Midwest rap veteran Tech N9ne recently dished out his Top 9 all-time favorite hip-hop artists and revealed youngster Kendrick Lamar is already amongst the ranks of moguls like Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur.
While he wanted to name ten artists, N9ne picked his top nine to coincide with his rap alias.
“Top 9 dead or alive. Okay, let’s see. Eminem’s in there. Tech N9ne is in there. Tupac is in there. Notorious B.I.G. is in there. Big L is in there. Nas is in there. Jay Z is in there. Kendrick Lamar is in there. And one more. Let’s see. There’s gotta be somebody good, man. Uh, uh, uh, it’s between KRS-One and Rakim. Ah man. You know what I’m seeing? I wish it was ten, then I’d be perfect. I’m going to say KRS-One. He did things that made me want to rap. I been in the crowd when he did, ‘The Bridge Is Over,’ I been in the crowd, sizzling.” (Power 107.5)
New York hip-hop artist WordSpit recently placed Kendrick Lamar in his SOHH Top 5 Dead or Alive list.
“Kendrick Lamar. He’s a beast. Being a lyricist, I love lyrcists. All these artists I named, they’re not scared to be themselves.” (SOHH Top 5 Dead or Alive)
Earlier this year, soulful singer Erykah Badu had Kendrick Lamar name his top five favorite rappers.
BADU: Okay, top five rappers of all time. Who are they? LAMAR: Oh, man. BADU: I know, it’s hard. I can never answer that question either. They don’t have to be in order. LAMAR: Okay . . . Give me Jay-Z. BADU: Bam. LAMAR: Give me Nas. BADU: I’ll give you that. LAMAR: Give me Tupac. BADU: I might give you Pac. . . LAMAR: Please give me Pac. Also give me Snoop. BADU: Okay, that’s four. LAMAR: And give me B.I.G. BADU: I’ll give you B.I.G. (Interview Magazine)
Lamar quickly mentioned a couple more emcees, which prompted Badu to ask him for three additional all-time faves.
LAMAR: But that leaves off Eminem and André . . . I’d probably formulate the perfect 10 if I really thought about it for a day. BADU: You just named seven. You got three more? LAMAR: Rakim . . . [pauses] Kurupt. BADU: That’s nine. LAMAR: Who would the last one be? Give me Method Man. BADU: I will give you Method Man all day. LAMAR: But it’s a battle because if I say Method Man . . . Will you give me DMX? BADU: Okay. LAMAR: Yeah, give me X. That’s my 10. BADU: And then Meth would be the alternate. I hope y’all get that into Interview magazine. [Lamar laughs] (Interview Magazine)
Check out Tech N9ne’s interview: