Ludacris lists Top 5 rappers with the best flows, Eminem doesn’t make the cut.
Ludacris sat down with Vanessa Satten and Shaheem Reid in the new episode of XXL’s Hip-Hop Moments of Clarity Podcast. In the show, he talks about the Black Lives Matter protests, having a conversation about racism with his kids, and much more.
At around the mark of 24:30, He was also asked about the Top 5 rappers with best flows according to him. “So, the top five flows, man. Andre 3000 is going to be in there,” said Ludacris. “I feel like he always challenges, always challenges. Imma put Kendrick Lamar in there as Number 2. Imma put J. Cole in there as being, like, right now, I’m thinking of people that are versatile and constantly trying to think of different flows that don’t pretty much have a set flow that they always do. Those are three. Imma go ahead and put Jay-Z in there, man. Jay-Z does different things and he does experiment with different flows. And mostly, his different subject matter and how he’s able to weave through and be on a track with anybody. So that’s No. 4. Damn, man, No. 5.”
He went on to say that while assessing these artists, he takes into account their flexibility and how they continue to push themselves to develop new flows. As a result, he decided to include Jay-Z in the mix. Luda hit a brick block after adding Hov. With only one space left, he had to go through all of the hip-hop to find the final rapper who would make the cut.
After that Ludacris was confused about who to pick at number 5 as there so many big names were available. But in the end, he goes with Lil Wayne above the likes of Eminem & Tupac. “I was honestly gonna put Lil Wayne,” said Ludacris. “Damn, this is hard because it’s like you got Lil Wayne, you got Eminem, but Imma have to go with Lil Wayne because of the body of work and his consistency. And he’s been in the game for almost 30 years. And I was just on Lil Wayne radio.”
The rapper went on to praise the Notorious B.I.G., Big L, and Tupac Shakur for their unique styles. “I need everybody to understand that it has nothing to do with life or death and who is living, ‘Cause I love 2Pac, I love Biggie, may them rest in power, and I love Big L, he’s one of those I would say as well but we are going back to what we were talking about. Lil Wayne in terms of the span and how long and how hard it is to be that versatile and continue reinventing yourself through almost three decades, that’s a hard feat. So Imma going to throw him in there too. So I’ve got J.Cole, I’ve got Kendrick, I’ve got 3000 and I’ve got JAY-Z in terms of flows.”
Ludacris isn’t the first artist to recently mention some of his favorite rap artists. Drake unveiled his top five rappers of all time last month, and his list includes some of the same names as Ludacris. Drizzy named his mentor Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, The Notorious B.I.G., Andre 3000, and O.V.O. Hush aka Young Tony as his favorites in an Instagram comment in May.
Ludacris isn’t the only musician to recently mention some of his favourite rap artists. Drake unveiled his top five rappers of all time last month, and his list includes some of the same spitters as Luda. In May, Drizzy stated on Instagram that his favourite artists were his mentor Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, The Notorious B.I.G., Andre 3000, and O.V.O. Hush aka Young Tony.
Luda has worked with nearly every artist on his lists. He collaborated with JAY-Z on “I Do It for Hip-Hop” in 2008, while also featuring on Ciara’s “Ride (Remix),” swapping rhymes with Cole on Trey Songz’s “Heart Attack (Remix),” and appearing with Wayne on DJ Khaled’s “I’m So Hood (Remix).” While Luda never collaborated with Kendrick, the Compton rapper’s Black Hippy collective sampled “I Do It for Hip-Hop” on their song with the same title.
Ludacris has been actively striving to alter the world around him, in addition to offering XXL his best flows. George Floyd had been working on a platform called Kid Nation to teach youngsters about current events before to his death. This appears to be more important than ever given the present status of the country, as parents strive to explain societal issues to their children.
KidNation was built on the foundation of enrichment through entertainment for the next generation. We’re passionate about the release of “Get Along”! The message of: leading with LOVE is needed now more than ever. Listen as the kids of @kidnation tell you why we should Get Along! pic.twitter.com/crM6tDKkaW
— Ludacris (@Ludacris) June 8, 2020
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