... Of All Time

I think I'm gettin the hang of the contributor thing. Here's my latest contribution. Off the top of my head, I was asked to list my top 10 emcees. I won't tell you what I said then, but after a few days' thought, and a little revision (just a little), here's where it stands. My Top Ten in no particular order.

• Rakim, whose albums I can still play straight through (shout out Eric B.)

• Biggie, who told great stories, even when they were about crack and killin kats.

• Nas, who tells very good stories.

• Busta Rhymes, just because E.L.E. is forever ingrained as one of my "happy albums." (One person knows what I'm talking about.)

• Lauryn Hill, who I'd put in my top ten list of musicians in general.

• BlackThought, whose flow I'm inexplicably in awe of.

• Common, because his flows and albums (at least before BE) are 95% pure Soul.

• Dead Prez, as a duo because I don't know which flows are whose. And because Let's Get Free is uniquely sick in my listening experience.

• Mos Def, who, in addition to 2 rap classics, put out one of my favorite soul albums off all time, regardless of how many people are (intentionally) sleeping on it.

• Jay-Z. For better or worse, that kat makes my head bob.

Yes, I realize there's no Pac. Maybe because that kat recorded so much, there's just too much of his stuff that I don't care to listen to. He should've gone Mos Def's route, and he'd have made the list. Aristocrates knows what I'm talking about.

Last thing: Let's say instead of emcees, it was a list of my top ten lyricists of any genre. I can't give you the whole ten, but I can tell you that Adam Duritz (Counting Crows), Damien Rice, and Alanis Morissette would be on it. Absolutely.