“I’m not going to be biased and put Jay in my Top 5 and n***as gonna be like ‘Of course he gonna say Jay.” – Memphis Bleek
Memphis Bleek has been kickin’ it with Hip Hop’s finest since the Marcy Projects-the big homey Jay-Z. But in all fairness, the Brooklyn native couldn’t just put his man on his Top 5 Dead or Alive even if he’s at the top of some many others (including the author of this text). With that, Bleek opened up about who this feels reigns supreme in the field of rap.
AllHipHop.com: Who would up say are the top 5 emcees, Dead or Alive – for Memphis Bleek?
Kool G Rap
“He was the first rapper that showed me some guns in a video and how to tie a n#### up. He was spittin’ the real. He was the M.O.P. before M.O.P.”
KRS-One
“KRS-One was the lyricist of lyricism back in the day. He was the first person to ever destroy somebody and build his career off of destroying him. He was the first 50 Cent. (laughs) Let’s clear that up!”
Rakim
“Rakim was before his time. You can put on a Rakim album and it sound like it was recorded last month. He was spittin’ harder than rappers spit now. [He was] way before his time.”
B.I.G.
“When you get to the new school, you gotta put B.I.G. up there. B.I.G. made it cool for fat dudes to get fly and steal our chicks. And he was just funny. B.I. brought the comedy to rap. He made it fun again.”
Tupac
“My last Top 5 pick is Tupac because Pac was real. Pac was a revolutionist. People look at Pac for the thug. But you gotta look at all the other songs, ‘Brenda’s Got A Baby’ ‘To My Unborn Child,’ ‘Dear Mama.’ Pac was the truth man. He wasn’t about lyricism. He was about getting the message to you and making sure you understood that he was dead serious about it and I loved that about him.”
THE SIDEBAR
AllHipHop asked Bleek what was his favorite Hip-Hop album of all time and he relized he needed to add on to his Top 5:
“What made me say to myself ‘Man, I wanna do that. Cause these dudes is killin’ it! Big Daddy Kane man, Long Live the Kane. That made me say, “Wow, I gotta in this business, these n****s are killin’ it! Wow! I need a top 10 man, how he not gon’ be in my top five? When I was younger, I wanted to listen to Kool G Rap and them. But now, you go back and listen, [Kane] was dropping gems man that people need to follow now. Word up!”
Whitney Nichole Stevens contributed to this story.