Top 5 MCs: A Professor Skye List 

Professor Skye is like the Bob Ross of music reviews

My Top 5 (Best)... 05. Earl Sweatshirt 04. Black Thought 03. Andre 3000 02. MF DOOM 01. Kendrick Lamar Personal best from each decade starting from the 90s to 20s... 90's: 5. Jay-Z 4. GZA 3. Nas 2. Ghostface Killah 1. Andre 3000 00's: 5. Mos Def 4. Jay Electronica 3. Aesop Rock 2. Black Thought 1. MF DOOM 10's: 5. Danny Brown 4. El-P 3. MC Ride 2. Earl Sweatshirt 1. Kendrick Lamar 20's: 5. JPEGMAFIA 4. Blu 3. Freddie Gibbs 2. Boldy James 1. Ka

I love the MC5! Kick out the jams, Prof!

I could actually see Lupe becoming a favourite of yours, especially considering Jay-Z is one of his biggest influences. Definitely check out Tetsuo & Youth, it is in my opinion the most impressive album conceptually ever. I’ve been catching new layers for the 6 years it’s been out

My top 5 based on flows and bars (showing my millennial age probably): billy woods Andre 3000 DOOM Rory Fereirra (every moniker) Earl Sweatshirt

Aesop Rock, Lupe Fiasco, MF DOOM, El-P, Black Thought.

this video definitely made me think about how wonderfully diverse of a world hip hop is. There are so many ways to display excellent artistry. The role of the MC is one of those specific roles that, to be honest, it would difficult to place many of my favorite artists in hip hop as great Masters of Ceremony.

This was actually a really great video! I don’t have strong enough opinions about ranking MCs to weigh in, but I really enjoyed your reasoning and articulation (as usual) - would love to see more lists!

Great video! here's my top five. 1. MF DOOM 2. Roc Marciano 3. Guru 4. Prodigy 5. Ka

i love how genuine your videos are. Thank you

I've only recently found your channel and I love your vids! Hope your channel grows!

My personal Top5 - by decade(-s): - from the late 70s to the 80s: Grandmaster Melle Mel, Grandmaster Caz, Kool Moe Dee, Rakim, Kool G Rap (+ KRS-One) - 90s: Guru, Nas, AZ, Esoteric, CL Smooth (+ Eminem & Masta Ace) - 2000s: Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, MF Doom, Sean Price, Vinnie Paz (+ Aesop Rock & EL-P) - 2010s: Kendrick Lamar, Danny Brown, Earl Sweatshirt, A$ap Rocky, Milo + Armand Hammer (both) - out of the new cats: Joba from Brockhampton, Young Nudy, you name 'em) Cheers

Personal top 5 in order: 1) billy woods - His lyricism, intelligence, long and deep back catalogue, references, emotive delivery style, ability to cover topics or subjects conceptually in a way I don’t think others can, ability to rhyme over challenging beats and his vivid, dense imagery 2) Danny Brown - technical skill, humor, ability to rap over any beat, eccentric and easily recognizable delivery, ability to cover ideas conceptually in a unique way, and the amount of flows he can use 3) Kendrick Lamar - technical skill, his ability to use his voice and vocal inflections to near perfection, ability to cover topics conceptually, and TPAB 4) MF DOOM - does this one need an explanation? Listen to Madvillainy and MM…Food 5) Mach-Hommy - his technical skills, ability to just flow effortlessly, ability to mix the intellectual with the gritty realities of the street, ability to rap in different languages and effortlessly switch between them and English, prolific in terms of music made, referenced and rhyme schemes

“I’ll be here till I die” Definitely will be here for it all good content great list keep it up

Great video love your perspective

Great video Professor!! I recommend Danny Brown's atrocity exhibition, I believe the experiences he talks about in his music would be interesting to discuss

Found this channel through your Dave reactions and enjoyed your insight. Would love to see you react to Akala with his Fire in the Booths. These are studied at universities and he also lectures on the links between hip hop and Shakespeare. Think you could give good insight to this even though I know you don’t really react to old work.

this is my new favorite chanel.

Kendrick, Doom, Em, Kanye, Billy woods would be my top 5. Lupe and ra the rugged man as honorable mentions. It's hard not to name more we really are spoiled with 4 decades of dope rappers

You are so naturally charismatic for an audience. I consider myself ur student

Love your channel! So much passion and also really informative, hope you didn’t get murdered by that guy...

Great List Skye

Dope list!

