Ahhh! The fresh smell of vindication breezes back through the Hip Hop ABCs, the alphabetical rap battle that asks hip hop fans to decide which artist or group is the best, letter by letter. I caught a ton of flack for overruling the popular vote on our first foray at the letter J. The fans on my Facebook page chose the Jedi Mind Tricks. It was a respectable choice, but one that showed a bias towards underground music. That bias I felt would harm the integrity of the list if I did not make a course correction. No such problem here as Jay-Z wins outright.
The readers of Creative Loafing back up my aforementioned hip hop intuition by making the Roc Nation headman in charge the winner of the Letter J. Current issues with his Tidal music streaming service aside, Shawn Carter is still the dude who has moved more than 100 million records and collected 21 Grammys in his 25-year career.
Jay-Z, along with Sean Combs, Russell Simmons and Master P are the Mount Rushmore of hip hop entrepreneurship. His estimated $520 million net worth trails only Diddy and his body of work is legendary.
So Hova takes the letter J. Who gets your vote for king of the letter K? Another tough round with lots of worthy names to choose from...
Infinite Skillz is a Hip Hop fan and emcee. Click here to find out more about his music.