Prodigy is still up on his one man rant from behind the walls of the
correctional facility in upstate New York he’s going to be calling home
at least till sometime late this summer. Part of his latest handwritten
homage to everything you don’t know, but he is willing to share, is his
top 40 rappers of all time list.
He actually drops the names of more than 40 rappers as some picks are groups, but that’s neither here nor there. He
also makes it perfectly clear that the list is in no particular order
because, per him, there is no one who deserves that number one spot.
His declaration does not suggest that there is no one good enough to
take that slot. His suggestion is that there are several. Hence, leaving that spot either vacant or stuffed to the gills. With this, I completely agree.
Folks
take their lists seriously serious and it seems everyone has committed
to who they think are the most awesomest rappers in the history of the
planet. It’s written in permanent ink on
permanent paper, stuffed into a hermetically sealed envelope and neatly
placed under their pillows; unless, of course, they have a safe. However,
once that selection is presented to the world, understand that you will
be nothing but … wrong. That dreaded group-think IV is always dripping
and will ultimately overshadow any GOAT suggestion you present to the
mighty Hip Hop Nation that isn’t already etched in stone somewhere.
You know the Hip-Hop approved top five. A couple subs meander in and out, but the usual suspects tend to stay about the same. How does that work when art is relative and opinion moves the masses to ride their own perfect beat? People say, “Ahhh, it’s because he’s good.” Good to whom? Folks have been tastemade and aggregated into following whatever floats the expert boat. And when someone stands up and says the GOAT has no clothes, it makes folks want to holla. Why? I don’t believe it’s because they disagree. I believe it’s because they aren’t packing big enough balls to concur that they too realized they liked something else.
P says some of the best rappers of all time are Missy, Naughty By Nature, Ma$e and Three Six Mafia. Do I agree with these picks? Hell naw. The Blog Don also suggested some folks who wouldn’t be able to read his list, let alone be on it; like Rick Ross and Crooked I. Can you see Crunchy Black taking Crooked in a lyrical head to head? Ummm… No. But again, this is Prodigy’s list, not mine.
I love the fact that he didn’t seem to concern himself with what everybody else would think. That’s what makes his list great. He’s got Big and Pac on there as well, but didn’t qualify them in anyway as the top two. Can you imagine if he actually said Missy was a better lyricist than Pac? He might be safer staying locked up.
The point is Hip-Hop is deeply effectual and the words an emcee spits are what draw you to him. There are scary good rappers who simply don’t speak to me; therefore they do not speak for me. And I wouldn’t for one second suggest that the ones who speak for me should speak for you too. Your story is not mine. You taste is not mine and your opinion should be your own.
So
do I believe a lot of people have locked their real opinion in that
safe along with their most serious of all serious top five rapper list? I would say yes, but that would mean they actually have their own to begin with. I
don’t think many people do. Am I also saying if your list is nothing
but a simple regurgitation of what you have been taught to like as
opposed to what you have organically developed a taste for, your list
sucks ass? That would be a most definitive hell yeah. Word to Dead Prez.
