It’s always about Lil Wayne or Kanye West. Jay-Z or 50 Cent. Eminem or Ja Rule. But what about those artists that remain in the underground or have been mainstays in the independent hip hop scene for over 10 years? Most are better than all mainstream rappers. In fact, Eminem and Jay-Z are the only big time guys with great skills. The others are good rappers, not great.
6 Rappers You Probably Never Heard Of
#6 Slug – Atmosphere
Straight out of Minneapolis, Slug is at the helm of his group, Atmosphere, and holds fort with a very melancholy authority. If you like positive hip hop, Atmosphere is not for you as Slug mainly focuses on bad relationships and other depressing subject matter and can sometimes take it too far, but that’s also what makes him great. He stretches the limits and doesn’t care what you think.
#5 Pharaohe Monch & Prince Poetry – Organized Konfusion
In my opinion, this is the greatest MC duo the hip hop world has ever witnessed. If you look back over the history of hip hop, there weren’t many groups with just two rappers. Tribe Called Quest is another good one but compared to the lyrical and verbal deliveries of both rappers from Organized Konfusion, it’s not close. Don’t believe me? Download “Bring It On”, the remix, and tell me these two aren’t ridiculous rappers.
#4 Aceyalone – Freestyle Fellowship
Ask anyone who likes west coast indie hip hop about Aceyalone and they’ll tell you he’s one of the biggest reasons they were put on the map. Aceyalone has tons of songs, some solo, some with his buddies in Freestyle Fellowship, all showing a unique ability of style, substance and skills. He’s completely west coast, has some classic underground songs and remains an Los Angeles hip hop legend to this day.
#3 Del tha Funkee Homosapien – Hieroglyphics
The name says it all. He’s not funky, he’s funkee. Came on to the scene in the very early 90′s with “Mr. Dobalina” and “Dr. Bombay” from his frist album, I Wish My Brother George Was Here. It’s one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time in the same way 2001: Space Odyssey is one of the best movies of all time. It’s far, far out, unlike anything in rap anyone had heard at the time and showcased a talent that would never be duplicated.
#2 Lyrics Born – Quannum
Quannum is the most phenomenal group of hip hop talent in assembly today. Two incredible beat makers and 3 spectacular rappers. They’ve added more people in the last few years but the first five remain the only true talents. One MC is Lyrics Born, one of the few asian MC’s in hip hop and an amazing and completely different breed. He can rap fast, hard, and change his delivery so frequently in one song, it’s hard to fathom one guy doing it all.
#1 Gift of Gab – Blackalicious & Quannum
Also from Quannum, the best rapper of all time, in my opinion, is Gift of Gab out of Oakland, California. Listening to him rap is as beautiful as a song sung by a tenor. What makes him so awesome is his ability to marry his lyrics and flow to the music of his longtime DJ/Producer, Chief Xcel. It’s usually a very cool, harmonious tune that feels more like a great song than a great hip hop track. He’s been featured on many songs and has some excellent albums with Blackalicious. A classic hip hop song he did with DJ Shadow, “Swan Lake”, is worth a download.
Fantastic man, excellent list! Price Po is my FB friend and he’s cool as hell, talks to his people and what not. U should holler, see what ventures hes up to and u guys could maybe colab. He’s in LA now!
A very deeply researched and thoughtfully written list. You should edit this and add on some honorable mentions, just to help out those who only listen to mainstream hip-hop. Here’s some suggestions for the list:
Biggie Smalls
Nas
Tupac
Ghostface Killah
Cummon man, none of these guys are underground even a little bit. This is like making a list of BEST TV SHOWS YOU’VE NEVER SEEN and including Entourage and The Office.
What! Those are no money in pockets and your saying a suggestion for this list is Nas and biggie. BIGGIE HAD A FUCKING MOVIE THAT HE DIDN”T EVEN PRODUCE!
you kidding dude? These guys are FAR less known than nas, biggie, and tupac. you have no clue wtf ur talking about.
I’ve heard of all of these rappers. And there are more, lesser known, even better ones.
