Who’s the Second Greatest White Rapper of All-Time? Posted by Nathan S. on 06/03/13 | Filed under Top Stories, Opinion

Running RefinedHype has turned my brain into a constant article generation machine. If I'm eating a taco, I'm thinking, "This is the Rick Ross of tacos - it's huge, but it's mostly just shredded lettuce and filler." If I see randomly see a hot girl on the street I think, "Random hot girls, I could do something with that." And when I happen to see Lil Wyte has a new song out I think, "I wonder where Lil Wyte ranks on the all-time greatest white rappers list. Should he get bonus points for having a version of 'white' in his name?" And then I start thinking about an All-Time Greatest White Rappers list, and then I think...WHO THE FUCK IS THE SECOND BEST RAPPER OF ALL-TIME?

Unlike the overall Greatest Rapper of All-Time, which has no definitive top five, let alone clear cut number one, the greatest white rapper of all-time is Eminem. That's not even a question. As always, we define greatest as the combination of three factors: Skill/inherent musical ability, commercial success, and cultural impact.

Even if you could somehow make the argument that Em's not the straight up dopest rapper of all-time, there's just no one who's even in his commercial success and cultural impact ballpark. It's not even close - there's an absolutely abyss between him and...whoever the fuck is at number two.

Who's even in the running? Let's try to think through this thing logically and categorically:

The first category that comes to mind are incredibly dope underground dudes. Their talent score might be through the roof, but they just don't have the sales and impact. This is where I'm putting that Aesop Rock/Vinnie Paz/Cage/etc. group. We can argue all day about where they belong in a top 20, but number two? We love them because they're underground, but that's also keeping them from any second spot.

Second, what I'm going to call the exception category. They're not one of the super lyrical underground heads, they're not the Southern quasi-gangster/party dudes (think Paul Wall), they're not frat rap, they're...kind of their own thing. The first two names that come to mind here are Yelawolf and Rittz. Now Yela's an interesting name to bring up, especially considering he's signed to Shady. If "Radioactive" had sold better he might be a stronger candidate, but at the very least he's in the conversation.

Third, I start to think about the new wave of white rappers. This is where old hip-hop heads might start throwing up in their mouth, but with one exception, this is the most commercially viable time for white rappers in hip-hop history. That means that the new school has a better chance or ranking higher. Off the jump I'm going to cut out the Hoodie Allen/T Millz/etc. crowd - there's no way any of them are number two when they're not even the best new school white rappers. Those honors would have to go to Mac Miller and Macklemore*. Between the two of them Mac is more respected as a rapper, has very good sales numbers, but hasn't had the bananas sales/impact Macklemore has. In reverse, while I do think Macklemore's a better rapper than many give him credit for, many don't even consider him a rapper, and I have to take that under considering. Ulimtately, the point is those guys have to at least be discussed.

Finally, I've got to give a nod to the old school. If rappers like MC Serch didn't at least prove that a white rapper could be dope Eminem might never had made it, and the same goes for....wait....holy shit, I think I've found my number two pick, The Beastie Boys. We're talking widespread respect, trendsetter status, multiple Grammys, 40 million albums sold. Yep, there you go, I've got to go with the Beasties for that number two slot. They're the only ones even capable of truly challenging Em...

...but I think there's a hell of a discussion to be had. Have at it RefinedHype Nation, just remember, you're the reason my brain works like this.

UPDATE: Now that I think it over, maybe the Beasties don't qualify because they're a group, not a single rapper. Marinating on it now...

* Note to aspiring white rappers: Be sure to include "Mac" somewhere in your name, it's apparently a great idea.