Since I was asked to post the list... It's very hard to come up with an 'overall kingpin' of rap, let alone to rank 10 kingpins in an order with any consistent separation between them.
When it comes to art, it's the opposite of things like sports with straight-up measurements to separate ranks. In objective rankings, the gap between 1 and 2 is huger than the gap between any other 2 in the entire sport most likely. On the other hand, in subjective rankings the gap gets less and less the higher you go. In other words 10 may be clearly inferior to 1 but it's unlikely in my top 6 or so that you would see any true reason why I put 1 as 1 or 6 as 6 and it definitely comes down to personal preference.
For each rapper from 10 through to 1, I am going to post 3 songs that I feel are all fairly different to one another and show a different aspect of what makes this rapper brilliant. I won't really explain 'why' unless asked why.
This is a similar format to what FM did except I am doing 3 per rapper.
If a rapper isn't on here and you think they are great, I most likely know them and like them but they didn't make the top 10 is all. Number 11 is Watsky if you are curious.
#10 Russ - World's current best melodic-rapper, predominant strength is making nice-sounding songs and comprehending what is unpleasant to the eardrums (and avoiding doing anything that is).
Rap Attitude: Non-violent arrogance.
Rap Strength: Pleasure to the eardrums.
Why in the top 10? World's best melodic rapper.
What makes me admire him? from 2007 to 2017 he produced daily or at least every other day a new beat and at least half a song. He used pure trial-and-error to see what beat styles work well to the ears and produce pleasure as well as lyrics and topics to include and avoid.
#9 - Tech N9ne - World's current best use of dynamic flow. Eminem is a rival in this aspect but the difference is that I feel Tech will go slower than Em in ways Em would never comprehend being good in flow. Tech combines fast, slow, loud, quiet... Happy, angry... You name it he has flowed in that way.
Rap Attitude: Split personality. One persona is fundamentally arrogant and violent, the other is melancholic and sometimes happy in a bittersweet way. Sometimes will include both personas in a rap.
Rap Strength: Can probably rap over ANY BEAT. Has flow range from chopper rap to slow Lil-Wayne speed of rap and has even collaborated with Wayne, shocking many fans.
Why in the top 10? Flow fits so many speeds and beats.
What makes me admire him? He co-sponsored his own label helped financially by less rap-oriented, business-focused friend Travis O'Guin back in 1999. He came up 'real' and has remained true to his ethos of maintaining an underground vibe and finding rappers in his niche and helping them truly make it in the industry. One of the most successful rappers or singers that piggybacked Tech to fame (in a good way, he let them) are Krizz Kaliko, !MAYDAY! and Ces Cru amongst many others who may not be directly associated with Strange Music Ltd. whereas those three are.
#8 - G-Eazy (This one is gonna get FactMachine all riled up). G-Eazy is a god at fitting other's styles and complimenting them in any song that he duos in. There is literally no rapper that can compare to his capability to bring out the best in other music artists. I have yet to hear of, or read a single article on the entire Internet's journalism that can quote, even indirectly, any artist who has ever worked with G-Eazy or who has something to say about him that is ever in any way negative. G-Eazy is an enigma... He can collab with anyone over any tune, fit them so well in both speed of rap and attitude of rap and there is literally no other rapper in the game who has his capability to do this. He rose at such a phenomenal speed from no one to someone everyone knows by strategic collabs (he is the inverse of Russ in this way but they are similar in many other ways).
Rap Attitude: The quiet hard worker, he likes to play the 'role' of the guy who is 'just there' and lets the other artists he works with take the limelight in almost any song he does. Even when he's solo his 'lowkey' vibe is apparent. He sees himself as a mafia gangster in his ethos, Head-down on your grind is his attitude.
Rap Strength: Chameleon. Can collaborate with literally any artist and make them and himself seem perfect for one another.
Why in the top 10? He has never ever done a bad song, ever. Especially when it comes to collaborations, I would go as far as to say that the artists he collaborates with always sound their best when with him, he truly works hard with them to understand their style, tempo and attitude and meshes with it.
What makes me admire him? He is what I see as genuine masculinity. Calm, collected and alpha in a lowkey way. He's the type of guy that will make you regret even trying to mess with him rather than try to mess with you. As long as you give him respect and treat him as a decent guy he will bring out the absolute best in you. If I was a rapper, a collab with this guy would be my absolute dream.
