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The top ten most underrated rappers (supposedly)

October 29, 2008 6:35 p.m. by Alex Thornton

About.com, the web’s second post popular hub for truthy information, has compiled a list of their ten most underrated rappers. While this isn't the list I would’ve put together, any good “Top Ten” list about music is infinitely debatable and will lead to a fist-fight under the right set of circumstances. I’ve never met Henry Adaso and he might be bigger than me so I won’t challenge him to a duel for leaving Ludacris and Jadakiss* off the list. Disagreements aside, he does shine light on some particularly underappreciated lyricists like Jean Grae and Royce da 5’9 in particular. AZ at number one? Well played. [About.com]


*if Black Thought and Beanie Sigel qualify, then so can they

Posted in: AZ , BEANIE SIGEL , BLACK THOUGHT , JADAKISS , JEAN GRAE , LUDACRIS , ROYCE DA 5'9"
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9 Responses

October 29, 2008 at 6:44 p.m.

No way can Luda be underrated. If anything he's overrated. The guy's sold a gazillion records. I think it's hard to be underrated when you're considered one of the biggest stars in hip-hop.

I think it's a solid list.
October 29, 2008 at 7:12 p.m.

An understandable argument but as many records as he sells, there are still relatively few people who seem to actually appreciate his lyrical abilities. He's the funny guy with the tight beats and everyone likes his music, but when you hear people debating who the best lyricists are, his name almost never comes up though its rarely combated once it does. More to the point, Black Thought is on those list fairly frequently, so I still feel like if he can be called underrated, Luda still can too. He's the popular comedian who no one realizes is actually a great dramatic actor.
October 29, 2008 at 7:55 p.m.

Like you said, this sort of list is going to be up to widespead debate. Overall, it's not a bad list. The biggest issue is going to be that everybody has a different interpretation of what "under-rated" actually means.

Guys like T.I. and Ludacris have had multiple platinum albums and monster singles. But all that success has somewhat masked that their lyrical abilities are somewhat overlooked.

Meanwhile, some super-talented MCs develop a large following by hip-hop fans but struggle to break through into the mainstream for whatever reason. To me, it's like Common Sense before "The Light" came out. A lot of the rappers on the about.com list seem to fit into this category.

Then there are the MCs that are just plain overlooked because of the company that they keep, like Sheek Louch. He's a solid MC but he'll almost always be like the 3rd D-Block/LOX member behind Jada and Styles P.

Personally, my list would definitely include AZ, Masta Ace and Royce da 5'9. I also feel that guys like O.C., Pharoahe Monch and Slug merit some consideration. I'd also think about Joell Ortiz and Crooked I, but neither of them has the body or work of these other people on the list. It's nice to see Sean P on the list since I love the BCC. The last guy I'd throw on is Jeru the Damaja, but he's fallen off considerably, even from a lyrical standpoint (and you can't blame THAT on his fallout with Preemo).
October 29, 2008 at 9:29 p.m.

Sheek? Okay, now we're gonna have to scrap ;-)

You definitely hit it on the head though; it's hard to really define what "underrated" actually means, tying back into my Ludacris stance. Good addition with Jeru, and I might be tempted to throw Skillz, Peedi Crakk, E. Ness, Lord Have Mercy and Rah Digga up for debate as well.
November 8, 2008 at 5:29 p.m.

Ludacris underrated?Luda has no flow whatsoever and has terrible lyrics.Hes overrated and not just mildly overrated he is one of the most overrated rappers of all time.
November 9, 2008 at 9:59 p.m.

styles p for sure is underrated and jadakiss because people now a dais only listen to people that make alot of money or have videos on BET n ish, since styles p and jada dont really make so much singles they r overlooked by EVERYONE you cant be underrated if u making money and winning awards n ish. saying luda is underrated is liek saying kobe or lebron r underrated lol
like come on now
November 30, 2008 at 11:17 a.m.

all of you have made some good points,but most underrated rappers are comfortable being underrated,infact some of them even prefer it!but can-i-bus has got to be thee most underated rapper of all time hands down i mean dude got like 6 albums that most dont even know about.....the only next 2 underrated mc's i can name would be royce da 5'9 and joe buddens these cats right here are highly overlooked especially jumpoff joe buddens hes a problem.....
January 7, 2009 at 3:10 p.m.

I can't agree with joe buddens cuz he's honestly trash but cassidy is very talented,Lloyd banks is hugely underrated for the fact that he's under 50's shadow but his mixtapes are crazy, also jadakiss is very underrated and T.I is crazy on the pen and pad
January 7, 2009 at 3:30 p.m.

Wait....underrated on people like Luda and T.I. is wasted. You wanna know who is really underrated??? The Clipse, Little Brother (yes the whole damn group!) and Buckshot. I could make a Top 100 list of underrated MC's. Hell we can even go old school.....remember Eastern Conference Records? Mighty Mi and Mr. Eon...two white boys puttin' it down with story telling and beats way before Em.....and don't get me started on Skillz......whew!!!!

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