It's the one question that continues to intrigue rap fans all around the world: Who's your rapper's favorite rapper? Nearly two decades ago, Jeezy declared "I'm ya favorite rapper's favorite rapper" on "Standing Ovation." Then again, there are fans who believe that the late MF Doom is the ultimate favorite among numerous rappers.
Today's artists have a slightly different taste than the aforementioned legends. The majority of artists we spoke to at Rolling Loud Miami 2023 cited a lot of different influences in their respective careers. Curren$y shared that Slick Rick and Snoop Dogg changed his life at an early age.
"Slick Rick wore Bally's and a lot of the big dogs in my city when I was small, like my brothers and people stayed down the street from me, like the ones who was doing s**t when I was young," Spitta explained. "They had the same shoes and I was like, damn, ‘he's almost from here,’ you know? But he wasn't. But I thought that s**t was dope. So Slick Rick. And then as I got older Snoop [Dogg], 'cause I was so into low-riding and his videos had the most lowriders in them. So that took me all the way to where I'm at right now.
As we continue to celebrate Hip-Hop's 50th anniversary, we spoke to artists like Fridayy, Duke Deuce, Eem Triplin, Fendi Da Rappa and other rising rap stars about the artists who changed their lives. We also found out about their Top 5 favorite MC's and producers of all time. Scroll below to read their raw thoughts.
Bizzy Crook
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Artist Who Changed Your Life: Eminem. That was my introduction to rap. That was the one person that I realized somebody, some stranger that I don't know can describe exactly how I feel, and that's what made me approach it from the poetic standpoint and rapping about my life.
Top 5 Rappers: JAY-Z, Eminem, Kanye West, Drake and Pusha-T
Top 5 Producers: Hit-Boy, Jay Dilla, Ye, Swizz Beatz and Boi-1da
Photo: Henry Hwu for Rolling Loud
Artist Who Changed Your Life: Lil Wayne and Kanye West. Lil Wayne was the first rapper that I ever admired or called my favorite artist. Before him, it was Usher and before him it was Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson was my first favorite artist but the first rapper I ever listen to was Lil Wayne. He had that "Go DJ" song and I was like 5 and I had a big brother named DJ and I used to want to be like my big brother a lot so I would tell everybody my name is DJ. When I heard that song, I'm like 'he made that song about me!'
Top 5 Rappers: Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Biggie Smalls, Future, and Drake
Top 5 Producers: Pharrell, Pharrell, Pharrell, Pharell, and Timbaland
Duke Deuce
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Artist Who Changed Your Life: This might be surprising to a lot of people, but I want to say Money Man. When he came out with that “Boss Up” joint, I was in a bad space around that time, and I really needed that message. So I appreciate him.
Top 5 Rappers: Three 6 Mafia, Project Pat, Lord Infamous, Myself, Bankroll Fresh
Top 5 Producers: My Pops [Duke Nitty], HitKidd, DJ Paul, London on da Track and Metro Boomin. I got a lot of favorite producers.
Eem Triplin
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Artist Who Changed Your Life: Tyler, The Creator. Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky, Childish Gambino, Joey Bada$$. A lot of people.
Top 5 Rappers: That is my Top 5 (See above)
Top 5 Producers: Kanye West, Metro Boomin, Tyler, The Creator, Pi’erre Bourne and I really like Icy Twat too.
Fendi DaRappa
Artist Who Changed Your Life: Me, I changed my life.
Top 5 Rappers: I would say Lil Baby, Future, G Herbo.. it’s a lot of they ass. I’mma also say Lola Brooke and GloRilla.
Fridayy
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Artist Who Changed Your Life: Kanye West. From him being a producer and knowing his sound and transitioning into being an artist.. That's how my story is.
Top 5 Rappers: Drake, Meek Mill, Kanye West, J. Cole and Future
Top 5 Producers: Kanye West & Timbaland. It's a lot of people I like, but that's my two favorite.
