As we continue on to the 8th entrant of the list, I’d like to thank everyone for giving their opinions on my list, and some changes they thought I should make. I appreciate it, however, the format I’m using I feel gives the best results, and ultimately leads me to the correct ranking. Now that that’s out of the way, the 8th entrant is another rapper that I’m not a big fan of, but after analyzing everything involved, and listening to more of his music, I realized he deserves to be on here.

8. 2Pac

Easily one of the most popular MCs of all-time, and has garnered legendary status after his death, and made Death Row the biggest rap label in the world.

Material – 7-10 – The thing with 2Pac is that he released too much material. He has a few great albums (Me Against the World and 7 Day Theory), that I would consider near classics, but he also released albums that were a few great tracks and plenty of filler. His All Eyez on Me LP, which is considered by most his greatest achievement, I think his merely a passable effort, do to the fact that too many songs are miss. His albums pre-Death Row, where also solid, but again, he suffered from trying to appease everybody, and it leads to watered down songs.

Influence – 10/10 – There isn’t a rapper in the world that doesn’t want to be 2Pac in some capacity. Whether it’s in popularity, star quality, hatred, or love, 2Pac’s persona has been used in some way by nearly every rapper you know. Either it’s outright stealing song ideas (Master P, Jay-Z), his look and appeal (Ja Rule, Nas), or following his footsteps in trying to create controversy at every turn (50 Cent, Game). This has lead to a lot of bad, because too many people tried to emulate 2Pac and it has caused beefs that aren’t needed, and the quality of music to suffer enormously.

Longevity – 8-10 – While he was only a rapper from 1991-1996 when he died, he is still one of the most popular rappers in the world today, and STILL releasing material. From 1992-1994 he was all ready a mega star in the rap world, and with all the court cases, and films, he was a well known star. However, ONCE he came to Death Row, he became the biggest thing in the world at the time, and was not only releasing a lot of songs and albums, and getting involved even more legal problems, he was unknowingly created a format to follow, that leads to a fast rise but quick demise for others who tried to copy it. It could be argued that his death is the reason he’s still loved, but it didn’t seem like Pac’s popularity was falling anytime soon before his death, and that was already a half a decade run, on top of the rap world. Which was unheard of at the time, and still not many people can claim that.

Skills – 6-10 – 2Pac wasn’t the greatest lyricist by any means, but he was rather good song writer, and captivated an audience like no other. He was a excellent storyteller, with great imagery and well thought out stories (Even if predictable). He also had one of the best deliveries, that just demanded you pay attention to what he said. His flow was not smooth in the sense of like a Big Daddy Kane, but it was still good, and he never sounded out of sync. Additionally, for someone who wasn’t very lyrical and never had great production, he was able to make some really great music that brought out some raw emotion that no other artist can match.

Final score 31/40

Best song: Pain ft/ Stretch
Best Album: Me Against the World