#7 MGK [Machine-Gun Kelly, named after the guy not the original notorious criminal] - Flow? Got that to a T. Tempo? Short of pure-chopper, can murk any flow but most certainly prefers fast-paced raps. He likes drugs but when it comes to the understanding of how to flow and mix up lyrics and some of the most complex rhyme schemes in a way that's still pleasing to the ears and still hit with some puns and metaphors... He's the all-rounder typical rapper and as far as 'typical rappers' go, this is my favourite.
Rap Attitude: Patriotic (specifically to his city of Cleveland but also the entire East Coast of in general) as well as an angry kind of sad. That sums this guy up. Full of energy though. A hybrid attitude of sorts.
Rap Strength: MY GOD THIS GUY'S LYRICISM and flow... He is a hard-hitter in all elements of rap, ALL ELEMENTS. Vocal control, flow, puns... Even the beats. He's the all-rounder kingpin.
Why in the top 10? Just listen to the 3 songs, 'nuff said.
What makes me admire him? Stayed true to who he is (which is an arrogant, patriot) to the bitter end. He's made some really in-your-face, 'look how rich I am now' simplistic raps over Trap beats just to show off and collaborate with his homies and was always willing to dumb himself down a bit for his allies (yes, there's no nice way to say it he's a much smarter rapper than his rap buddies in the game but he stayed loyal to the bitter end even though he's outdone them all in fame). He's best friends with Wacka Wocka Flame and ignored everyone commenting 'MGK is good but hat guy is an idiot' on his YouTube and even his own manager and still shows love to his homies on and off the camera and rap life.
#6 Devlin - Just get lost if you hate Grime (British Street Rap) it's a fantastic genre with lyrical geniuses and such masculinity to it. Real alpha rap fans can dig it even if they struggle with the accent. Devlin is a genius of lyrics and flow and has that attitude, that raw 'UGH I WANNA BE HIM HE'S SO ALPHA' HE BEGAN AS AN ARTIST ALL SAID HAD TO SIGN TO THEIR LABELS... Now Wiley... The biggest in the game... Called Devlin up to do a collab (lowkey inside info). Devlin is a kingpin, my god that guy is a MONSTER and if you appreciate the ability to make genius rap and flawless flow still sound so good with the melody... This is your man.
Rap Attitude: The Eminem of British Rap except with lack of resentment to his mother.
Rap Strength: Rhyme-scheme complexity and flow foremost.
Why in the top 10? If you are from London and don't respect and admire Devlin's talent... You don't deserve to call yourself a fan of any other grime artist. This guy is a GOD of British rap and trust me I'm into the lot. Skepta and all of them can't step to this guy in raw alpha male attitude in every single rap while still genius lyrics and flow.
What makes me admire him? Stayed true to who he is (which is an arrogant, patriot) to the bitter end. He's made some really in-your-face, 'look how rich I am now' simplistic raps over Trap beats just to show off and collaborate with his homies and was always willing to dumb himself down a bit for his allies (yes, there's no nice way to say it he's a much smarter rapper than his rap buddies in the game but he stayed loyal to the bitter end even though he's outdone them all in fame). He's best friends with Wacka Wocka Flame and ignored everyone commenting 'MGK is good but hat guy is an idiot' on his YouTube and even his own manager and still shows love to his homies on and off the camera and rap life.
#5 Vinnie Paz [not the boxer, named after him] - Find a flaw. Go ahead. Find a me a flaw. Exactly.
Rap Attitude: Violent Anarchist, converted to Islam as an act of rebellion against the Christian family who raised him in what he believes was a brainwashed way. Fascinating life, fascinating guy. Not the smartest but my lord his skill at rap is... Wow.
Rap Strength: There is no one who can flow this way. He can say any sentence and make it flow by pronunciation and maybe altering a word for a syllable with such ease.
Why in the top 10? Why not? Guy's a fucking god of rap, simple as.
What makes me admire him? Anarchist, unabashed to stand against government corruption... Talented as hell with poetry... Love him to pieces as much as a fan can to an artist without being obsessed over them. He isn't as flawless as the top 3 purely because his voice is raspy and his range of rap isn't too wide but my god is he phenomenal at what he does to such an insane degree.
