[Top 50 rappers]: Billboard/Vibe ranks Jay Z as the Greatest Rapper Of All Time

The hip hop genre was birthed in the year 1973, had faced much criticisms and it has grown to become a market share leading genre.
In honor of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary, Billboard and Vibe decided to count down the greatest 50 MCs ever.

Billboard is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation.
The magazine provides music charts, videos, opinions, news, events, reviews and related styles to the music industry.

Its music charts include the Hot 100, The 200, and The Global 200, tracking the most popular songs and albums in different genres of music.

To be able to focus on the pool of nominees, the list was exclusive to North America.

The rollout began with the January 11 list of rappers ranked 50-41. They revealed 10 more rappers each week since, with the last top 10 being revealed on February 8, 2023.

The team took into account the following criteria, not in any particular order: body of work/achievements (charted singles/albums, gold/platinum certifications), cultural impact/influence (how the artist’s work fostered the genre’s evolution), longevity (years at the mic), lyrics (storytelling skills and flow(vocal prowess).

See the top 50 list below;

1.Jay Z

2.Kendrick Lamar

3.Nas

4.Tupac

5.Eminem

6.The Notorious B.I.G.

7.Lil Wayne

8.Drake

9.Snoop Dogg

10.Nicki Minaj

11.Kanye West

12.André 3000

13.Rakim

14.LL Cool J

15.J. Cole

16.Scarface

17.50 Cent

18.Ice Cube

19.Missy Elliott

20.Big Daddy Kane

21.DMX

22.Ghostface Killah

23.Kurtis Blow

24.KRS-One

25.Method Man

26.Big Pun

27.Q-Tip

28.Black Thought

29.Pusha T

30.Lauryn Hill

31.Lil kim

32.T.I

33.Busta Rhymes

34.Chuck D (Public Enemy)

35.Future

36.Yasiin Bey (Formerly Mos Def)

37.Common

38.Gucci Mane

39.Ludacris

40.Dr.Dre

41.E-40

42.Redman

43.Bun B

44.Queen Latifah

45.Ice T

46.Jadakiss

47.MC Lyte

48.Melle Mel

49.Rev.Run(Run-DMC)

50.Rick Ross