Ever heard of Doseone? Sole?
Get it together.
Notable Recommendation I can guarantee 99.9% of the populace isn’t in tune with yet: 37 from Algorhythms and Wombaticus Rex.
http://www.myspace.com/algorhythmic
http://www.worldaroundrecords.com
Slugo at number 6? wrong… needs to be lower… Brother Ali? cmon now
you gotta add wax and herbal t
great list. yes, these guys arent the most underground rappers, but they are def not pop, not mainstream. Del is my fav. 3030 is an awesome album
I listen to all of these artists, very intelligent list.
I’d also like to suggest Tech N9ne.
Amazing skill with a well-known performance. He’s never had any TV or radio play but has still sold over 1 million albums independently.
Cheers
You didn’t list any of Anticon, auto discredit.
What about KRS-One? Conscious rap?
“Rap is something you do, hip-hop is something you live”
The Pholosopher? The Teacher? The Blastmaster? The very man who INVENTED hip-hop???? WHERE IS HE ON THIS LIST!?!?!?
KRS did not invent Hip Hop
sept he did
“I’ve heard of all of these rappers. And there are more, lesser known, even better ones.
Ever heard of Doseone? Sole?
Get it together.”
Slugo at number 6? wrong… needs to be lower… Brother Ali? cmon now”
God damn you anticon troll faggots. how the hell do you people manage to get into every single blog or website about hip hop and bitch? Dose One sucks, for the record, but the others are good.
I think Sage is wittiest.
People know who brother Ali is, he was on MTV a whole lot
Great list…I knew Blackalicious had to be mentioned here somewhere. Gift of Gab is the shiznits!
Great list… I may add a few:
Black Milk
Frank and Dank
Diverse
Madlib
K-Os out of Toronto is by far the most underrated MC’s on the planet. Never uttered a curse and can sing like no other.
Love this list, I always wondered what happened to Gift of Gab.
del is sick ive got the ablum i wish my brother george was here.good list old mate what about rappers like the geto boys. above the law.das efx the doc
Quite a good list. Slug is a good call, and I vaguely know of the others. Not being a hip-hop fan means my knowledge is quite limited. But Del is fun, at least.
Also, where is Immortal Technique?
You forgot Raashan Ahmad, and Insight
Insight
http://www.insight.fm
Akrobatik
twitter.com/akrobatikmc
Skitzofreniks
MOre specifically Checkmark
skitzofreniks.com/board
myspace.com/checkmark2015
Joell Ortiz
Termanology
Virtuoso
A.L.
Alphabet jones
Myspace.com/illalphabet
Tech n9ne
Just to name a few…
TECH N9NE PUTS ALL TO SHAME. NUMBER 1 INDEPENDENT ARTIST OF ALL TIME
Check out this boy from Canada if you haven’t heard him… Definitely deserves some credit for his skills…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dcCfQy3EvQ
heard of all them as well and there are a lot more who are way better…..atmosphere? tell me that was a joke
For the guy who mentioned Tech n9ne…He’s gone mainstream. He no longer qualifies for the underground scene. But I agree he is good…and as far as this list…Ive heard of almost all of these guys!! Time to find some new underground stuff!
How can you say he’s gone mainstream when he’s never been on the radio or television? His albums are charted under indie on Billboard. He created his own label, Strange Music, that supports independent artists. His last tour was with MURS, and his upcoming tour for his new album K.O.D. is with Slaughterhouse. Please tell me why you think he is mainstream. And please make sense.
great list, brotha lynch hung is another good one too
man Aesop Rock oh EL – P and Slug,Seven or Fucking Atmosphere
I would like to add Immortal Technique, Pep Luv, Living Legends Crew, Nujabes and People Under the Stairs to your list. I like del and Lyrics B in the list though.
great list, loving Pharoahe Monch
Dudes, we’re not really fans of hip hop / rap, but where the heck is Sage Francis on your list?
The guy is a lyrical tank, better than anything Eminem or most other rappers could ever dream of.
^ Meant, not.
no def jux, or doomtree. Auto fail