Here is a list of the hottest MC's in the Game made by the so called "Hip Hop Braintrust
" of MTV:
- Jim Jones
- Common
- 50 Cent
- Jay-Z
- Young Jeezy
- Kanye West
- Andre 3000
- The Game
- T.I.
- Lil Wayne
(Considered the "hottest")
Now, I tried to be as open minded and unbiased as possible for the chosen ones, but one of the idlest emcees was left out in the cold...Nas!
Now their decision of the list was based on current events within the past year and half (so legendary status, past albums and history are not a factor). To win you basically had to be the emcee with most hype (and momentum), creativity (and thinking out side of the box), best lyricist, most swagger (why in gods name that was one of the most significant categories, I don't know), and commercially do well (like radio spins, videos, and album sells).
I felt that Swagger, Lyricism, and Celebrity Status weighed the most among the others.
For the most part, I thought that the list was pretty accurate (with the exception being Nas). It was probably the most heavily debated concern of the judges, but what made it so bad was that they compared him to Jim Jones for the number 10 spot, and of course Jim Jones won it.
Now I know this is hard for me for the fact that Nas is my favorite artist of all time, but if you compare the events of what both artist been through in the past year, Nas should have made it on the list. Jim Jones had an undoubtedly hot single "We fly High (ballin)" (not to mention the remix did good as well) and he was feat on two of the most played remixes last year (Walk it Out and Throw some D's), but his flat verses on those remixes were eclipsed by Andre 3000 glorious rhymes.
Nas has sold as much (if not more) than Jim Jones. Even though he does not have the radio spins of Jim Jones, he did spark a controversial subject on the matter of whether Hip Hop was still alive among listeners and rappers alike. He had one of the most anticipated albums of the year for his reunion with Jay and the anticipated track they did together. Not to mention, the album was glorified as being on the level of one of his greatest albums of all time "It Was Written".
Nas even should have been placed above 50 and Common (with all due respect to Common) as far as momentum went!
Like I said, I felt like the rest of the list was pretty accurate, with the exception of Jim Jones of course. I would love to hear your reactions about this list. Do you feel it's accurate? Do you think there was an artist who was wrongfully omitted?