Bravado is an essential component of any rap legend. In fact, it’s almost impossible to get yourself on the mic and off the ground without using your confidence to confirm yourself as an icon before any formal coronation is made. Rapping is, in essence, a personal pursuit and a competitive one at that. It means to rate yourself highly is a prerequisite for the role. Something Snoop Dogg knows all too well.
Snoop has never been afraid to laud himself as one of the icons of hip hop. looking through his career and witnessing the intense influence he had, not only over the G-Funk movement, but gangster rap as a whole, it’s hard to argue otherwise. Snoop has, however, also been keen to shed light on some of his favourite rappers over the years.
When the Doggfather was asked to pick his three favourite rappers of all time, it’s no surprise that he selected himself among the 75% Mount Rushmore of hip hop. However, who were the two artists he thought were equally as great as him? Well, for anyone who knows Snoop, the answers were already likely on the tip of your tongue.
The conversation arose when Snoop appeared on Jimmy Kimmel back in 2017. A normal question when faced with a rapper, Kimmel moved to ask the legend who his top three rappers of all time were, and without so much as a breath of hesitation, Snoop replied: “Slick Rick, Ice Cube… and Snoop Dogg.”
One of the founding fathers of the hip hop game, Slick Rick is a master of his craft. Rick rose to prominence alongside Doug E. Fresh & the Get Fresh Crew in the mid-1980s, capturing Snoop in adolescence. Ever since, Rick has been sampled in thousands of modern songs from Eminem, Mariah Carey and more. A pioneer of Def Jam Records, Rick’s command of flow and style is easily witnessed in Snoop’s own delivery.
While Slick Rick was a pioneer, Ice Cube was a contemporary of Snoop’s. Cube, a fearsome writer with a penchant for visceral and violent lyrics was a step ahead of Snoop in regards to the history of hip hop, finding fame with Dr Dre, a man Snoop would owe much of his successful career to.
So, if you were ever in doubt about Snoop Dogg’s confidence, then witness the two icons he puts himself alongside as the greatest rappers of all time. Moreso, think of all the greats he left out.
