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 Kid Named Breezy busted out his fave five, music/television executive Sudz Sutherland reveals his top picks.]
Wu-Tang Clan. The 36 Chambers. That’s like one of the best hip-hop albums. Ever. That was world-changing. I still play that heavy.
Del the Funky Homosapien. He’s a great, great, great lyricist but also music-wise, I just thought he was so far ahead. Even business-wise, they made money. It was that whole world view. That whole camp was something else.
The Pharycde. One of my favorites is J. Dilla. He was heavily with those cats. I think The Pharcyde came so fast and it wasn’t very long, but they just came with some imagination and videos and music. They were a part of my growing up. They were saying what was possible with hip-hop and expanding its boundaries.
Big Pun. He’s like, the greatest and very underrated. He was gone too soon. He had an effortless flow. It didn’t look like it was hard for him. He was really gifted. He made it look easy and he could rhyme in Spanish too. He was gone too soon.
MC Lyte. I have to give it to her because she came out hard. She came out hardcore in a male-dominated field and she just came harder than most guys. Her flow was incredible. She just came out and was like, “This is who I am.” I really liked that about her.
