AllHipHop.com caught up with Hot 97’s DJ Kay Slay to see who his Top 5 rap artists of all time were. DJ Kay Slay, who has seen many rappers come and go as a 30-year-veteran, might surprise you with his list. Maybe not, he is known as “The Drama King.”
DJ K-Slay’s new album More Than Just A DJ is due in stores February 9.
1. Grandmaster Melle Mel Hands down. He touched on topics in the late 70’s and early 80’s that’s still relevant right now. You listen to “The Message,” and “Beat Street Breakdown” [from the Beat Street movie soundtrack]. Back then he mentioned “don’t be a slave to no computer.” Man n***as didn’t even know about computers in the 70’s and 80’s man! N***as didn’t have Macs! He talked about “The cheats the lies/The alibis/Man’s foolish attempt to conquer the skies/Lost in space/What is it worth/The president just forgot about earth.” That’s why they f**king with the moon and all that s**t now! They are trying to see if they can survive up that motherf**ker long enough to destroy this m############ planet and come back down here and start their own motherf**king nation of robots. Having n***as with barcodes on the back of their head. The s**t he talked about on that record made me say “this is the greatest rapper of all time.” I aint saying he’s just one, n***a he’s number 1 on my list. You disagreeing with me?
2. Grandmaster Caz –
You saying “of all time.” This is my era, son. Grandmaster Caz them n***as right there The Cold Crush Brothers, man they was the ones who started harmonizing and routines in Hip-Hop. Singing, fashion, the leather outfits, the belts dangling, the leather suits. Grandmaster Caz, he even wrote one of the biggest hip-hop records of all time, “Rapper’s Delight.” I gotta give it Grandmaster Caz second.
3. Nas –
Nas is just like such a deep brother. Whether he lives the s**t he speaks or not, he’s real intelligent brother. He knows how to put them songs together to make you sit back and think. I am lyrical type cat, so I like to hear stories. And of course, his classic diss record, “Ether.” “Takeover” by Jay-Z was nice, but it wasn’t geared all towards Nas. Nas dismantled that whole crew on that record dog. Please don’t make me repeat the lyrics. But you know and I know, that record was so nasty when it came out, Jay-Z did not come back with a response to touch that.
4. Jay-Z –
Jay been lyrical from day one. He came up with one of the greatest lyricists, Jaz-O and he took the s**t to another level. What made me bug out now is despite whatever discrepancy I might have had with him, man his verse on the Snoop’s remix to “I Wanna Rock” is nuts. How he breaks down everyone’s name through each verse. Made me say, “ok Jay, that n***a is nice.” And I aint with none of that dumb illuminati s**t. I believe the black man is the true living god, I am a 5 Percenter. I’m God Cipher Diving. I don’t believe in Christianity, Catholics and that other s**t, but that’s for another day. He aint no illuminati. He knows how to cause controversy and it’s real evident he’s working on album. And it’s good when n***as are talking about you in any kind of light, you can turn a negative into a positive. He’s smart and he’s doing what he’s supposed to do. This is Hip-Hop and it’s part of the business of entertaining people.
5. Bun B – Bun B, a lot of brothers figure that Southern artists aren’t really lyricists up North. Fortunately, I know better. 8 Ball & MJG, spit. Ludacris spits. T.I. spits. Lots of brothers out there that spit. But Bun B. and Pimp C. been spitting hard, RIP Pimp, for along time. Bun B has done freestyles on New York tracks. When I hear a brother go off a New York track, I know where they are at lyrically. Bun B is one of them dudes, he can rhyme on anything. I never game him a beat and he said “that’s a little to this. Can you send me something else?” It’s like that what’s you want n***a this what I’ma give you. Let’s go, and flip it. Bun B is spectacular can’t leave him out of that.