Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta

All due respect to KRS & co, but too many of the main competitors in the hip-hop game - by whom I'm referring to people who record decent albums & not just annoying ringtones...which some folks think are now worthy of awards, but I digress - are kinda getting on a bit, relatively speaking. Jay-Z, Nas, Snoop, Kanye, Dre, Eminem, 50 Cent, Kanye West, Common, UGK, Luda...all 30+ & I've been hard pressed to think of rappers who haven't peaked yet (I hope), both critically & commercially, who are likely to take on the mantle of being tha shiznit once the current crop cease to be relevant and become hip-hop pensioners like Cube, Flava, Ice-T etc.

Forever an optimist, thought it might be worth listing a few peeps with the potential to elevate to Best Rapper Alive, if not necessarily G.O.A.T. :


Saigon ("P" ft Kool G Rap, prod by Just Blaze)




Termanology ("So Amazing", prod by Primo)




Papoose ("Publicity Stunt")




Skyzoo ("Long Way to Go", prod by 9th Wonder)




Lupe Fiasco ("Failure")




Black Milk ("Sound The Alarm")




Clipse ("The Funeral")




Lil Wayne ("Shooter" ft Thicke)




& of course, The Bawss:



...nah, just playing on that last 1.


Noone here I envision going mainstream enough to sell tons, but I believe/hope/pray there'll be a few albums turned out by this bunch that I'll still be bumping when I've got a pension plan & a mortgage.

"My lyrical you hear it, you fear it, you can't get near it" - Kris Parker