“Who is the greatest rapper of all time?” This is a debate that has been going on since rap has been created. This is a question that has no real answer but can be narrowed down to a small handful of options if you look at the categories which give an artist that legendary status. Depending on who you ask and what time period they are from the answer to this question will always vary. Someone who grew up listening to the older generation of rappers will probably give you an answer like Method Man, Eminem, Tupac, Notorious BIG, Nas, or Ghostface Killah. Someone that grew up with their teenage years in the early 2000s will give you an answer like Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Kendrick Lamar or an artist along those lines. If you ask a 12 year old kid who the greatest rapper of all time is. They would give an answer like Juice Wrld or Travis Scott because that's what they are accustomed to listening to. One sad pattern that has been shown is that a large majority of people tend to favor a rapper that has passed away as their “Goat.” 

In my personal opinion the greatest rapper of all time is Kanye West. Kanye has released 12 albums in his 19 year career (soon to drop his 13th) and 11 of these albums are highly praised and have great reviews. His only album which wasn’t considered “a success” was Jesus is King which dropped in 2019 and was a Christian themed album. This album had some decent numbers like ‘Closed on Sunday’ and ‘Follow God’,  but overall the album did not deliver what the fans were anticipating. This album was more personal for Kanye and from what it appears, he did not care about the album’s public perception. If you ask two different Kanye fans which their favorite album is, there is an extremely high chance that they will name you two different albums. Most rappers in the game have one album with most of their best biggest hits and is part of their identity. Kanye has multiple hits on every album while each of them follow a unique theme. As of now, Kanye has 7 platinum albums with 6 of them being solo. He also has a diamond single song called, “stronger” which means that the song sold over 10,000,000 copies. In the history of music, only 74 songs have ever gotten platinum. The only rappers who have diamond songs are Lil Nas X, Eminem, Drake, Wiz Khalifa (feature), Pharrell Williams, The Weeknd, Cardi B, XXXtentacion, Post Malone, Nicki Minaj, Travis Scott, Roddy Ricch, Fetty Wap, Macklemore, and the Black Eyed Peas. This list is extremely small and a few of those artists are arguably not in the rap scene and make more mainstream, pop music. 

Having longevity in the rap game for two decades and constantly adapting to keep up with new trends is something that only elite artists can do. Kanye is constantly working with different artists and producers to make sure that his sound is kept up to date with the rest of the new wave. He controls the whole project and creates a lot of the beat and influences the rest of the rap game after he drops. He sets the tone for what everyone else does. His album 808’s and HeartBreak popularized the autotune sound and 808’s which every rapper in the game utilizes. Kanye’s ability to set the tone for the next wave separates him from other artists in the ‘goat’ conversation such as Jay-Z or Snoop Dogg who really only stuck to one style of rapping throughout their career while Kanye has done an amazon job showcasing his versatility.

The only other rapper who I believe can be interchanged for the number one spot with Kanye West is Eminem. In the history of rap music, only 7 albums have ever gone diamond. Eminem has sold two diamond albums, being ‘The Marshall Mathers LP’ and ‘The Eminem Show.’ Eminem is still creating hits today and although many people criticize his newer style of music, the numbers say otherwise. Right now, 49-year old, Eminem has over 53.3 million Spotify monthly listeners which is more than artists like Drake, who are much nearer to the peak of their career.

Some rappers who are clearly legends in the game but I believe are not near the number one status are Tupac, Drake, and Biggie Smalls. Tupac and Biggie are each amazing artists who have influenced so many artists that came after them. Biggie and Tupac both easily had the potential to be the greatest ever but unfortunately their time was cut short to see. Biggie only has two mixtapes released and two studio albums (not including posthumus albums after he passed away). Tupac on the other hand has much more of a case as he dropped 11 studio albums but a fair amount of these are less known. Drake has the numbers to back up being considered ‘the goat’ in hip-hop but does not have the creativity that the other artists I have named possess. Drake has ghostwriters for his lyrics and does not produce or engineer any of his music. His music is still great and many people love it but he is truly just known for his voice behind the music and not the whole musical process.

All in all, there is no one correct answer for ‘who is the greatest rapper of all time?’ As this question is very opinion oriented. However, using statistics mixed with my personal preference I believe that it can be narrowed down to a few artists.