{"id":113,"date":"2024-05-01T14:40:28","date_gmt":"2024-05-01T14:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fredstories.com\/nystateofrhyme\/?p=113"},"modified":"2024-05-01T14:40:28","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T14:40:28","slug":"new-yorks-top-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fredstories.com\/nystateofrhyme\/new-yorks-top-5\/","title":{"rendered":"New York’s Top 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

For hip-hop fans around the world, the past month has been a real breath of fresh air with the biggest names in the game deciding to take the gloves off, cut the sneak dissing, and go at each other\u2019s necks to prove who the best rapper breathing is in 2024. If you don\u2019t already know, I\u2019m referring to the beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake, as well as Drake\u2019s other 832 rap beefs and the Chris Brown and Quavo beef which recently escalated to boiling temperatures.<\/span><\/p>\n

This change of pace now has group chats nationwide arguing in all caps about who\u2019s allowed on the short list of elite rappers. Does the big three of hip-hop consist of Drake, Kendrick, and J. Cole? One thing is for certain\u2014 New York rappers have <\/span>not<\/span><\/i> been given a proper seat at the table.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a professional proponent of New York rap, watching us gradually lose national attention and respect has been tough to stomach, especially during a time in which we\u2019ve brought a lot of that classic hip-hop culture and sound back towards the mainstream. So, I think it\u2019s about time that \u201cTop 5\u201d conversation comes around to us.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a preface, I\u2019m not gonna try to convince you that this list is simply objective fact that you\u2019d be dumb to argue with, because I\u2019m well aware of my own biases; I love gritty boom bap and underground, jazz influenced hip-hop over most other sub-genres. Don\u2019t take it personally if I don\u2019t list your favorites, as there can never be an objective ranking in something as abstract as art.<\/span><\/p>\n

I should add that I will only be considering New York rappers who have put out music in the past couple years. I also have no intentions of using commercial success as any kind of measure for lyrical ability (I\u2019m looking at you Aubrey). I\u2019m purely assessing who I feel deserves to be listed among the top MCs in New York. So, as we all sit and wait for Kendrick to drop a damn verse already, let\u2019s take a look at some of the top rappers coming out of New York this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. MIKE<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    There aren\u2019t very many rappers on Earth that can compete with MIKE\u2019s discography at this point. As both a rapper and a producer, he\u2019s consistently pushed the envelope of creativity by digging deeper into his bag with every single release. With three albums under his belt in the past year, he\u2019s one of the most consistent rappers right now period. And as opposed to a lot of highly commercially successful artists at this time, it\u2019s practically impossible to predict the sound and flow of a new MIKE album.<\/span><\/p>\n

    His versatility can\u2019t be understated, as he quickly responded to Twitter\u2019s allegations of his 2023 album Burning Desire \u201cscaring the hoes\u201d by dropping <\/span>Pinball<\/span><\/i>, a collaborative album with producer Tony Seltzer filled with vibrant trap beats and bars that\u2019ll make your face scrunch up. MIKE\u2019s music is often deceivingly introspective & personal, but that doesn\u2019t mean he doesn\u2019t know how to have fun on the beat. If you haven\u2019t tapped in yet, I highly suggest you stop sleeping on the most underrated rapper in the game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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    1. Conway the Machine<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Listening to Conway often gives me the same feeling as watching an NBA player put up 50 points on the scoreboard. At first, it damn near made me stand up and start cheering at my speaker. Now I just smile and nod knowing old heads across the country are being forced to admit that real rap never died.<\/span><\/p>\n

      At 42 years old, he still raps like he\u2019s 18, trying to get the bills paid. On every song he\u2019s featured on, you can hear a distinct hunger to be the coldest one on the track. Conway embodies the spirit of hip-hop in a way that\u2019s consistently inspired both his peers and his OGs in rap, with cosigns from hip-hop giants like Jay Z and Eminem.<\/span><\/p>\n

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      1. Action Bronson<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        When it comes to New York rap, Action Bronson stands as a longtime heavyweight champion. Bronson brings a unique flavor to hip-hop that’s impossible to ignore once you\u2019re exposed to it. His beat selection is unpredictably diverse, from jazz fusion to inspirations from rock & roll, and his bars are impossibly unpredictable.<\/span><\/p>\n

        Bronson’s ability to paint vivid, hilarious pictures with his rhymes combined with his dexterity with hard, gritty bars is what sets him apart from the crowd as one of the most entertaining voices in hip-hop. His sound can sometimes turn away from the classic New York boom-bap style, but his sharp, punchy delivery never fails to remind you where he hails from.<\/span><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Stove God Cooks<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          He\u2019s only put out one album in 2020, but for several years he\u2019s been proving himself as a strong contender for rap\u2019s sixth man of the year, featuring on countless tracks from the Griselda roster and adjacent contemporaries. He\u2019s incessantly proven that a Stove God Cooks feature on your song is like a cheat code.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

          I know somebody\u2019s out there scrunching their face in repugnance at the idea of putting Stove God over the likes of Westside Gunn and Benny the Butcher, the people who put him on the map in the first place, but at the end of the day I\u2019m not sure there\u2019s anybody in Griselda with bars and delivery as electric as him. The style he\u2019s capable of bringing to a song is nearly beyond peer in the NY scene, and he has the lyrical ability to keep up with the heaviest hitters in the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

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          1. billy woods<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            billy woods\u2019s music sometimes doesn\u2019t feel like rap, but instead an amorphous literary expression of an esoteric mind. He fluently appraises American culture, capitalism, trauma, and the meaning of blackness, while waiting to weave in a few bars that\u2019ll make you laugh from your gut. Sometimes I\u2019m not sure if we\u2019re even meant to understand every bar, but for this reason his music lends itself to being constantly replayed.<\/span><\/p>\n

            Before I ever listened to a solo billy woods song, my friend told me that this guy might just be the greatest rapper alive. In truth, I thought his recency bias was hitting craaazy and he was just really excited to find another rapper whose lyrics often need to be read to be comprehensively understood. Now, although I still haven\u2019t listened to enough of his discography to justify any higher placement on this list, in terms of writing ability, I can at least agree that billy woods is 1 of 1.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            For hip-hop fans around the world, the past month has been a real breath of fresh air with the biggest names in the game deciding to take the gloves off, cut the sneak dissing, and go at each other\u2019s necks to prove who the best rapper breathing is in 2024. If you don\u2019t already know, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t