Top 26 Hip Hop Poets of All Time

1. Nas

Nas is a prototype of Kool G Rap and a poet laureate of Hip Hop, crafting hits through authentic songwriting, ILL storytelling and is on another level conceptually.  His commercial viability made a lane for the vocabulary driven poet.  Influenced a decade of Hip Hop lyricists. A true poetic architect and vizionary.

Introduced in a time where the hyper-lyrical MC was the norm, amongst peers such as Big L, Prodigy, Notorious Big, Ghost and Rae, Jay-Z, he has only gotten sharper as he has aged.  Salute King.

2. Kool G Rap

Undisputed champ.  "Wanted Dead Or Live" creates some of the grimiest, and visceral imagery.  The Kool Genius of Rap conveys the greatest archetype in Hip Hop of all time: "the gangster".  In the old school sense of Italian mobsters

3. Black Thought

Black Thought is the leading MC in the legendary Roots crew, with Malik B, Dice Raw, and Questlove, with Kamal Gray and James Poyser getting ILL with the instruments.  Hip Hop's greatest band, has one of the most skilled craftsmen of the artform to lead it.  Black Thought is equivalent to a lyrical acrobatic barbarian (Insert AI Image).  BT was always associated with heavy subject matter and complex compounding rhyme schemes.  BT and Big Pun should have sparred in a juggernaut freestyle battle matchup.

True Unsung Hero of Hip Hop, the way he manipulate diction is something I've never seen any other MC do. Delivery and breath control are immaculate in this freestyle.  He can interweave knowledge in his bars effortlessly and is the definition of a complete MC

4. Ghostface Killah

Ghost is one of the most dusted poets to bless Hip-Hop listeners.  Starks came up in a Hip-Hop Royal Rumble style introduction as one of the leading members of the Wu-Tang Clan, which I believe is the single most impactful force to crash in Hip-Hop artform/ landscape.  No need to digress in talking about their greatness, it's common knowledge in this artform's circles.  

Ghost is one of the greatest MC's of all time as well, using his voice as an instrument.  No Ghost verse is understood on the first listen.  Mixing slang with photographic imagery and cinematic storytelling, he creates verbal rollercoasters on tracks

NEVER EMPTY HANDED WHEN LEFT STRANDED

Ghost has innumerable classics as a solo artist and with the Clan

5. Prodigy- Yo it's the P. What more can I say. Prodigy was a bold nigga. There is no greater lingusit that can articulate the pain riddled life of a ghetto kid in Queensbridge living with sickle cell anemia. P worked with two of the greatest instrumentalists in HIP HOP history in The Alchemist and HAVOC. Vocab --- 10/10, Imagery --- 10/10. Wordplay ---10/10. Who could go against a '97 Prodigy? Who?

6. Kendrick Lamar- one of the most dense cerebral rappers of all time. A true blessing of HIP HOP in it's dark era.

Kendrick Lamar started the 'woke' era. Prior to his album 'To Pimp A Butterfly', the term "woke" was not a common term. After this album was released, this buZZ term became viral and spark a frame of thinking in black people.

7. Big Pun- undeniable descendant of Kool G Rap and simply could be the greatest of all time if he lives 

8. Big L- probably the most under appreciated hip hop poets of all time

One of the only new York MCs to delve into horrorcore and influence listeners heavily 

There is no MC in HIP Hop history with more raw poetic talent than BIG L

9. Scarface

10. Eminem

11. Rakim

12. Tupac- the paramount revolutionary ghetto narrator

13. Redman

14. Jay-Z - George Gervin with a microphone. But with more money. The greatest rapper of all time

15. Royce da 59

16. Lupe Fiasco- Chicago's own, a true lyrical alien with the pen. His approach to rhyming is like none other. Conceptually, Lupe might the the GOAT. The thought process behind certain songs are high level complex and can come off as bourgeois, but to a true hip hop HEAD, this is Gold. His ability to execute lyrically is solid

17. J Cole

18. Jadakiss

19. Notorious BIG

20. GZA

21. Freddie Gibbs-- the birth child of Pac, Scarface, Pimp C and Bone Thugs, Gangsta Gibbs is like a created player in the modern era of HIp Hop

22. Mos def

23. Common- one of the most thorough practitioners of this Hip Hop art form. 

24. Bun B- there is no other like Bun in the south outside of Facemob. You know that Bun is an intelligent thinker from the verses he crafts over the essential production from Pimp C

25. KRS-one

26. AZ- Allah Zig Zag zig vocabulary is on another level. His marriage of flow, delivery and diction is elite

Honorable Mentions: Big Daddy Kane, Chuck D, Phonte, Roc Marciano, K-Rino, Kool Moe Dee, Papoose, Saigon, Ice Cube