5: Mos Def 4: Black Thought 3: Andre 3000 2: DOOM 1: Jay Z

Thanks for your reviews! Lupe is my number 1 but he sometimes focuses too much on the technical rap because he is so ludicrously good at it. "Food and liquor", "The Cool" and "Tsetsuo and Youth" are Lupe at his best with clear themes / concepts running through albums.

I hope to see your top 5 hip hop producers list one day 👏

Great list. Would love your take on tetsuo and youth by lupe or even drogas wave…

It's amazing how you didn't pay attention to music from just before I was born until recently. Literally my whole musical knowledge/life was just a short period where you didn't pay attention. It's always scary and amazing how age changes perception and significance of time.

I stopped having a list. But my number one is Busta Rhymes. Just because I remember how I felt the first I heard Scenario when I was 12. And I feel that way every time my 10 year old tries to sing his part on Look at me now by Chris Brown. Talk about Breath Control and mastery of language and words. I love Black Thought, Pharaohe Monch, Kendrick, Lupe. But my list is always changing. So I stopped having one. I love yours though. And I love Supreme Clientele. I have a sentimental attachment to that album. Thank you.

I know I'm late but heres a list of rappers who have made my favorite rap albums and were good live in no order of greatness. Del the Funkee Homosapien, Freddie Gibbs, Westside Gunn, E-40, Kendrick Lamar. My favorite Hip Hop artists are Flying Lotus, Madlib, Anderson .Paak, 9th wonder and J-dilla. Special mentions list is DJ Muggs, Danny Brown, Alchemist, Billy Woods, and Conway.

Love the video! And the idea of giving an updated list every so often. It's really hard for me to separate the MC from the production, so I tend to prefer MCs who have a distinct sound that marries really tight with the beats/atmosphere they rhyme over, if that makes sense. A good modern example is Billy Woods, who's not the most technical or creative rapper imo, but he pairs so well with these dreary, dark beats that it adds up to something greater than the sum of their parts. Anyway, here's a personal top 5 in no particular order: 1. Andre 3000 2. Notorious BIG 3. MF DOOM 4. Kendrick Lamar 5. Nas

Great choices and reasons for choosing them. I think you've slept on black thought and Andre 3000 a bit they definitely need to be in the conversation as honourable mentions at least. People can't please everyone though that's why it's their list!

Solid list

Wow, we both had the same first rap cassette! I remember buying Crushin' and Tougher Than Leather on cassette when I first started hearing about hip hop in the late 80s.

I love this dude, he has his own opinions and isn’t steered by the prototypical opinions of others. Super knowledgable and funny too. Great stuff.

Thats a very solid list, Sky. I agree with the Jay pick. He isnt on my list because I cannot separate favorite from beat. I guess Im just arrogant, MY FAVS ARE THE BEST...the end.I too dont listen to Reasonable Doubt. He doeant even sound like the same rapper to me...except for Dead Presidents...that song is amazing. Hope youre joking about the Fredro comment...

subjective top 5 as per personal listening preference. 5. slug 4. billy woods 3. el-p 2. busdriver 1. aesop rock

Apparently I don’t know anything about hip-hop. I just learned what a MC is just now, I thought it an acronym for ‘music creator’ when I saw the premiere, and that’s what I made my top 5 based on. I’m still gonna send it(i just love sharing). my top 5: (no order) Tyler The Creator Casiopea Bill Evans Takako Mamiya (or Tatsuro Yamashita) Piero Piccioni now as for an accurate top 5 MCs list Tyler Doom Wayne - honestly i can only list 3 rappers, OFC I DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HIP HOP.

I respect this list. I realllly respect it. Of course I disagree on some points, but that's what makes these beautiful. Everyone has a different hip hop experience through life. I always think I have a top 5 or 10 until I try to write it out. It's a very hard balancing act to chisel 5 in stone! Very brave, professor!

Thanks Professor Skye! My Top 5 would be: - Rakim - Andre 3000 - Ab-Soul/Jay Electronica (The token pick) - MF DOOM - Inspektah Deck

If I must make my own list Billy Woods, Old Dirty Bastard, Chuck D, MC Dalëk, Busdriver (with an honorable mention being Ka) Excited to hear your list!

I'm going all timewarpy and inclusive. 5. MC Lyte 4. Phife Dawg 3. Roxanne Shante 2. Bizmarkie 1. Kool Keith

I love this video

Kendrick Lamar, MF DOOM, Milo (RAP Ferreira), Open Mike Eagle, Danny Brown. I'm not spending too much time thinking about this. Also Busdriver is my vote for most overlooked rapper.

