What Makes a Rap Legend?

If you follow a single Instagram account related to rap, you have seen a trillion arguments about who the legends of hip-hop truly are. The names that usually pop up are artists like Tupac, Biggie, Eminem, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, to name a few. And I'm not here to list the legends of hip-hop nor am I here to argue about popular picks. I want to state what I believe makes an artist a true rap legend.

The way music has evolved genuinely fascinates me. Over centuries we have found ways to develop different sounds and new styles are being created constantly. Creating original music from scratch is like having a blank canvas. Imagine you have all the paint you could want and endless blank canvases. That's what creating music is like. You have your passion and tools, what do you make? There are endless amounts of styles. But there is a difference between a style and a genre. There are genres, subgenres and styles. Genres and subgenres aren't created nearly as much as styles are. But genres, subgenres and styles all need to come from somewhere. People had to use their mind and their tools to create these sounds. And that is insanely fascinating to me.

Over the years, different styles and subgenres of rap have been popping up all the time. The way hiphop has evolved is insane given that rap is one of, if not the most modern genre of music. From lyrical to mumble, from melodic to meme rap, someone had to have the idea of this sound and actually create it. And I believe that the people that create or develop a subgenre of rap is a hiphop legend.

So, now that that's been said; how can you determine who develops or originates a subgenre? Well something that needs to be made clear is that there is a major difference between popularizing something and actually developing it. For example, Lil Pump definitely popularized mumble rap. His hit "Gucci Gang" one-billion views! But he didn't develop the subgenre at all. Lil Pump had a very famous mumble rap song but it didn't add anything to the genre aside from more listeners. But someone who did develop a subgenre is Eminem! Eminem did popularize hardcore lyrical rap, but he also had a major impact on it that would change music forever. The technical side of Eminem's writing changed hiphop like crazy! Eminem added something to his primary subgenre whereas Lil Pump simply popularized his without adding anything to it.

So, there is a difference between popularizing something and developing it. But it's still difficult to make clear what develops a subgenre. Although it's vague, I believe that a true hiphop legend incorporates a different/original style into the subgenre. It would be very complicated and controversial to determine who creates subgenres, so for the most part I'm going to be talking about developing rather than creating. It's technically impossible to determine who originates a style or a subgenre because obviously there are many underground artists that we simply don't know of. But if we're specifically talking about major subgenres then we can have solid theories. One of my favorite examples is XXXTENTACION. A lot of people don't like X's music and I can totally understand that. But this has nothing to do with preference. XXX brought a unique style to hiphop and changed modern music forever! If you listen to some of X's biggest hits, you'll understand why I'm saying this because there was nothing like it before him!

An argument I hear all the time that I love is when someone says "just because they died young doesn't mean they're a legend," and I totally agree. I'm a massive fan of Juice WRLD and I also like Lil Peep. But I refuse to truly believe they are legends. I do believe there were things about them that made them different and interesting in their own ways, and because I love someone they might be a legend in my eyes, but they didn't revolutionise music. So, when I call XXXTENTACION a legend, I'm not saying that because he died. He genuinely changed hiphop.

Another argument I hear is that an artist being the best of their genre, doesn't make them a legend. But I'd have to disagree with that. It's difficult to determine who is the best, but if someone is the best they had to have done something to be given that title. I believe Eminem is the greatest rapper alive, you can disagree with that if you want. And I believe he is a rap legend because he revolutionized lyrical rap and he revolutionized lyrical rap by being the best by writing his lyrics the way he does. That's the best way I could put that.

I made it clear that I didn't want to list who I believe to be the biggest rap legends nor did I want to argue with other's opinions. So, I'm not going to name any more artists than I already have. But if you agree with what I've said, you should question who you want to call a rap legend.

There are so many brilliant artists that haven't done all the requirements to be a "legend" but that doesn't mean anything. There are so many rappers that are insanely talented at what they do. You don't need to make a major change in the entirety of what you do to be great.