Honorable Mentions (Rap Artists)

I meant to write this right after I posted my top ten list, but with the release of Notorious, all had to wait. But now that that's aside, I would like to just give a shout out to all of those people who I couldn't fit into the Top Ten Artists list, but people who truly need to be recognized.

Dr. Dre: The most often seen icon in the game. Dr. Dre, savior of the west coast, he's seen it all. A key member of NWA, he was one of the pioneers of gangsta rap. He brought in some of the biggest names in Hip Hop: Eminem, 50 Cent, and The Game. All that, whilst releasing, The Chronic, rated one of the Top Ten Rap Albums of All Time. He's worked with all of the legends, Snoop, Tupac, Cube, Easy E, its hard to have a discussion about rap without bringing up Dre.

Big Pun: Its hard to tell what's more intimidating, his rhymes, or his size. Ferocious, all he had to say was one word, something as simple as "yo" at the beginning of any song, and you knew it was him. He was funny, intelligent, and his rap didn't revolve around how much money, women and cars he owned; he rapped about bigger issues. In my honest opinion, he's the gangsta version of "Fat Joe". Who knows what he could have become had he lived longer.

Big L: If you find yourself asking, Who? Then immediately go to Youtube and search ANYTHING by this guy and be amazed. Its odd how many people don't even know who this guy is, yet claim they like rap. In my opinion, if he wasn't the best freestyler ever, then he was second only to Eminem. Much like all other young artists who had all of the potential in the world, Big L's life was cut short from an unsolved murder. This guy could really "spit fire" as they say.

Rakim: One of the ancestors of rap, he and his duet partner "Eric B." released an album that is without any doubt, the greatest rap album of all time, "Paid in Full." If I could only squeeze him into my top ten, but he was just before my time. He's been raping since before LL Cool J, he's HARDCORE.

G- Unit Crew: When I initially made my top ten, instead of 50 Cent taking my #10 slot, I had G- unit as a whole crew taking up the fifth slot, and everyone below them was moved down one notch. Then I decided that I was only talking about solo artists, so I had to choose one of them. As a group they are unstoppable. From 2000 until whenever they stop rapping, hopefully no time soon, they have dominated the charts with singles, videos and amazing mixtapes. A very skilled crowd, they've had their ups and downs, but if my list wasn't devoted to solo artists, they would have earned themselves a nice spot, no doubt.