Years go by, and still the best way to stir controversy is to reveal a Top 10 rappers list. There is always somebody who disagrees, somebody who offers unsolicited advice, and somebody who misreports the story. Rakim is in the centre of the storm now.
Ranking greatness
The veteran rapper, who, as we know, resides in Eminem’s personal Top 5, recently posted a list of the Top 10 greatest rappers of all time. It went like this:
1. NAS
2. 2PAC
3. JAY-Z
4. EMINEM
5. THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G.
6. RAKIM
7. ICE CUBE
8. KENDRICK LAMAR
9. SCARFACE
10. LL COOL J
Of course, the comment section under this post saw a flood of angry remarks from people whose personal favourites did not make it to the list. What many of them missed is that this list is not actually Rakim’s. It first saw the light of day on a hip hop account with a modest 32,000 following, and the authorship is clearly spelt out in the picture Rakim posted.
However, it was carelessly overlooked by many, including DJ WhooKid’s social media team, which posted the list without a direct link but confidently attributed it to Rakim. What a way to amplify confusion.
Conflicting accounts
While Rakim is catching fire for an opinion he does not even share, let’s remember who is actually on his Top 10 list.
KXNG Crooked once asked him about the greatest rapper, in his opinion, just one. Of course, it was impossible to give just one name, so Rakim went all in with the list. “There’s a couple of people”, Rakim started. “I gotta start from the beginning ‘cause without them I wouldn’t be who I am. That’s Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee and [Grandmaster] Caz. Brothers had the skills. If they had been around at the right time, that would have been a lot different in terms of impact. That’s old school. And then you’ve got one of my favourite MCs, Eminem. Jay Z is another my favourite”.
So, yes, while two names from the social media post sit on Rakim’s list as well, it is very different from how the veteran rapper sees greatness. Also, Rakim does not have a habit of inserting his name on such lists.
Apparently, an innocent repost of a list that mentioned his name among the greatest rappers of all time, confused so many people, that it became a news story in itself. Maybe next time Rakim will add more extended explanation to the repost than just “Be ill”.