Common’s five favourite Chicago rappers of all time
Chicago has a long and proud history of rap music, having produced some of the biggest names ever to do it.
Common is up there with the very best of them, in with a shout at being considered one of the top-five hip-hop artists to ever emerge from the city. But who does he thinks deserves to be in the running alongside him?
He was asked about this during a morning appearance in 2024 on WGCI 107.5, a Chicago radio station. Assuming he couldn’t name himself, which, as he joked, he would if he could, he proceeded to begin with an obvious choice: Kanye West.
Ye and Com have a long history together, and Common’s career owes a lot to his old collaborator. Ye’s influence over Be, Common’s sixth album and widely considered to be his greatest, helped to elevate it into classic status. Ye produced most of it and released it on his GOOD Music label in 2005.
But as for his own music, Common think Ye’s output is great. He loves Ye as a rapper, and he certainly thinks he belongs in the conversation about the Windy City’s best. Despite the controversies surrounding Ye, it couldn’t really be any other way.
Lupe Fiasco also got a mention from Common, as did Twista and Lil Durk. Seeing as how he wasn’t allowed to name himself, he instead opted at this point to shout out Chance the Rapper.
A list of Ye, Lupe Fiasco, Twista, Chance the Rapper and Lil Durk is solid, especially seeing as how Common himself couldn’t be on it. But one of his interviewers did have a minor quibble. They felt that, given that Lil Durk found his way on there, surely Chief Keef should have gotten a mention, too?
“You got Durk on there,” the host said, “but you wouldn’t put the person that made it able for Durk to live? Sosa — Chief Keef.”
Putting it to Common that Chief Keef “started the movement,” presumably referring to drill, the host felt that should entitle him to be named. “Yeah, he did start it,” Common conceded. “But I gotta say, Durk been [taking it there].”