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Ice Cube is one of the most influential rappers ever through his solo career and work as a member of NWA, the Los Angeles native is behind classic albums such as Straight Outta Compton, AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted and Death Certificate, so when it comes to his opinion on the best records in the genre, people have no choice but to listen.

During an appearance on Evenings with Omah Howard, Cube was asked to name his Mount Rushmore of hip-hop songs. He went on to name some of his all-time favourite tracks from the likes of Public Enemy, Doug E. Fresh, DMX and Nas.

“I love ‘Rebel Without a Pause’ by Public Enemy, I go bananas over that,” he said. “I still love ‘The Show’ by Doug E. Fresh. That still goes crazy.” Cube rapped some lyrics from DMX’s ‘Party Up’ before continuing his list, “’Y’all gonna make me lose my mind, up in here, up in here.’ That goes cray-cray. So, there are a few songs that go crazy. I like [‘Hate Me Now’] by Nas. That goes crazy.”

Despite his song choices, Cube once named Melle Mel, Ice-T, Chuck D, KRS-One and Rakim as his five favourite rappers ever. “I always look at the influencers, the pioneers, the ones who virtually created a style or a flavour all their own,” he told Rap-Up. “To me, those are the trendsetters, the ones who changed the trajectory of the game in a major way. It was about skills and talent, and really having their own style and taking it and running with it.”

The ‘No Vaseline’ rapper spoke more about his picks during his appearance on Talib Kweli’s Peoples’ Party podcast. “Chuck D is my favourite MC of all time! But my top five… Melle Mel [is] in there, Ice-T is in there, Chuck D, KRS-One and Rakim,” he said. “These are the ones that impacted me, not just as a person who loves hip-hop but as a black dude trying to navigate what the hell is going on out here.”

He continued, “And so I wanted to be in that class and that category. I didn’t wanna just be rhyming for the sake of riddling. I wanted to have things to say, make an impact and move people the way Chuck moved me.”

Cube was also deeply inspired by Run-DMC, revealing their self-titled debut album, released in 1984, which was the first album he had ever purchased. Their 1986 album, Raising Hell, forced N.W.A to raise the level of their music.

“Run-DMC were the first group that I obsessed over,” he told the Recording Academy. “Their debut album, Run-D.M.C., was the first album I ever saved up to buy with my own money. As a matter of fact, me and my friend Ronnie bought the record together. I would keep it four days; he would keep it three days. Our parents thought we were crazy when we took all the shoestrings out of our shoes.”

He added, “Run was my favorite MC. I thought he had 1,000 percent more swagger than any rapper of today. Ronnie loved DMC’s voice. He said nobody could ever sound like the Devastating Mic Controller. I remember the day that Dr Dre played me the Raising Hell album. We knew we had to step our game up.”