S. Samuel
[Each week, SOHH asks two entertainment personalities to name their Top 5 rappers of all-time. To make things tricky, we've created a "Hall of Fame" of emcees (see right) who are universally respected and therefore may not be mentioned. After David Talbert revealed his fave five rappers, retired NBA player Walter McCarty balls hard with his top five spitters.]
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Run-DMC. I picked them just because they had a big impression on all rappers. I grew up listening to them. They did a lot of stuff without disrespecting women. They kept it real and I love them for that. -
WhoDini. They had a lot of fun tunes that I remember being in school listening to. If you went to the school dance, they were playing WhoDini. It was cool. They talked about being in love and made good music. I don’t know if you could call it rap, it was more of a crossover between R&B and hip-hop. It was blended really well. -
LL Cool J. He’s one of the greatest considering what he’s done. Just look at what he’s done for hip-hop and then for society. He’s been able to crossover, making a lot of people listen to hip-hop. He truly helped push that movement. From rapping to acting, he made people see how talented hip-hop artists are. He’s one of the baddest men walking this planet.
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Pete Rock & C.L Smooth. That takes me back to college. That was one of the top groups I listened to. It wasn’t about rapping over hard beats. You could sing on them. It felt like someone could sing over them too. I loved the production. -
Black Star. Those brothers are really smart and they’re standing behind whatever they say. Not only are they spitting bars, they’re teachers as well. Whenver they rap, it feels like they’re taking you to class. They make it fun to learn.
Run-DMC. I picked them just because they had a big impression on all rappers. I grew up listening to them. They did a lot of stuff without disrespecting women. They kept it real and I love them for that.
WhoDini. They had a lot of fun tunes that I remember being in school listening to. If you went to the school dance, they were playing WhoDini. It was cool. They talked about being in love and made good music. I don’t know if you could call it rap, it was more of a crossover between R&B and hip-hop. It was blended really well.
LL Cool J. He’s one of the greatest considering what he’s done. Just look at what he’s done for hip-hop and then for society. He’s been able to crossover, making a lot of people listen to hip-hop. He truly helped push that movement. From rapping to acting, he made people see how talented hip-hop artists are. He’s one of the baddest men walking this planet.
Pete Rock & C.L Smooth. That takes me back to college. That was one of the top groups I listened to. It wasn’t about rapping over hard beats. You could sing on them. It felt like someone could sing over them too. I loved the production.
Black Star. Those brothers are really smart and they’re standing behind whatever they say. Not only are they spitting bars, they’re teachers as well. Whenver they rap, it feels like they’re taking you to class. They make it fun to learn.