I love this list man! My list is pretty similar. 5. Eminem 4. Kendrick Lamar 3. Kool Keith 2. Notorious B.I.G 1. Jay Z.

Prosessor Skye’s Top 5 Ok professor lets argue. First, I do respect your list, its quite good. No need to dismantle the whole damn thing, in fact, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s more progressive minded if we begin to view these as lists of people’s personal most influential artists, rather than a top 5. It would be less universalizing and would speak more to the highly subjective and socially conditioned nature of personal tastes. With that said, heres my contentions. Its quite a consensus fact that if any Golden Age rapper deserves the made people “step their game up” credit, as you attributed to Jay Z, that rather would be Nas, and particularly as it pertains to Jay Z stepping his game up. (for another convo). In fact, its widely accepted and documented (see Time is Stillmatic) that Nas heralded in a new paradigmatic shift, an increase in the fidelity of representation, and a further disruption of the critical ‘distinction’ between ‘reality’ and narrative, particularly in the way that this troubled distinction is in fact the very condition of the ‘rap voice’ (obviously another convo). For the record, Jay’s music influenced me a great deal in life, in fact some of his most famous crack stories are about his time hustling in the neighborhood I grew up in, and some of it with guys whom I’m personally close with. (Trenton, NJ). Nonethless, Ill digress. Another issue, won’t call it a gripe, but is more or less a point you made that I feel can use a bit of context. Im glad that when you made the point in question, you made it about Ghost, because he epitomizes the point that I want to make about your point. Still this point should apply to any reading of a hiphop work, not just Ghost. What I want to say about ghost’s exceptionally ‘unique wordplay’, and it is quite ‘genius’, is that, its quite impossible to divorce the individual stylistic language from the crew that the individual exists with, be it a rap crew, which in this case it is, or just ‘the fam’, and by extension, and even more significantly, the neighborhood. This is the case particularly when the focus is the pre-internet as yet de-localized 90’s. Uber stylistic rap voices like ghost’s, and we can say the ‘rap voice’ in general should be viewed as phenomena that tends to vocalize the aggressively subversive and tactically idiomatic languages of dystopian places, be they the suburbs or the ghetto. In Ghosts’s case for example, its interesting that RZA ODB and GZA are always credited with teaching the rest ‘how to rhyme’ (what did that even look like?). And also, You ever peep how, true to their Kung Fu cinematic influences, the WU utilizes very distinct rhyme forms, consistently, and in variety. And though the styles tend to be attributable to a particular or another member, still, every style is often shared or cross utilized by all members. Its also important to note that, essential crew terms and concepts, the term Wu itself for that matter, pre-existed its rap life, and actually acquires its significance from the context of the everyday social existences within the dystopian place from which said artist has emerged. It tends to be that when these expressions show up in popular culture and other decontextualized places that their enchanting appeal becomes unhinged from context, and even appears as the work of a genius. Maybe i’m getting to political, so Ill end here.

Respect. I wouldn't be able to make a top 5.

Not gonna lie, couldn't help but laugh when you said born again

GET. ON. WITH. IT!

I have different set of top 5 for each sub genre of Hiphop. To compare artists from different sub genres is to miss the point of each respective sound.

My Top 5: Jay Z Doom Andre 300 Kendrick Nas Honorable Mentions: Big Rakim Mos Def

In no particular order, for me it's... Aceyalone, D.E.L., El-P, billy woods, Aesop Rock (I'd actually have Posdnous from De La Soul before D.E.L. but your criteria seems to be solo rappers)

@Professor Skye's Record Review Who are your top 5 crack rappers?

My top 5 rn is roughly Rome streetz, ransom, mach, mike, & estee nack.

there’s not enough room on a top 5 for everyone, but i’m surprised you didn’t mention Andre 3000 or Black Thought at all

I like that you put Jay Z first but so hurt (kidding ofc) you said Reasonable Doubt is overrated! "D'evils" is insanely mature! Also, I think 4:44 is one of his finest albums.