#4 - Eminem - Can do woman-hating rap, then do extremely emotional rap showing his own feminine side, then do violent anti-authority rap, then side with the mainstream and make 'not afraid' and duo with Sia... LOL... This guy has all kinds of formats to his rap. Eminem is actually not as good at flow as people think. He actually enjoys not having to flow, it allows him to 'bend words' so that words that don't rhyme do rhyme by how he says them. He compensates for semi-good flow and outdoes the other artists by what I genuinely believe is phenomenal range of songs and the ability (similar to Tech N9ne as I already said) to rap over any beat at all.
Rap Attitude: All attitudes. No, seriously, women love him for his emotional raps, woman-haters love him for some other songs... The guy has no limit to his range of songs. He can be homophobic one day and then make gay guys like him because he makes a song they all can relate to... He has such a range to his raps... It's incredible. Ignore his life-story... His range of attitudes is actually unimaginably huge.
Rap Strength: Everything other than flawless flow but he has the other elements of rap so extremely higher than the rest up here that he compensates well for his somewhat broken flow by bending words so subtly you don't notice that he's compensating.
Why in the top 10? He opened up rap for white people... He kept the door open...
What makes me admire him? He didn't pretend to like his mother or have a happy life to make fans root for him. He stayed true to the broken person he was and the scrawny white guy thing, he kept that too and didn't try to 'black himself' in any artificial way whatsoever unlike some non-black rappers have done...
Note: All the top 3 are kingpin gods of rap who will never ever be replaced if they can work their fame well enough to cement themselves in the history of it. If you think any of my top 3 rappers are bad at rap, you don't understand the rap industry and maybe only understand the mechanics of rap as opposed the combination of a persona, melody and lyrics that people can chant to.
#3 Hopsin - Just... If you don't think Hopsin is in the top 3 rappers of all time... Imagine how good he's been so far. Guy has a good 2 decades lef tin him to rap with still... Yes, imagine that potential. This is beyond god-tier, he is a cemented idol in the rap game and it's just a fact really.
Rap Attitude: Arrogant, angry and very masculine indeed.
Rap Strength: Can get a crowd roaring and ramp up his vibe like all the rest but can keep that 'rage for him' going even when he's not releasing songs just by people talking bad about him. He's notorious and he likes it.
Why in the top 10? He understands everything about rap that there is to understand. He understands the industry, understands the mechanics of actual rap and the skill of flowing well with complex puns and metaphors intertwined in a brilliant rhyme scheme. When it comes to wisdom in rap, he is as good as it gets, period.
What makes me admire him? This guy is... Well, he's a legend. Simple as.
#2 Nicki Minaj (This one can, like G-Eazy get FactMachine's panties in a bunch at me ranking them so high) - She's a woman in an industry that makes songs objectifying women. That alone is phenomenal. She destroys most men lyrically, has everything down and can even sing well on top of it when she has to. Yeah, yeah, she's done filthy and stupid songs... That's called playing the industry. All the top three rappers here play the industry so well.
Rap Attitude: Usual persona is a down-to-earth 'everyone should be humble, even me' kind of vibe but she plays other personas, one even has a British accent.
Rap Strength: Emotional intensity of the raps she does. Whether it's arrogant or heartfelt, it's always extremely passionate and excellently executed to convey the feelings to the listener.
Why in the top 10? She has everything a rapper could need to be crowned a king but is simply a queen instead. She understand rap to an extreme level and knows how to play it dumb for the dumb fans and eloquent for the tryhard fans (just like Hopsin does).
What makes me admire her? So much. Eminem had an easier time making it as a male rapper than Nicki did breaking this stereotype. Eminem had Dre leading him, Nicki had to befriend Wayne and Drake herself on the way up and made her own crew by being real and loyal the whole time. Yes, like MGK, her allies are all much less good at rap itself than she is but just like MGK she stays loyal because she knows how much they mean to her and she means to them.
#1 Chris Webby - Haven't heard of him? Yeah, that's his only issue.
I don't need to justify this one. If you don't understand good rap, you just don't.
He is the total package. Attitude, the lot.