The 12 Greatest rappers in the history of Hip Hop (With Pictures)

3. Tupac

Pac was a gangster rapper on the surface, but left listeners with layers to peel back to get to his complex core. He gave the people something that they couldn’t find in anyone else. When his debut album 2Pacalypse Now dropped in ’91 he was only 20 years old, and people knew that he was to become a legend.

Pac had lyrical ability that allowed his ideas to flourish on the mic, but above all he had emotional versatility that led to a legendary persona and an untouchable discography. He spoke on topics like police brutality, poverty, teenage pregnancy, then turned around and gave praise to his mother.

With the 20th anniversary of his death in recent weeks people still feel the impact that he had on hip-hop today. Kendrick Lamar’s new-school masterpiece To Pimp A Butterfly showcases an interview with Pac that proves that his message lives beyond his death. Pac was a gangster, a scholar, a poet, a son, and the third greatest rapper of all time.