With MTV revealing their Hottest MCs In The Game List to an, ironically, cold response among a large number of fans online, their sister channel MTV2 have attempted a reconciliation by announcing a ‘Certified Top 5′ list of emerging rappers.
The list closer reflects the majority of influential hip hop blogs’ end of year lists, such as The Rap Up’s Top 20 Rap Songs Of 2011, HYPETRAK’s Top 20 songs Of 2011 and Okayplayer’s Top 11 Songs of 2011), boasting – in no particular order – A$AP Rocky, Action Bronson, Danny Brown, French Montana and Kendrick Lamar.
Despite the absence of, arguably equally deserving, names like Tyler, The Creator or Big K.R.I.T., every rapper mentioned is worthy of a spot.
A$AP Rocky is leading a Harlem hip hop renaissance with his Always Strive and Prosper movement; Action Bronson is our generation’s embodiment (a whole lot of it, too) of a true school emcee, a la Big Pun; Danny Brown evoked as much head nods as he did head shakes with his intriguing yet infectious XXX release; French Montana kept the coke raps coming and found himself inked to Bad Boy Records; while Kendrick Lamar simply crushed the competition with his incredible Section. 80 release and the Black Hippy crew to back him up.
What are your thoughts on the list?
