We are already aware that "Top 5" lists in Hip Hop can cause people to get all in their feelings. There isn't anything wrong with debating who your favorite artists may be, but some fans of Rap can become downright vicious defending artists who they see as top tier. According to Jemele Hill, fans need to recognize that artists are evolving and a new generation is rising, so some of our favorites should, eventually, get booted out of "Top 5" conversations.
"The thing about Hip Hop, which is interesting, is it's multi-generational now," said Hill. "And see, it wasn't that way before."
"That's why like, I feel like in sports, I feel like this about Top Fives with basketball, the Top Five has gotta change," she continued. "It can't be the same one rooted forever 'cause we're seeing different shifts all the time." She added that in the Hip Hop community, fans can be "so much more emotional" about their favorites.
"I love Tupac, I love Biggie, but they gon' have to move out the Top Five 'cause there's new sh*t that we're seeing. People have gotten better!" Late Rap icons Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. were murdered within a year of one another back in the 1990s and since their deaths, they've been hailed as two of the greatest rappers of all time.
They remain cemented in "Top 5" conversations, but do you believe it is time they get shifted out for the new generation of artists?
