Tyga picks his two favourite rappers of all time: “Generational influence”
Compton emcee Tyga first broke onto the scene in 2009 as part of Lil Wayne’s Young Money collective, and alongside his crewmates Drake, Nicki Minaj, and others, quickly began to enter the mainstream.
Following the release of We Are Young Money, Tyga shortly entered the charts with his club anthem, ‘Rack City’. Released as the second single of his debut album, Careless World: Rise of the Last King, the DJ Mustard-produced track was Tyga’s first entry into Billboard’s top ten.
The song’s music video, featuring Blac Chyna, saw the rapper (real name Micheal Stevenson) quickly enter a relationship with the model and reality TV star. Over the years, although Tyga hasn’t achieved the same success as his YMCMB, he has been at the centre of various relationships with stars, including Black Chyna and even Kylie Jenner.
With songs such as ‘Hookah’ featuring Young Thug and his nine-times platinum 2018 single ‘Taste’, Tyga has been a mainstay in hip-hop since the 2010s. However, many came before the West Coast artist and in an interview with Complex for their YouTube series ‘GOAT Talk’ he even revealed his favourite two artists ever.
The ‘Rack City’ emcee began by revealing what he believes to be the greatest rap lyric of all time, and it was a contentious one, to say the least. Swiftly choosing the first verse of 2Pac’s 1996 Biggie Smalls diss track ‘Hit Em Up’, Tyga excitedly rapped, “First off, fuck your bitch and the clique you claim / Westside when we ride, come equipped with game!”
However, when it came to his GOAT, rapper Tyga couldn’t settle with one and had to name two, undecidedly stating, “I’m gonna have to go with prime [Lil] Wayne and prime Eminem for me. I think those are my two favourite rappers, for sure.”
It’s hardly surprising that the lyricist chose Lil Wayne as his favourite emcee. The Young Money founder was responsible for gifting Tyga his big chance in the music industry when Lil Wayne signed him at 17 years old and took him on Tha Carter III tour — one of Wayne’s biggest.
This isn’t the first time Tyga has let it be known he has a huge amount of love for Lil Wayne and Em. In 2022, took to X (formerly Twitter) to pay tribute to both artists, writing, “Lil Wayne & Eminem are the best rappers of all time! Lyrical wordplay, delivery, flow, pockets, originality, raw, intentional, clarity, generational influence.”