I posted this on the Nas King's Disease 2 review but I'll post it here as well. Love to see people appreciate Ghostface Killah he's easily the best rapper of anybody in history to me. Amazing lyrically and his discography is untouchable IMO 1.Ghostface Killah 2. Nas 3. Lupe Fiasco 4. Black Thought 5. Conway the Machine

Yo. You gotta review CANIBUS ...rip the jacker , mic club , or his latest album, Kaju

east coast is definitely my favorite. The lyricism was unmatched during the golden years

Very late but my personal top 5 rn would be: 1-Black Thought 2-Kendrick Lamar 3-Nas 4-Saba 5-Open Mike Eagle Granted I haven’t checked out a lot of hip hop classics yet, I still really love all 5 rappers on here for different reasons

my list based of nothing but pure subjective opinion: 1. Earl 2. Milo 3. Kanye West 4. Denzel Curry 5. Kendrick Lamar

please review the new ka album or any ka album

My personal top 10 (I couldn't cut it down to 5), in no particular order: Earl Sweatshirt billy woods MF DOOM Kendrick MC Ride Ka Denzel Curry Joey Bada$$ Lupe Fiasco Danny Brown

Just because I haven’t seen anyone mention him, I’m going to point you towards the aristocrat himself, Chali 2na, formerly of Jurassic 5. He’s got a buttery baritone, an astounding rhyming vocabulary, and a powerful, staccato delivery that makes me swoon. On top of it all he’s funny and kind, and puts on a great, feel good show. Here’s a link to a medley video he did that’ll give you a great overview of what it is he can do, without production, over turntable beats. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zta7UMaGX3U.html It may start off slow, but by the end he’s completely tearing it up. He’s an underrated star.

Have you had an opportunity to check out JID? Alot of ppl compare him to KDOT but I really believe he can flow alot better than Kendrick. In the conversation of best flows, I think Yelawolf is one of the best to do it.

Can you please react to either food and liqour or the cool by lupe fiasco. Classics

My personal top five in no order: Eminem Kanye West Lil Wayne Kendrick Lamar Jay-Z

My top 5. 1. Sean Price 2. Quelle Chris 3. Dafveed Diggs (clipping) 4. M. Sayyidd (anti pop consortium) 5. Eto And Billy Woods That's what I like today but would probably be different tomorrow.

U like hip-hop when it was really hip hop 1985-1991 mostly respect!

Interesting top 5. Jay Z as great as he is isn't even in my top 20 rappers. Thanks Prof! Keep up the good works.

Appreciate your opinion and love the video, my top 5: 1. Jay-Z 2. Ghostface Killah 3. Black Thought 4. Nas 5. Scarface

In no particular order: Kool Keith, Scarface, Chuck D, KRS-ONE, MF DOOM.

Let the Rhythm Hit Em is my personal fav Rakim, who is my #1 for this list

My list (very subjective) would be 1. Kendrick 2. Kanye 3. Andre 3000 4. JPEGMAFIA 5. Little Simz

1 - Mos Def Really smart, funny, introspective and flows are very good. Full package for me 2 - Freddie Gibbs Really funny and can be really introspective and smart some of his songs like the one in pinata with scarface can be deep af 3 - MF DOOM Incredible uniqueness and style, nothing gets my head banging more than born like this 4 - BIG KRIT 4eva is a mighty long time speaks to my soul 5 - Nas Illmatic is just nearly flawless and KD2 is very good. His rhymes are very good, smart and sometimes funny. 6 - Blu Some insane flows like on I think the second verse of Blu as I can be and he has alot to say, usually isn't funny but still very entertaining 7 - Black Alien Very abstract flows and has or at least used to have alot to say. Brazilian Mc btw 8 - Tupac Can't beat his raw energy and passion 9 - Kendric Very good flows and ideas, probably the most thoughtful Mc of all time but some ideas I think could be executed better for example I think drinking sessions by big krit is a much better drinking song than "u" 10 - Sabotage Very good flows, can be funny, smart and has alot of energy, only one good album tho. Another Brazilian Mc btw Not too big of a rap nerd but I do enjoy some of it. Still through the process of going back and listening to old projects, I really like to listen to albums over and over to get a good sense of it. So I'm kinda slow. Still getting through liquid swords, haven't heard a single album from ghostface, Eminem, Billy woods, jayz, Kanye, Conway, rakim and many others. For me ppl like jayz and Kanye their ego kinda gets in the way for me but myb I'm not giving them enough of a chance

My top 5 list with very little thought behind it: Billy Woods Earl Sweatshirt Andre 3000 Lord Infamous E-40 Just from the top of my head. Edit: Damnit... Black Thought too.

