rich or die tryin
2) commi$$ioner, commi$$ioner II
3) plies
4) baby baby i'm gonna beam u up
5) bg featuring juiceboxxx
6) MK TURBO
7) led zeppelin
8) its al rael
9) bad bitches get busted open

1) saul williams

can't deny it 4 sho

1) The Last Poets - The Last Poets

1) Foxx

2) webbie

3) hey ya

0) bobby fischer dialogues

0) unknown

1) ;o; trs; pmr

iffa nigga wanna cauze prollemz, i' solve it
(om) 1 man standin wit(h) my fuckin revolvhh
(i) git down on mh neez, N I pray t' my fath'hh
mo money mo prollemz so this shit could get oh-durve(z)

ouduhhd
alldun
ordered

http://www.zshare.net/audio/1629638290711675/

^brapper alive?

best blapper alive

huh so that's what luriqua's voice sounds like

i thought luriqua was a girl for so long

lol @ 6 month old faggotry posted while overdosing :*U

oh it's just going w/the seedings now. BORING

Yeah, I think this was always going to be the boring round, though, where the first (and probably the last) are way more interesting.

The Game & Snoop head to head is like Kent St. & Penn playing in the Sweet 16.

Are common-or-garden rap fans really still on Andre's dick so hard? I never knew.

Crazy. That bracket was clearly Meth's for the taking.

there's a pretty heavy contingent of rap fans/press that act like the 5 or 6 verses Andre's done since Idlewild have been the greatest shit ever

no mega man ;_; is the game actually considered a good rapper?

The Game is considered a great rapper by noted HIV denier Billy X. Sunday

whoa that guys a dipshit

ok wtf i can't believe the game beat snoop!!!! that is ridic and stupid.

gets kinda interesting now. kanye vs jay-z was hardest but went for kanye due to loyalty-to-now. then weezy, nas, game (who gives a fuck about that last bracket now).

whoa that guys a dipset

out of the remaining dudes i'm rooting for kanye

it's kanye vs weezy for me which seems...anticlimactic somehow, didn't we do an ILM poll between them ages ago? it makes me realise how much i'd rather T.I. and trina were still in

I don't get Game winning Snoop either... Is he really that loved?

Out of the ones still in competition Nas is the only one I really care about, so I'm hoping he wins. Jay-Z is okay but he's also a hypocritical capitalist, Eminem is talented but way too focused on his own public image, Kanye is a good producer but an uninspired MC, Andre hasn't been a proper rapper for years, and Wayne I just don't care about. If Eminem beats Nas before the finals I'm gonna be disappointed.

Voted Kanye, Luda, Nas, The Game.

The Game easily > Snoop. We've done the "The Game is the Los Campesinos! of rap" thing on ILM before, right?

You'll have to explain the lol britpop analogy for those of us who don't know that band.

I feel like if both the Snoop/Game and Luda/T.I. matches went the same way (older, more boring but more skilled vs. newer more of the moment guy), I'd have an idea of where the voting base for this was coming from. Now I can't even make a demographic assumption now about which way, say, Jay vs. Kanye will go.

There were pretty much no big surprises in this thing. Unless Eminem or Game somehow wins the whole thing that won't change. How boring.

You'll have to explain the lol britpop analogy for those of us who don't know that band.

-- some dude, Friday, 15 August 2008 14:03 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

Both LC and The Game are predominately fans of the genre rather than actual proponents: their works are littered with namedrops, pastiches, and an actual visceral love of tweecore/West Coast hip-hop. As such, you're only going to "get" them if you're a regular jock for the genre, rather than an interloper.

i still cant believe game beat snoop

reading these posts from the bottom up, I thought Dom was saying Game was tweecore/West Coast hip-hop. Now I demand a tweecore/hip-hop album!

albumreleasedonlewisrecords.jpg zing

The Game chorus is just "Buddens....Buddens, Buddens" (it's an Ice-T cover btw) but the way he says it it comes out like 'buttons, buttons, buttons' like he's being a twee thug

-- LC, Friday, March 5, 2004 5:45 AM (4 years ago) Bookmark Link

http://buttonz.ytmnd.com/

http://joebuddencar.ytmnd.com/

hahahahahahahahahaha

Eminem is fucking lame btw