Top 10: The Bloggerati Top 10 Emcees In The Game

Let’s start off by saying something we can most likely all agree on: MTV’s chart list of ‘the hottest MCs in the game right now’ is extremely biased, trend driven, and a poor selection based on statistics and popularity rather than on skills. Of course it’s fair to include Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Drake and Nas if you’re talking about ‘the hottest’ right now, but who the hell is Future? And in what galaxy is 2 Chainz the second best emcee worldwide…? 

Enter The Bloggerati: a collective of 19 like-minded bloggers who share a passion for hip hop. Together we’ve decided to come up with our own list of best emcees right now. Not to be a bunch of elitists or to stir up the tiring “What’s real hip hop?” discussion, but to shine our light on highly talented emcees, personal favorites and rappers who deserve to be “the hottest.” The result is one collective list based on rankings and votes, and 19 individual lists for you to dig in. Shout out to The Rap Up for this initiative.

Yours truly is part of The Bloggerati on behalf of The Find. Let’s start with The Find’s individual list. Please note that it’s a selection of ‘the best’ emcees right now. It’s purely based on factors such as talent, style, recent releases, buzz and rise. It’s not a “Best emcees of all time” list nor a selection of our favorite independent/underground emcees. In terms of MTV: who’s “hot” right now, according to The Find. Coming up with a shortlist was harder than solving linear algebra, but scroll down for our selection.

The Find List

1. Kendrick Lamar
2. Earl Sweatshirt
3. Joey Bada$$
4. Blu
5. Action Bronson
6. Julian Malone
7. Homeboy Sandman
8. Apathy
9. Shad
10. Mr. J Medeiros

Whether you like him or not, it’s hard to argue about the fact that Kendrick Lamar takes the crown. He’s on top of hip hop mountain right now. A big part of our list consists of talented up-and-comers such as Joey Bada$$, Julian Malone and Action Bronson. Of course they’re in the game for years, but they’re all killing it from 2011/2012 up till this very day. Earl Sweatshirt deserves the #2 spot. Here at The Find we cannot wait for his debut album, Doris. Whoa.

Blu, Shad and Homeboy Sandman are in the list because they always come correct; they never disappoint. We expect a lot of Mr. J Medeiros in 2013 with the comeback of The Procussions. Apathy is the surprise in our list, but definitely well-deserved: the recently released Killmatic by Demigodz is insane. Ap kills it as always. That sums up the selection. It’s not representative for all the independent and underground emcees we absolutely love, so please bear in mind that it’s a shortlist of “hot” (we hate that word) emcees right now.

Honourable mentions: Evidence, Danny Brown, Qwel, 20syl, Oddisee, Tom Scott (of Home Brew and @Peace) & Captain Murphy

The Bloggerati List

Behold, the final collective list based on the 19 shortlists by all bloggers. Agree, disagree and discuss. The Bloggerati consists of Dart Adams (Producers I Know), Ivan Rott (Hip Hop Is Read), Khal (Rock The Dub), Hardeep (The Word Is Bond), Jaap van der Doelen (The Rap Up), yours truly on behalf of The Find, and many more. Head over to The Rap Up for the full list of participants and for more info about this concept.

1. Kendrick Lamar
2. Nas
3. Action Bronson
4. Freddie Gibbs
5. Killer Mike
6. Pusha T
7. Drake
8. Roc Marciano
9. Kanye West
10. Big K.R.I.T.

What emcees do you think should be included – or excluded? Head over to our Facebook page to discuss.