Lloyd Banks Names His Top 5 Rappers Of All-Time

Written By S. Samuel

G-Unit's Lloyd Banks has named his top five favorite rappers of all-time and left out some current hip-hop moguls including Nas and Jay-Z.

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With Banks’ list, he chose rap pioneers who most inspired him before his era in hip-hop.

“My top five rappers of all-time, definitely Biggie Smalls,” Banks revealed in an interview. “Tupac [Shakur], of course, Big Daddy Kane, Rakim and, those are all before my era. I would have to throw me up in there somewhere, for my era. Speaking for my era, I would have to throw me up in there. I’m like a mixture of all those, I’m a product of all those guys put together.” (Real Talk New York)

Aside from artists, Banks recently revealed which one of his freestyles had the biggest impact on his life.

“That has to be overall the most–the biggest freestyle I had as far as impact wise. Even DJ Clue will tell you that’s when he felt I went from being a mixtape dude to the next dude they expect to pop from the mixtapes…It wasn’t recorded in a million dollar studio, but the line was clever because of what I was doing at the time. At that time, I was recording the mixtape material in Sha Money basement, but we were flying back and forth to L.A. to Dre studio. So, I was in Em, Dre studio with that mentality, bringing that back to Sha Money studio. Honestly, I knew what I was following behind. Biggie was one of my favorites. When I did ‘Victory,’ everybody knew that was one of his biggest verses. So to fall behind him, I knew there was pressure behind it. I just wanted to add a different feel. At that time, I was thinking punchline wise. A lot of people used to ask me, ‘Yo you going to run out before the album,’ but when I write naturally, I write witty. I write from the perspective of being different. So, that was one thing that never troubled me. There was a few lines [I liked]. I said, ‘I think I’m the last rapper to scare n*ggas since Craig Mack.’ There was even the Master P line and its funny because I have 100 percent support for Master P, but his sneaker was [ugly] at the time.” (Rap Radar)

The rapper has been able to maintain a steady buzz for almost a decade now and most recently had his “Beamer, Benz or Bentley” single certified gold.

“Ah yo, what’s up man, this is your boy, the PLK, Lloyd Banks,” the rapper said in a video. “I wanna take this time out to thank everybody for supporting me and the ‘Beamer, Benz or Bentley’ record. We just got certified gold, over 500,000 copies sold. Definitely appreciate that and the support going forward in the future with the ‘Any Girl’ record featuring Lloyd. The video is out there, it’s crazy. Shout-out to all my fans on Facebook, everybody, all my people. Much love, one.” (This Is 50)

Last month, Banks announced a new signing to EMI Music and explained why he did not want to release his upcoming Hunger For More 2 album via ex-label Interscope Records.

“I just came out of a situation with Interscope, and being there for years and knowing what it feels like to go through the shakiness in the system when priorities get shuffled,” Banks explained of his decision to avoid a long-term contract. “So, not really excited to jump into a situation where I have a requirement for a few albums.” (MTV)

Check out Lloyd Banks talking about his top-five favorite rappers below:

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Written by S. Samuel

Steven Samuel is the co-founder of SOHH.com.

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