Lil Wayne sits at the top of hip-hop with a rare breed of emcees that regularly get boxed into the Best Rapper Alive conversation. Some might even argue that he’s the one to give the never-ending debate its legs based on the title of his classic
Tha Carter II album cut.
Weezy himself has spoke on the subject from his own personal view, usually answering the question by broadening it slightly to include a Top 5 list of rappers. His recent answer to the question on an episode of
What’s Wright? with Night Wright reminded a lot of rap fans just how much of a student Wayne is to the craft.
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His selections include the following hip-hop pioneers in order from 1 to 5: Missy Elliott, Jay-Z, The Notorious B.I.G., Goodie Mob as a collective, and finally UGK. Wayne surprised a few with his top spot, not only due to it being an extremely multitalented Black woman but also given their different rap personas. “[Missy] was a huge influence on everything I’ve done,” he said to Wright, which definitely makes more sense if you take a minute comparing tracks like “Hot Boyz” to “I Need A Hot Girl” or even “Fireman.” Hova at number 2 is more of a given, both for their last name association and the fact that Wayne’s come-up happened at the peak of Jay-Z’s own rise to king status with projects like
The Black Album,
Roc La Familia and
The Blueprint series. Giving props to late rap kings like Biggie and UGK is always respectable, and choosing the entire Goodie Mob as one actually gets a pass when you take the time to understand the context.
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As expected, social media had a field day decoding Weezy’s latest top 5 rappers picks. To the “6 Foot 7 Foot” emcee’s favor, his list received near-universal praise. Take a look below to see what many had to say, including Missy Elliott herself:
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