GQ unveiled Future as their May 2022 cover star on Tuesday (April 19), and the issue caused quite a stir thanks to the cover story’s bold headline: “Future Is the Best Rapper Alive.”
“When you survey the Hip Hop landscape, no other artist has been as consistently excellent, or as influential, for as long as he has,” veteran rap journalist Elliott Wilson writes while pointing to Kanye West’s Drink Champs declaration that “Future is the most influential artist of the past 10 years.”
“He invented his own sound, which has since become the dominant style in rap,” Wilson continues. “He has delivered hit after hit after hit. And he’s done it all on his own terms. I’ll say it again: Future is the best rapper alive.”
However, not everybody agrees with that assessment. On Tuesday, Questlove took to Twitter to share his seemingly speechless reaction to GQ’s declaration, quote-tweeting the cover story with a simple full stop.
The newly-minted Oscar and Grammy winner then dropped a not-so-subtle hint about who he believes is the rightful owner of the “best rapper alive” crown.
When one of his followers replied, “is that a good or bad ‘.’?” Questlove responded by tweeting a link to his longtime Roots running mate Black Thought‘s legendary Funk Flex freestyle.
A breathtaking display of rapping prowess that found him devouring’s Mobb Deep’s “The Learning (Burn)” beat for 10 straight minutes, Black Thought’s Funk Flex freestyle landed like an atomic bomb when it dropped in December 2017, becoming the top trending topic on Twitter while triggering a tidal wave of reactions from fellow rappers and fans alike.
Black Thought Confirms Murderous Hot 97 Freestyle Was Off The Top
“@blackthought channeled 10,000 ancestors!! I’m sitting here stuck ! He hit glow mode !,” Styles P tweeted at the time, while The Alchemist wrote, “Black Thought left the stratosphere on Flex.” The video has racked up over 15 million views on YouTube alone.
Prior to that, of course, the Philadelphia native served as lead MC on all 12 of The Roots‘ albums, including 1999’s Grammy-nominated Things Fall Apart, In 2018, he launched a long-awaited solo career with his series of Streams of Thought projects.
Needless to say, Questlove wasn’t the only one who disagreed with GQ’s “best rapper alive” pick. The Roots drummer’s replies were flooded with fellow rap junkies eager to express their shock/bemusement/outrage, with names like Kendrick Lamar, JAY-Z and Nas being mentioned alongside Black Thought for the throne ahead of Future.
Check out more reactions to Questlove’s tweet below.
GQ has nothing to do with hip hop. They are out of base with the culture and only promote what’s hot at the moment. They are lame for that cover. I don’t think Future is close to even being considered a rapper, trash in my opinion. I agree with Questlove there are way better and I mean way better rappers out there. Have people forgot about: Nas, Scarface, Jay-z, Black Thought, Elzhi, Kendrick, Big KRIT, Andre 3000,Big Boi, Eminem, Bun B,Common just to name a few.
You’ve just named 12 rappers are who light years ahead of Future and that’s not even 5% of the list of rappers who are better than Future. Anyway, I think Lonzo Ball wrote that tweet.
I agree with a lot of what you said and some of the names on your list including Krit, Kendrick, Em, Nas. But 3k???? How? He only drops like 3 verses a year, and usually the verses are not elite. I like 3k and recognize his talents but you gotta have a decent body of work to qualify for one of the best rappers. 3k gets too many passes. I don’t like future’s music but at least the guy puts out a full body of work for his fans,
Quality over Quantity. 3K has about 10 albums under his belt including a couple of the greatest hip hop albums of all time(ATLiens & Aquemini). Just because he hasn’t dropped anything lately doesn’t make the bars he’s dropped over the years any less fire. I agree with Questlove, nobody can touch Black Thought. But Future can’t touch 3K. It’s not even close.
Yea he has a lot of albums years ago/decades ago, they’re talking about now, you can’t use old work to qualify for what level your on in the moment. Yea quality over quantity I agree but 3k recent verses aren’t all the high on quality there ok not great. His verses similar to Jay are over hyped. Yea everybody knows 3k can rap better than future, but he’s retired. If someone ask you who is the best ball player right now you can’t name someone that’s retired.