Artist Who Changed Your Life: I would say the first ever rapper to change my life was 2Pac. The first real rap project I ever got my hands on was All Eyez On Me. And it was actually a cassette tape at the time. Shouts out my older brother for putting me on. That s**t was fire. I listened to that s**t religiously. It was one of the only things that I'd gotten my hands on. I was just grabbing s**t that my brother had, so I just managed to grab a hold of that one and that I feel like it influenced me heavily. Drake is a recurrent artist that I've been listening to since the jump and continues to inspire me and I like the way he goes about it because myself as an artist I like to be as versatile as I can. I feel like he involves a lot of different elements that aren't just rapping, you feel me?
Top 5 Rappers: This answer changes from day to day but I would say Frank Ocean, Drake and 2Pac. There are other artists that have very honorable mentions. I feel like every time I do this, it's an injustice to all the other artists that inspired me, but as far as the artists that I listen to and really f**k with those are the ones.
Top 5 Producers: Boi-1da. Jae5. Product. If y'all don't know about Product, you better check 'em out. Paperwater. I f**k with Scott Storch heavy and I also f**k with Metro Boomin.
JELEEL!
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Artist Who Changed Your Life: I would say 50 Cent, definitely DMX. They were just raw. You could tell it wasn't fake. You could tell it was just really them. It wasn't like they were trying to be somebody else.
Top 5 Rappers: 50 Cent, DMX, Lloyd Banks, Lil Wayne and Playboi Carti
Top 5 Producers: I love Timbo. I love Kanye West. Alchemist is hard too. Benny X and TM88
K.Charles
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Artist Who Changed Your Life: I got to say Ye man. I know it sounds very typical and everything, but Ye. Definitely opened my eyes to a lot of s**t when I was younger and it helped me change my life.
Top 5 Rappers: Ye, Drake, Biggie, Lil Wayne. No. 5 is debatable man. I would say Travis [Scott]. I f**k with Trav. Trav go hard.
Top 5 Producers: Metro, Kanye. My producer, Crybaby Haze. I would say probably Southside.
Loe Shimmy
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Artist Who Changed Your Life: For inspiration, I’d say I f**k with that boy Future heavy. I f**k with that boy Young Thug heavy, that boy NoCap heavy. That's my brother. He inspired me a lot.
Top 5 Rappers: Future, Young Thug, NoCap. Babyface Ray in there too.
Top 5 Producers: Vince Made The Beat. Tape Kid. King Nathan. Stxnk. CardoGotWings. That's definitely one my favorite producers.
Artist Who Changed Your Life: Tyler, The Creator because he showed me that it's okay to be weird and experiment and just be outside the box and it took him 10 years but you're going to get a Grammy, bro. It's going to work. You don't have to fold and be like, oh, I want to do trends. I have to be trendy, bro. You don't have to be trendy. You just got to be raw.
Top 5 Rappers: Isaiah Rashad at No. 1, Travis Scott and Kid Cudi at No. 2. I can't really pick. It’s hard. Anyway, No. 3 would be ScHoolboy Q. No. 4 would be Tyler, The Creator, and No. 5 would be Kendrick Lamar.
Top 5 Producers: Pharrell at No. 1. Mike Dean at No. 2. Dot Da Genius at No. 3. I would have to say probably Metro Boomin at No. 4. He be snapping. I ain't even going to lie. And I got to give it to my boy Constant just because he produced a lot of my s**t. He be rough.
Artist Who Changed Your Life: I'm going to give it to Lil Wayne. I'm going to give it to Lil Wayne for sure. He opened my ears to somebody putting on for the South. That's a lyricist. You know what I'm saying? So I approach the game like he did. You feel what I'm saying? So Lil Wayne for sure, definitely changed my life.
Top 5 Rappers: Young Dolph. Bankroll Fresh. Lil Wayne. Lil B. Gucci Mane.
Top 5 Producers: Pharrell, Zaytoven, The Alchemist, Tyler, The Creator. The last one I'm going to give it to a young n***a, Pierre Bourne.