Top 10 Best Rappers in the World

The question of who the best rappers in the world are today is one that is subjective by many standards. However, there are a handful of names that continue to linger on in the minds of rap fanatics, as far as the art-form is concerned.

Below are 10 of the best rappers in the world, who have earned their spots through consistency and sheer resilience over the years;

1. Drake

Aubrey Drake Graham is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, and entrepreneur. A prominent figure in popular music, Drake is credited for popularizing the Toronto sound. Drake founded the OVO Sound record label, and has won four Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, a record 27 Billboard Music Awards, two Brit Awards and three Juno Awards. This year 2020, has been an awesome year for Drake, as he released the commercial mixtape ‘Dark Lane Demo Tapes’, which received mixed reviews and debuted at number 2 on the US Billboard 200 with 223,000 album-equivalent units, and at number one on the UK Albums Chart, earning 20,000 units in its first week.

2. J. Cole

Jermaine Lamarr Cole known professionally as J. Cole, is a German-born American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. Cole has won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song, a Billboard Music Award for Top Rap Album, three Soul Train Music Awards, and 8 BET Hip Hop Awards. All five of his albums have been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), as well as Revenge of the Dreamers III. In 2020, Cole released two songs, “The Climb Back” and “Lion King on Ice”, which serves as the first two songs from his upcoming album The Fall Off. The singles were released on the promotional EP, Lewis Street.

3. Eminem

Marshall Bruce Mathers III known professionally as Eminem is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Though, much of his transgressive work was done during the early 2000s, the rapper remains incredibly relevant till date. He has won numerous awards, including 15 Grammy Awards, eight American Music Awards, 17 Billboard Music Awards, an Academy Award and an MTV Europe Music Global Icon Award. He has had ten number one albums on the Billboard 200, which all consecutively debuted at number one on the chart making him the only artist to achieve this, and five number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. 2020, Eminem released another surprise album Music to Be Murdered By, which features guest appearances by: Ed Sheeran, Skylar Grey, Anderson Paak, among others. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 279,000 album-equivalent units in its first week.

4. Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Lamar has received many accolades over the course of his career, including 13 Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, five Billboard Music Awards, a Brit Award, 11 MTV Video Music Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, and an Academy Award nomination. Lamar has been regarded as one of the most influential artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers and lyricists of all time.

5. Joyner Lucas

Gary Maurice Lucas Jr. is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, poet, and actor from Worcester, Massachusetts. Joyner has two Grammy nominations altogether. On November 28, 2017, Lucas released the single “I’m Not Racist”. The music video quickly went viral and gained critical acclaim. The video for the controversial song about race and society was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Music Video at the 61st Grammy Awards.

6. Lil Wayne

Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record executive, entrepreneur, and actor. Lil Wayne has sold over 120 million records worldwide, including more than 15 million albums and 37 million digital tracks in the United States, making him one of the world’s best-selling music artists. He has won five Grammy Awards, 11 BET Awards, four Billboard Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards and eight NAACP Image Awards. He is regarded by many contemporaries as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, and often cited as one of the greatest rappers of all time.

7. Kanye West

Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, record producer, and fashion designer. He has been influential in the 21st-century development of mainstream hip hop and popular music in general. West is one of the world’s best-selling music artists, with more than 20 million albums and 140 million singles sold worldwide. He has won a total of 21 Grammy Awards, making him one of the most awarded artists of all time. Six of his albums have been included on Rolling Stone’s 2020 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list; the same publication named him one of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time.

8. Jay Z

Shawn Corey Carter known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, songwriter, record executive, businessman, media proprietor, and record producer. Jay-Z is one of the world’s best-selling music artists, with over 50 million albums and 75 million singles sold worldwide. He has won a total of 22 Grammy Awards, the most by a rapper, and holds the record for the most number-one albums by a solo artist on the Billboard 200, with 14. In June 2019, Jay-Z officially became the first hip hop billionaire, making him the fifth-wealthiest African American and the wealthiest American musician. In December of 2020 Jay-Z launched a line of cannabis products called “Monogram”.

9. Nas

Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones better known by his stage name Nas, is an American rapper, songwriter, and entrepreneur. Rooted in the New York rap scene, he is regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time. MTV has ranked Nas fifth on their list of “The Greatest MCs of All Time”. In 2012, The Source ranked him second on their list of the “Top 50 Lyricists of All Time”. Nas has 15 Grammy nominations altogether.

10. Rick Ross

William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper, songwriter, entrepreneur, and record executive. Rick Ross has five Grammy Award nomination. Rick Ross founded the record label Maybach Music Group in 2009, on which he released multiple chart-topping studio albums. Ross was also the first artist signed to Diddy’s management company Ciroc Entertainment. In 2012, MTV named Ross as the Hottest MC in the Game.