10 Hottest MCs Countdown
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Earlier this week, we had 3 members of the MTV News Hip-Hop Brain Trust on The Morning After to discuss the MTV “Hottest MCs in the Game.” Shaheem Reid, Rahman Dukes, and Jayson Rodriguez voiced their opinions, and defended some of the potential contenders.
Our listeners questioned the validity of Gucci Mane and Soulja Boy as the hottest, and here’s the response from Shaheem and Rahman:
“I think you gotta put Gucci in the conversation right now. I’m not saying whether he’s going to make our official top 10, but Gucci, he’s been killing it with the mixtapes. He put the joint out with DJ Holiday, just put out another one with DJ Drama now. “Wasted” is a big record right now and he has all these guest appearances right now. You can’t tell me when you go to a club you ain’t gonna be dancing to that “Lol Smiley Face” or the Mario “Breakup” or the Mariah “Obsessed.” (Shaheem)
“I was on the opposing end of Soulja Boy but I can appreciate the young god. We went to a couple of his shows. We just were at the America’s Most Wanted tour. You gotta give it up to him. He’s hustling, he’s got his mind in the right place and he really defines what we’re talking about when we’re saying being hot. Same thing for Gucci, you can’t front on neither one of these dudes.” (Rahman)
[audio:http://angelayee.mystagingwebsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/07-MTV-Top-10-pt1-1.mp3]The discussion the turned to Andre 3000 being included in the poll, because he hasn’t had much material out this past year. In addition, last year he made the top 10 list:
“I think a lot of people were fusing Dre being a real dope mc, but so is Nas, but Nas didn’t have any records out like that that was actually moving around but Dre was on like 2 or 3 remixes.” (Rahman)
“I was one of the people who voted for Dre to be on the list last year. I just felt that 1 or 2 guest appearances can overshadow a lot of dude’s whole albums or bodies of works. Andre is just that potent on the mic so…” (Shaheem)
[audio:http://angelayee.mystagingwebsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/08-MTV-Top-10-pt2.mp3]Next up, we discussed last year’s number 1 on the Hottest MC’s list, Kanye West:
“I think Kanye’s dope. In addition to being a dope lyricist his tour was incredible. I think he really embodies what it is to be a hot MC because he does it beyond just the music. He really tries to put the whole presence of being an artist and I think he kinda pushes the genre.” (Jayson)
We also got a breakdown of how the panel works, how many people are on it and the guys give their resumes to verify what makes them qualified to choose this years hottest MC’s.
Then our listeners phoned in and got very passionate about who should or shouldn’t be included. Some names mentioned were Charles Hamilton, Lil Boosie, Hurricane Chris, Webbie, TI, Joell Ortiz, Talib Kweli, Common, and Jadakiss
[audio:http://angelayee.mystagingwebsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/09-MTV-Top-10-pt3.mp3]In closing, make sure you tune in to MTV August 17, when they reveal number 10 and continue the countdown each consecutive day. Finally, on the 24th they reveal the top 5 during “Making His Band.”
And what qualities are they looking for to make this list? It’s not just album sales or ability.
“We def look at skills, you gotta rap at some point you gotta have a good flow.
We also look at your impact, how are you impacting the culture? How are you moving the needle when people think about who had a heavy presence? Not just on your block, not just in your region, but nationally even globally. And we don’t look at your whole career, we only looking at the past year, past 8 months, past 6 months. We’re not doing a greatest of all time situation.” (Shaheem)