DJ Akademiks Reveals His Current Top 10 Rappers, And There Is One Notable Omission

BY Alexander Cole Published on April 23, 2026

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Culture's Most Influential Icons attend Complex's Inaugural List[ed] Event

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - OCTOBER 24: DJ Akademiks attends Complex's inaugural List[ed] event at Zaytinya on October 24, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for Complex)

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DJ Akademiks is easily one of the most opinionated commentators in all of rap media, and his top 10 is certainly something to behold.

DJ Akademiks is easily one of the most opinionated voices in rap media, and he is not afraid to say how he truly feels. With Drake's ICEMAN on the horizon, the commentator is in for some interesting times. His reactions to the album will go viral, and fans are excited to see what kind of antics he will pull off this time around. Will he cry? Fall asleep? Who's to say?

While on stream last night, Akademiks went through the painstaking task of naming his top 10 rappers. Not his top 10 of all time, but his top 10 of right now. This is not an easy list to generate. After all, there are tons of rappers drifting in and out of relevance these days.

As you will see below, Drake is number one on the list, which should come as a surprise to absolutely no one. Meanwhile, Kendrick Lamar was at number two, which, quite frankly, is a surprise. The biggest omission here was J. Cole, although given Ak's distaste for the now infamous apology, the ranking makes sense.

DJ Akademiks Reveals His Top 10

The list also contains artists like Playboi Carti, NBA YoungBoy, Kanye West, Future, Travis Scott, Yeat, Lil Uzi Vert, and even Rod Wave. Ultimately, it is a who's who of contemporary rap. Whether or not you agree with his rankings is going to be an exercise in subjectivity.

Ak's Top 10:

Drake
Kendrick Lamar
Playboi Carti
NBA YoungBoy
Ye
Future
Travis Scott
Yeat
Uzi
Rod Wave

Of course, with ICEMAN on the horizon, there is lots of discourse going around surrounding who is really carrying rap right now. Given the lack of staying power for records like The Fall-Off, it feels as though even the genre's biggest superstars are having a rough go of it.

If Drake comes through with some big singles and an even bigger album, then perhaps that will change. Until then, there is a lot of uncertainty going around the rap world.

About The Author

Alexander Cole

Alexander Cole is the current editor-in-chief of HotNewHipHop. He started at HotNewHipHop back in 2018 where he began as a Sports and Sneakers writer. It was here where he began to hone his craft, putting his journalism degree from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, to good use. Since that time, he has documented some of the biggest stories in the hip-hop world. From the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef to the disturbing allegations against Diddy, Alex has helped HotNewHipHop navigate large-scale stories as they happen. In 2021, he went to the Bahamas for the Big 3's Championship Game. It was here where he got to interview legendary figures like Ice Cube, Clyde Drexler, and Stephen Jackson. He has also interviewed other superstar athletes such as Antonio Brown, Damian Lillard, and Paul Pierce. This is in addition to conversations with social media provocateurs like Jake Paul, and younger respected artists like Kaycyy, Lil Tecca, and Jeleel!