Meek Mill’s Top Five Rappers Include Jay-Z And Lil Wayne

Meek Mill‘s “Ask Meek” sessions on Twitter are quickly becoming one of the most illuminating and entertaining aspects of the online-all-the-time era of hip-hop we’re currently living through. While some rappers are extremely good at Twitter, like Chance The Rapper, Lil Nas X, and Vince Staples, Meek is the one most likely to reveal an intriguing nugget of behind-the-curtains, fan gossip fodder. Last night, he weighed in on one of hip-hop’s favorite topics, listing his top five favorite rappers in response to one fan’s query of “Top 5 rappers rn?”

Meek’s top five list shouldn’t be too surprising, but it does have a couple of unexpected names on it. While the first two names of his response have pretty much been shoo-ins for the last decade or so, some have been overlooked, underrated, or unconsidered in the constant contention for rap fans’ coveted top five spots. “Hov… Wayne… Rozay… Kiss… DMX… and that’s my era top 5!!!” he wrote, naturally sparking an intense debate of his choices in the replies.

While it seemed most fans were willing to go along with the Jay-Z and Lil Wayne picks, the inclusion of Rick Ross and DMX proved controversial. One fan put it this way: “I love DMX, but he’s lyrically his delivery is equivalent to Dr. Suess.” Another was content to replace Ross with Fabolous and DMX with Nas. Others debated his inclusion of the phrase “my era,” arguing that most of the rappers named rose to prominence well before Meek’s era, although he could have just meant “rappers I personally grew up listening to.”

Naturally, there’s no right or wrong answers here, but Meek’s does give some insight into his songwriting process, his flow, why he values the sort of pain-driven, street-centric narratives he employs so often, and his love of punchlines, of which Jadakiss was always a master. His answers also have us looking forward to the next “Ask Meek,” knowing his replies will be insightful and fun to think about.