Hip-hop

Beats and rhymes. For the most part, these are the be-all and end-all of hip-hop - the twin anchors on which everything else hinges. Without a solid beat, lyrics often flutter aimlessly, impotent and formless without a backbone. Without good rhymes, you get empty vessels of pop culture, and a bumbling parade of songs more accustomed to the less-than-rigorous demands of snap music fans than to traditional hip-hop fans. While there are, of course, exceptions, these serve as pretty standard rules for any artist attempting to catch someone’s ear.

Of course, we all know these two pillars get more than their fair share of attention. But what people often leave out of their discussions is the voice of the MC, the final tether to which everything clings. In many ways, it’s an unfair category, and one an MC can’t necessarily control. The voice, while largely unheralded, is vital. While voices are an intensely personalarea of preference, I’ve decided to lay out a few voices of note that, while not making the MC who he is (I’ve decided to just focus on male MCs), certainly lay the blocks upon which the rest of their legacy is built.