Who’s your top five rappers of all-time? Tough call. Rakim? Jay? Big? Pac? Ye? Em? Nas? DMX? Snoop? KRS-One? 50? Lil Wayne? LL? Cube? Eazy-E? Kendrick Lamar? Drake? Ghostface? Scarface? Big Pun? T.I.? Method Man? Andre 3000? Outkast? Tech N9ne? Busta Rhymes? You could argue the top rappers all day long. You could argue the best era of hip hop all day long as well. Whoever your favorite rapper is or your most beloved time period of rap, you have to respect how the craft has evolved and is always changing. You can hear and watch which lyricists and rap groups influenced the game by racking up hits with this incredible new interactive chart.
Polygraph and Billboard teamed up to give you the history of rap from 1989 to 2015 with this incredible website. This amazing audio timeline shows you the most popular tracks in rap since 1989, which many suggest that the “Golden Age of Hip Hop” was from the late 1980s to the early 1990s.
The rankings are taken from Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs chart data which is great until you realize that Pitbull, PSY and Iggy Azalea topped this chart. Ugh.
Artists with the Most No. 1s:
- Drake (15)
- Puff Daddy (10)
- Kanye West (9)
- TIE Lil Wayne, LL Cool J (8 each)
- TIE 50 Cent, Bow Wow, T.I. (7 each)
You can check out the interactive chart HERE.