Elliot Wilson is a tool. But then again, hd was always a tool since xxl mag on Interscope nuts and pay back in the day.
EXACTLY… He Just Goes Where The Wind Blows… That Muhfucka Buggin’….
best rapper alive?!!! FOH. dude aint even really a rapper. good thing GQ is not a voice in hip-hop.
We are looking to GQ to tell us who our hip-hop elite is….Riiiiiight
What does gq know about rap? Have they replaced xxl lol
Bring the crowd and I’m loud in living color/
it is weezy fucking baby got these rappers in my tummy, yummy/
I’m saving em, I aint asking em for nothing/
if you sell a million records we can battle for your money/
I’d rather count a 100 million dollars on a sunday/
watch a football game and bet it all on one play……….WHO?
The BEST RAPPER ALIVE
Nursery rhymes
I wouldn’t even validateGQ’s crowning of the “Greatest rapper alive” That’s like allowing the Grammys to do the same thing.
Kendrick is the best rapper alive!!! End of discussion!
No he isn’t. Black Thought, Pusha, and Freddie are all better. I would even say Cole and Tyler are better now. I think releasing projects at a consistent rate is a factor when discussing who is the best. Not about to dub Dot the best rapper alive if he’s 5 years between LPs when Freddie and Tyler are averaging 1-2 years of equivalent quality material.
I had to check the date again to make sure this wasn’t published on April Fools day
krs-one
aesop rock
talib kweli
grandmaster caz
jadakiss
el-p/killer mike
ghostface
whole atcq crew
sole
rakim
del
all these emcees are something future will never be – legends
future is effing garbage
ya if you’re 50 those are ur favorite. time moves on. last generation always hates the next. move on. also 90% of the people you mentioned havent been relevant since 2000
Um yo money ALL those people mentioned are STILL emceeing. KRS just dropped a new album and was on 110 Deep by Kay Slay, Rakim has been during features, Ghost has been doing features and also was on 110 Deep by Kay Slay, Grandmaster Caz is still DJing and also dropped a verse on 110 Deep, ATCQ still comes up in conversation even though Phife passed, Del has been doing features plus he’s Cube cousin, Aesop Rock just dropped a new album, EL-P and Killer Mike dropped RTJ 4 and EL-P still produces while Killer Mike still advocates for Black rights, Jada dropped an album and a few singles when the past 2 years. I can go on with other emcees in there 40’s and 50’s still spitting fire and dropping singles and/or albums.
@US Grant
Um yo money ALL those people mentioned are STILL emceeing. KRS just dropped a new album and was on 110 Deep by Kay Slay, Rakim has been during features, Ghost has been doing features and also was on 110 Deep by Kay Slay, Grandmaster Caz is still DJing and also dropped a verse on 110 Deep, ATCQ still comes up in conversation even though Phife passed, Del has been doing features plus he’s Cube cousin, Aesop Rock just dropped a new album, EL-P and Killer Mike dropped RTJ 4 and EL-P still produces while Killer Mike still advocates for Black rights, Jada dropped an album and a few singles when the past 2 years. I can go on with other emcees in there 40’s and 50’s still spitting fire and dropping singles and/or albums.
We don’t believe you, you need more people
They obviously didn’t do there research before that remark .
One of the worse rappers alive.
I GUESS WE CAN ALL CHUG SOME MOUTHWASH AND SPIT SOME INCOHERENT TRASH FOR ACCOLADES
“Future Is the Best Rapper Alive.” In what universe is he even in that conversation exactly?
This world has gone nuts and upside down since years now. In what world Future has anything to do with being the best rapper?
Nothing against his music, but we will go under against any real rapper.
I mean black thought is a lyrical genius hands down!! Future shouldn’t even have been thought about there are so many before him!! Black thought, Rakim, Eminem. Anyone in agreement with me?