With his Top 5 Dead Or Alive album scheduled for release on November 20, Yonkers, New York rapper Jadakiss was asked to share his picks for top five rappers, during ITCHY HOUSE FILMS’ “The Cutting Room” series.
Jada didn’t offer any particular ranking, but did reveal that his top five rappers consists of The Notorious B.I.G., Jay Z, Nas, Styles P, and DMX. He also expressed his gratefulness at being one of the artists continuously mentioned in the top five debate.
“For one, just for your name to be in the discussion is a pleasure,” Jadakiss said. “Because it’s a million rappers, a billion. And more than 98.2 percent of them would never be in the discussion. And then another thing that makes you and puts me where I’m at is I can stay here and endure. I love the discussion. You gotta be able to take it and then transform that into something…No specific order. Nah, you can’t put it in an order. Big, Hov, Nas, Styles, X.”
At one point, Jadakiss was asked what stopped him from reaching the fame of an artist like Jay Z.
“I might be too real,” he said. “For whatever that means. They don’t really want to let real niggas get all the way in. We gotta sneak in. They ain’t gonna just—It ain’t gonna be that easy of a task for niggas like us. Cause they know what we gonna do if we was to get in a position like that.”
Jadakiss later revealed how big of an impact meeting Biggie and having the late rapper cosign his rhymes was.
“But then after meeting Big—Cause we used to just be in the crib, smoking and writing rhymes that we wanted Big to hear,” Jadakiss said. “So, then after we got the deal on Bad Boy and we was able to get next to him and chop it up with him, that just put the battery in niggas’ back…For the most part, that was it. Me and Big, and him like ‘Yo, y’all niggas nice.’ That just put me somewhere else with it. And I started just keeping his legacy and my legacy still going til they lower me in the ground.”
For additional Jadakiss coverage, watch the following DX Daily:
Best rapper D.O.A. Hands down . I’m from B-more and this guy is such an inspiration . And believe it when he says that he gets the guys in jail hyped up . It’s 100 this guy is a blessing . I thank GOD for a real stand up guy of his caliber . Don’t ever stop my nigga .. WE NEED YOU OUT HERE !!!
All NY rappers. smh.
You damn right!
There is like 2 decent down south rappers
He’s sleeping on Sheek!
Are we talking about top 5 nicest MCs? or your top 5 favorite MCs? There’s rappers that I don’t really LIKE that much that are nice as fuck, like Eminem and Lil’ Wayne. And there’s rappers that I love, like Pac, who I don’t think is in the top 5 nicest rappers ever, but he’s the top 1 most important and powerful. That’s why you can’t really do a top 5. Niggas fall in different categories. Where do we put the rappers who were super nice for their time, but rapped in a different era, like Kane, Rakim, Slick Rick, etc?
Nigga it’s his list and opinion. You’re going to shoot down his opinion???
Just form your own opinion and make your own top lists. Just like had a did. I would t agree or disagree.
Great to see X and Styles on a rapper top 5 list. It has always been the same, great that he has a different view.
And knowing that he already worked a lot with both of these two means everything.
My fave 5: Nas, Busta, Jay-Z, Eminem & Chino XL
To me jada be da head of da top 5 rappers tho ?real niqq salute
As crazy as it sounds, being too real is a 100% credible reason as to why someone cant have more success. Salute to Jadakiss
Please its funny how 2pac wasnt on his list only rapper on his list that could compete with pac is big thats it kiss is a hater
y”all fools just better keep your motherfucken mouths shut coz u dont know what jadkiss is fuken talking about…u know nothing so shut up
I don’t know if I agree with t5doa I wouldn’t even consider jada top 5 ny fa real and I agree with
Sensaye Stormcloak he makes a good point eras def matter and I know a lot of people gone think im crazy but I would put 50 over jada yes I know lyrically jada has him but what 50 lacks in lyrics he makes up in song writing, he also has a better body of work than kiss and had a bigger impact on the game then kiss but that’s my opinion
Everyone has there top five MC’s, but here is some truth for all y’all. Big, PAC,Face, Jay, jadakiss.
And u will always have runnners up like, Eminem, Ll, talib, krs one, chuck d, busta. Wayne, jeezy, Andre,cube, nas, beans,ja rule,