How correct is The Game’s list of 100 best LA rappers?
Someone always gets annoyed by lists ranking the greatest ever; you can’t please them all. So when in May earlier this year, Complex published their ranking of the 100 best rappers from Los Angeles, sure enough, it got under some people’s skin. In fact, one of those actually listed spoke out to express their displeasure.
The Game, a Compton native, had a problem with the list, so he took to Instagram to right the world and make his own. But whether or not it’s an improvement on the Complex list is very much in the eye of the beholder.
The original Complex list is extensive, with 50 entries, so we’ll focus only on its upper reaches. Working backwards from number ten, we have Nipsey Hussle, Eazy-E, Cypress Hill frontman B-Real, Ice-T, DJ Quik, Tyler, the Creator, Dr Dre, Ice Cube, and Snoop Dogg. At number one is Kendrick Lamar, “the most critically acclaimed rapper of his generation, the victor in the biggest rap beef of all time, and a commercial force in contemporary rap,” as the magazine put it. But who falls just short of making that top ten? The Game himself, coming in at number 11. He didn’t take kindly to that, as his Instagram post responding to the list put it: “I am LA”.
He wrote, “I’ve mastered the art of surviving in this city that has claimed so many & believe when I say… I’ve been in the trenches since my birth. 45 years the music created here has been the soundtrack to my life & here I stand today as one of thee koldest rappers in the history of the city, state & coast I’ve given my blood sweat & tears to.”
About the list, he noted, “Everybody on this list know what it is with me out here & those not on the list understand that the names above from top to bottom best represent this city & its culture”.
He signed off the post by telling those who disagree with his list to “challenge my pen & let me remind you of what & who I am. At the end of the day, this MY LIST PUNK!!!! I was born here & I will die here…”
A notable omission from the Complex list is 2Pac, but the magazine explained that, while he “might seem like an LA rapper”, the reality is that “he only lived in the city for a couple of months”. That’s why he didn’t make the cut, but The Game wasn’t having that. His list included people that “weren’t specifically born” in LA, “because of their dedication & choice to ride with the city once they got here”. For that reason, he listed 2Pac as his number one.
To be fair, The Game’s top five isn’t actually that different to those offered by Complex. Snoop Dogg is at number two in both lists, while Ice Cube and Kendrick make it into both listings. The major difference is the addition of The Game himself, who slots in at number five on his own list. That’s probably the most notable difference—he didn’t like missing out on being near the top, so he designed his own list and put himself at number five. Which, to be fair, exhibits some level of modesty. He may think he’s one of the best, but he has the good grace to recognise there are others better than him.
Making up the rest of his top ten is Kurupt at number six, then DJ Quik, Dr Dre, Eazy-E, and Xzibit at number ten. It’s a solid list that doesn’t warrant too many arguments. Except, should The Game himself really sit up there in the lofty heights of the top five? Woe betide anyone who would argue with him about that as it really is his list.