My list: 1. Andre 3k, 2. Nas, 3. Kanye, 4. Jay Z, 5. Lupe

Roc Marciano, Sean Price, KA, Ghostface, DOOM, Lupe,Aesop, Black Thought, 3000, Milo, Open Mike Eagle.. Cant only do 5...its impossible...been a fanatic since 1988....it wouldnt be prudent(GBSR VOICE).

You really need to do some retro reviews of Food & Liquor & The Cool, then move to Drogas Wave and Tetsuo & Youth. I agree reasonable doubt is overrated tho, but Nas is better than Jay.

I have only heard "The Blueprint" and "4:44" from Jay-Z (And "Watch the Throne" if that counts). I think they are good and enjoyable rappers but I find Jay uninteresting as a rapper. He does have some incredible quotables but I find most of the verses from him I've heard quite unmemorable. But seeing as I love four of the other rappers on here, I feel like I should give him another shot. So I guess I'll do that Either way here's my top 5 in no particular order: MF DOOM Kendrick Lamar El-P Black Thought Daveed Diggs Edit: I do agree that Nas is overrated even though I also love him myself (he's probably just outside my top 10 ish)

They're all great MC,z but at the end of day if I were left to listen to anyone for the rest of my life it would be both Chronic albums by Dr.Dre... people have always something to say like they forgot about Dre.

As long as I see OG KEEMO I am good with the list

Immortal Technique

Del tha funkee homosapien is a favorite of mine

bruh tell me one skippable track on ready to die

I think you should checkout KA's new album, "The Martyr's Reward".

2Pac has to be my number 1. His authenticity, consciousness, rawness, and on top of that amazing discography, just can't argue with that. After that, 2 to 3 in no order, Ka and Mach-Hommy. Both are wizards at putting words together and have amazing discographies. For Ka what puts him up there is how he doesn't waste a single bar and his multiple top tier albums have these great concepts. Mach on the other hand is #1 at putting his words together in the best way possible. The extremely out there references, the different languages, the huge vocabulary, sheesh. Those were easy but I can't pick a number 4 and 5. There's nobody else (that I've discovered) with the same combination of quality and quantity as those three. The ones that came to mind as the best of the rest were Earl Sweatshirt, Eminem, Nas and Doom. So I weighed in how many great albums they have, not sure if other people did that. If I hadn't, big shout-out to Big L, only two albums before he died but he's genuinely the most entertaining rapper of all time

By decade; 70s: Kool Moe Dee, Melle Mel, Grandmaster Caz, Sha-Rock, Kurtis Blow 80s: Posdunous, Rakim, KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap 90s: Ghostface Killah, Nas, GZA, Raekwon, Mos Def 00s: MF DOOM, Andre 3000, El-P, Blu, Phonte 10s: Kendrick Lamar, Earl Sweatshirt, MC Ride, Kanye West, Pusha-T 20s: Billy Woods, Mach-Hommy, Ka, Boldy James, MIKE

Thank you for your channel. 1. Jay-Z 2. Ghostface 3. Redman 4. Mac Dre 5. Pimp C

If I'm going with your flow voice words ish my top 5 right now I my head is Big L Jay Z Nas Freddie Gibbs Danny Brown (it's not my actual top 5 it's just by flow words and voice) For an actual top 5 I would have a 5 day debate with my mirror

My top 5 (in no particular order) 1.Dylan He be spittin

Top 5 currently no particular order 1.lupe fiasco 2. Royce da 5'9 3. Black thought 4. Kendrick Lamar 5. Freddie Gibbs/West side gunn (tie)

my top five goes like this: 1- Andre 3k 2- Andre 3k 3- Andre 3k 4- Andre 3k 5- Ice Cold

Agreed with you on the arc of Jay's album quality. I think Reasonable Doubt gets overrated, but the Black Album and Blueprint 1 and 3 can't be fronted on.

No order top 12 favorites (not entirely based on lyrical skill). Eminem, Danny Brown, Deca, JID, Angry Mic, Eyedea, Chance the Rapper, DOOM, Mac Miller, Maxo Kream, Kanye, Kendrick.

You holding tpab right beside the Eminem show feel illegal

doom, ye, biggie, odb and gza

The most controversial point made here is calling bacon overrated. That's just crazy talk.

my favorite rapper is andre 3000 but objectively you cannot deny that jay-z is the best

Sup Skye. Fellow upstate New Yorker, looking to reach you by email--how does one do that Also my top 5 is like Ka, Roc, woods, Mach, Gunn