I'm kinda getting sick of the bling bling rap era myself. Very little of "popular" rap these days has any real substance or talent behind it anymore...Lil John (and a majority of southern rap) comes to mind. It's more club music than anything it seems...all about beats people can dance to and crappy lyrics.
As far as the mainstream or popluar rap out there I pretty much only like:
Jay-Z: simply because he has talent and flows very well plus he never writes anything down; goes into the studio and records songs from his head...that's talent to me.
Eminem: When he wants to he can put out songs with meaning but regardless he flows better than any rapper out there today and maybe better than anyone ever.
Kanye West: Not the best flow out there but I love his cd because it actually has a positive and usefull message in most of his songs, and his beats are tight.
Ludacris: Just because he's funny as hell.
I don't think the Beastie Boys are really considered rap anymore, they've kidna created they're own cross culture style but they are kickass.
Probably left a few guys out and that's just my opinion that I'm sure a lot of people won't agree with but oh well to each his/her own.
'00 Blk CSVT #1087/2150 built 12/23/99
