I grew up during the Golden Age of Hip Hop so I guess I was a little spoiled when it came to good rap. At that time everyone who had a slither of fame actually had skill. I know times change and music progresses but still it is a shame the same technical wordsmithery(I know that's not a word) is hardly used during this day and age. There are several around nowadays which can make me marvel at what they do. I have witnessed rappers who had plenty of talent hardly make a dent in the business. This leads me to think about some of my favorite rappers in the past and no Tupac and Biggie did not make the list because that is too easy.
5. Ice Cube
Don't get me wrong, Ice Cube is not so technical with his rapping ability but his style along with his older beats made hip hop magic. Death Certificate, Predator, and Lethal Injection were probably one of the most entertaining rap records I have ever come by. His songs could have you subconsciously raise your fist in the air but then you realized you were buttermilk complected.
4. GZA
I always felt he never got as much love as the rest of the clan. It seems white rap fans gravitated to Method Man or ODB and for some reason black fans loved Ghostface Killah. That was just my observations. I always liked GZA because he was the smartest one out of all of them. He could put purpose behind his rhyme schemes and follow it through the entire song along with keeping a flow.
3. Andre 3000
One of my favorite abilities of a rapper is how they can flow along a beat in almost an acrobatic way while using complicated rhyme schemes. In combination with this, he was also heavily artistic and put a lot of time into his craft. With every album he changed his style a bit. My favorite style for his rapping was definitely in the album Aquemini. Almost every song on that album was a hit.
2. Guru
Sometimes my top 5 favorites can change from time to time but Guru has always been there. He was probably the smartest out of all of the rappers in this list and the combination with DJ Premiere made this duo unstoppable. I still can listen to Gangstarr and be totally amazed in what comes out of his mouth. Now he doesn't fit the flow and acrobatic style of rapping that I enjoy the most but he can still keep up and add killer content and subject matter while keeping a flow. I came across lists like this in the past and for some reason he is never on it. No idea why.
1. Rakim
In my opinion, Rakim is the one who really started complex rhyming. I remember watching an interview with him one time where he said he really enjoyed Jazz and he wanted to incorporate the instrumental component to his rhyme schemes because that is what he felt rap needed. He was absolutely right and you can tell he was a wiz with music because he was able to do what he said brilliantly even though he sounded hard as fuck when he said it. I wish more rappers of today would follow suit with what he paved for the music.
Let me know what your top 5 is and if you say Post Malone, please unfollow me :)