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 retired NBA player Walter McCarty balled hard with his top five spitters, "Snapbacks and Tattoos" rapper Driicky Graham reveals his Top 5, Dead or Alive.]
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Big Pun. I gotta go with Pun, man. He’s definitely in my top 5. I’m so surprised you guys ain’t put him in the Hall of Fame yet. The guy’s flow was incredible, just to be real. And it wasn’t just his flow, but the flow that he brought, like, “Dead in the middle of Little Italy…” like, they could play that ten times in a row and that part always makes you feel like, “Yo, this guy was goin’ bananas.” Even with “Don’t Wanna Be A Player,” he’s talkin about ladies but still kickin’ it with lyrics and wordplay and that’s a beautiful thing. Pun proved you can be lyrical, but still have fun and that’s what I try to focus on. -
Lil Wayne. He’s sorta newer but he’s still kickin’ it so I’mma have to go with Wayne. I see Wayne’s dedication and his hunger and his hard work. It seems like the guy is never sleeping and forever in the studio and forever tryna put out the best sh*t. If you go back to Tha Carter 1, Tha Carter 2, those are some of my favorite albums. He’s really kickin’ it and goin’ in raw with his creativity and his imagery, the way his words are put together is really dope.
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Los. Let’s see … number three. These aren’t neccessarily in any order, just off the top of my head. I gotta say number three has got to be a guy that just got signed to Bad Boy, his name is Los. To be real with everybody: I followed Los before the Bad Boy signing. I been following Los’ career since the Welcome to Swagville mixtape so I’ve kinda watched his growth as well as been on the craft on mine. Dude has got serious skill, serious talent and I love his freestyle capabilities and witty wordplay.
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Busta Rhymes. Number four … if I had to pick another great, why not Busta Rhymes? Busta’s been around for a long time, I look at him as a pioneer and he’s always been super creative with videos, with wordplay and of course, that “Look at Me Now” with Chris Brown became one of his most significant moments. He showed people that he was still here. Don’t forget about Busta, he has several classics.
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Fabolous Number 5, man … this is what I dread [laughs]. We’re coming down to the end, there’s so many guys that pop up in my head right now, I really get diverse with this whole rap thing, but honestly I’mma say Fabolous for the last one. I followed Fab for a while, too, and like I said, I like a guy who has those witty punchlines, those flows, all of that. I was almost a super Fab fan when The Funeral came out and he was just goin’ in on everybody track and comin’ hard with it. I got the pleasure of meeting him and he’s really dope, really cool people. So yeah, I gotta say, those are my top 5.
Big Pun. I gotta go with Pun, man. He’s definitely in my top 5. I’m so surprised you guys ain’t put him in the Hall of Fame yet. The guy’s flow was incredible, just to be real. And it wasn’t just his flow, but the flow that he brought, like, “Dead in the middle of Little Italy…” like, they could play that ten times in a row and that part always makes you feel like, “Yo, this guy was goin’ bananas.” Even with “Don’t Wanna Be A Player,” he’s talkin about ladies but still kickin’ it with lyrics and wordplay and that’s a beautiful thing. Pun proved you can be lyrical, but still have fun and that’s what I try to focus on.
Lil Wayne. He’s sorta newer but he’s still kickin’ it so I’mma have to go with Wayne. I see Wayne’s dedication and his hunger and his hard work. It seems like the guy is never sleeping and forever in the studio and forever tryna put out the best sh*t. If you go back to Tha Carter 1, Tha Carter 2, those are some of my favorite albums. He’s really kickin’ it and goin’ in raw with his creativity and his imagery, the way his words are put together is really dope.
Los. Let’s see … number three. These aren’t neccessarily in any order, just off the top of my head. I gotta say number three has got to be a guy that just got signed to Bad Boy, his name is Los. To be real with everybody: I followed Los before the Bad Boy signing. I been following Los’ career since the Welcome to Swagville mixtape so I’ve kinda watched his growth as well as been on the craft on mine. Dude has got serious skill, serious talent and I love his freestyle capabilities and witty wordplay.
Busta Rhymes. Number four … if I had to pick another great, why not Busta Rhymes? Busta’s been around for a long time, I look at him as a pioneer and he’s always been super creative with videos, with wordplay and of course, that “Look at Me Now” with Chris Brown became one of his most significant moments. He showed people that he was still here. Don’t forget about Busta, he has several classics.
Fabolous Number 5, man … this is what I dread [laughs]. We’re coming down to the end, there’s so many guys that pop up in my head right now, I really get diverse with this whole rap thing, but honestly I’mma say Fabolous for the last one. I followed Fab for a while, too, and like I said, I like a guy who has those witty punchlines, those flows, all of that. I was almost a super Fab fan when The Funeral came out and he was just goin’ in on everybody track and comin’ hard with it. I got the pleasure of meeting him and he’s really dope, really cool people. So yeah, I gotta say, those are my top 5.
