Ever wonder who the greatest rappers of all time are? For a lot of us, when we come up with a “best of” list, we call it our “Mount Rushmore,” and limit ourselves to just four. Recently, Ja Rule went on Breakfast Club and did just that. And while he breezed through his first three picks, finding a fourth for his monument proved to be an impossible task.
When prompted, Ja was quick on the draw with his answer, “It’s tough. Because it’s eras, you know what I mean?” he explained, before adding, “If I just had to do four. … You would have to put Jay on there. I would put Pac on there. Big gotta go on there.”
When it came to choosing his fourth and final rapper, Ja then appeared stumped, not being able to come up with the right name. He did have ideas, though:
“I would go with older school guys. Like either Big Daddy Kane, or Rakim, or KRS because of what they did for the culture, and what they meant to the culture. And what Rakim was to a Nas, you know what I’m saying? What KRS was to a whole generation of rappers.”
Surprisingly, Ja Rule then backtracked, picking out a few artists that always seem to get forgotten:
“But you know what? We never put the ladies in there. Come on, man. MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa. … They are the reason other women picked up a microphone, period. How can you leave them off? You gotta tick one of them and put them on there.”
Do you agree with Ja Rule’s picks? Who is on your Mount Rushmore of rap?