I gave Talib a mention.

He's boring.

I'm an Aesop Rock and Sage Francis stalewart.

Mad love to Aesop Rock, but I really dont like Sage anymore.

Kid Rock is actually pretty good and doesn't get the credit he should be getting.....but I wouldn't put him near any best of lists though.

I don't get why everyone loves Aesop Rock....his cadence gets on my nerves.....

I'd say
Sage and atomsphere are alright but I wouldn't put them up there either.....they'd be near the bottom of my best of list

my best of list would include
Common
Talib
Lupe
Mos Def
Pharoah
Chamillionaire
Nas

and that's about it.

interested in your reasoning for the bolded stuff.

SPECIALLY chamillionaire-wtf?

his cadence....his flow....the way he spits....it's annoying and sounds like a typical white rapper....it's just off....

chamillionaire doesn't get as much credit as he deserves...his first album won a grammy and he second deserves to win a grammy also but I don't think he will.

I'm guessing you've never listened to any of his albums in full. you just hear his singles and judge him off of them.

whether or not he wins a grammy doesn't matter...its not like that really has much credibility when it comes to talent or originality.

Your right, i haven't listened to an album of his in entirety. Neither have i of Lil' Wayne or the Ying Yang twins, but a the few songs i have listened to, recommended to me in fact, didn't stand out as being anything exciting.

I'm just curious as to how much politics have an effect on your like of an album. Is a song like "trying to catch me riding dirty" really that insightful, or am i missing something?

As for Aesop, your right. Hes about as white and emo as a rapper can get. I hated him at first as well, i thought he just tried to scramble as many words he could to make him sound original. But when you actually brake it down it pretty impressive, he writes 10x times the amount of lyrics in each tune compared to the average rap songwriter.

Though i disagree about his flow, have you listened to his recent stuff or early stuff?

cuz he sounds quite pissed and frustrated in the early work, but now he seems to calm and boring, a little to pleased with himself. But he likes Legend of Zelda-so its all good :P

Okay, favorite cheesy fun rap...

Fresh Prince
MC Hammer

politics don't always have to play into an album for me to enjoy it. believe it or not riding dirty was the most "political" track he had on the sound of revenge. it may not relate to you if you live in the suburbs but he was just stating a common fact that most people that live in the hood/ghetto recognize and can relate to. If you are riding in a nice car, you'll easily get pulled over for driving while black.

The Sound of Revenge was geared more towards him introducing himself since it's his debut and pointing out the fact that people shouldn't hate on all southern rappers because they are some talented/skillful lyricists down there.
Yeah I know, people love to trash the grammys nowadays but sometimes they give it to people for the right reasons. The grammys isn't about who sold the most on soundscan.

The Ultimate Victory was a huge step up for him and this album was more "political". He could release about 10 tracks off of that album and they would shoot to number one. Hip Hop Police being released as the first single was just a marketing strategy move for him to put out his most catchy single to get people's attention and it's almost in the same vein as riding dirty so he'll get all those ring tone sales again also. If you listen to the tracks called Morning News and Evening News....you'll get all the "political" type material on just those two tracks alone. Even Hip Hop Police is speaking about what's really out there. They have divisions of the police department dedicated to following rappers and keeping tabs on them. Guess what the name of the division is called?

As far as Aesop Rock goes...I barely made it through his tracks. I listen to a few of his older material and some of her latest stuff. He just doesn't appeal to me.

I hope the thread starters list was a joke...

No one has even mentioned KRS One or Rakim yet.