The Most Influential Group/Person In Hip Hop History

[The Crock]

Who is the most influential group/person in Hip Hop history? Who changed the course of Hip Hop forever?

For me it has gotta be none other than the Wu-Tang Clan. Wu-Tang was something totally different. Nobody had ever heard anything like it. Such a big group of guys, but they have a flow, a chemistry, unmatched by anyone else out there. They brought underground artists out into the main stream, they became global icons. Everybody knows about the Wu-Tang Clan, they are the greatest at what they do. Sure, they're all formidable soloists, but as a group.... They're untouchable. To this day, Wu-Tang still has a huge and loyal following which eagerly awaits any new music they have to put out. They are true Hip Hop.

Honorable Mention: Run DMC. They were the first really successful rap group. They meshed rock and rap along with sweet DJ-ing, a totally unique sound. They inspired a cultural revolution. For example, every kid had on his Adidas at that time, just because Rev Run was rockin' it. People still listen to them, and they are still very much in the main stream.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, MC Ren, and DJ Yella ALL recieved their big breaks in the group that was once known as N.W.A. They sold over 9 million of the above album yet were mostly banned from radio due to their explicit lyrics. This album would also be considered a revolutionary step in the genre.

 

[PsychoBlack]

I have to go with Wu-tang as well. They were like a street corner cypher in an album. 9 guys with no weak link made for the greatest hip hop group ever. Without the Wu their would probably be no Nas, Notorious B.I.G. or Jay-Z seeing as how they led the east coast renaissance of hip hop. There have been numerous attempts at a super group again but it has never came about because what the Wu has is so special and can never be duplicated again.

 

[INDYjon22]

Well here is the thing. Wu Tang Clan and Biggie both hit the scene in 1992 so the idea that is there was no WTC there would be no Notorious BIG is wrong. They literally came up together in the same genre of music and I like to believe they both played an equal influence as pioneers or gangster rap. However, NWA is the group that I feel like influenced the rap scene of the 90's the most. They got the whole gangster rap fad started in the late 80's. Who knows if the NWA didn't come out with Straight Outta Compton what would have happened to the rap scene of the 90's. As someone who is a die hard WTC fan, there is no doubt in my mind that the NWA is the most influential group in rap history.

 

[Alex]

Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five

These guys pretty much started rap, before them it was more funk and R&B. The Message ended up going in the R&B charts because no one knew how to categorise this new sound and to this day The Message is seen as one of the greatest rap albums ever.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I am going to have to say Dr. Dre

The guy was one of the pioneers of the whole Gangsta rap scene with NWA in the late 80s and early 90s and is still relevant now. From classic albums such as "Straight Outta Compton" and "The Chronic", to making the successful switch to being a top-level producer and owning his own record label, Aftermath Records, Dre is a fucking machine.

Just look at the people he has worked with. Almost every top rapper over the last 25 years has worked with Dre. And when you look at the guys he helped to bring to the top- Eminem, Snoop Dogg, The Game, 50 Cent, the list goes on.

In Hip-Hip there is no more influential man than THe 5 Star Surgeon General. The most influential group is N.W.A (featuring Dre), and the most influental individual man is Dre.

I cant wait for Detox, if it ever drops

 

[Big Sexy]

The answer is Tupac and it really isn't close. 50 Cent said it best, "Every rapper who grew up in the Nineties owes something to Tupac. He didn't sound like anyone who came before him." You ask any of the rappers who came before him to name a top 5 list of the best rappers ever and Pac will almost always be on it. You ask any of today's rappers who the top guys are that influenced them and almost every single one of them will say Tupac. Pac was more then just a rapper, he was a poet and he was enjoyed by everyone. West Coast, East Coast, Midwest, Dirty South, everybody.

Some rap music can get somewhat outdated and people in all generations don't always enjoy the same kind of rap, but Pac is one guy that everyone from every generation in hip hop can listen to and can enjoy. From his style of rap, to the way he lived his life, and everything in between, Tupac Shakur is the most influential person in hip hop history.

 

[Ty Burna]

No love for Rakim? Really? Alright fine let me break this down. Back in the early 80's while rap was gaining popularity, a lot of artists there were using a more basic rhyme scheme and didn't differentiate from it. Enter Rakim in 1986, and any artist out there will tell you that if it wasn't for Rakim most artists would be rhyming in a simplistic manner to this day. The likes of Kool Moe Dee, Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, etc have gone on to say that Rakim changed how an emcee flowed. Literally Rakim came in and changed the game and flipped it on it's head.

Rakim came in and he brought the complex and the internal rhyme schemes. Back in the day every rhyme was at the end of the sentence but Rakim brought the style to the forefront where you could rhyme within your rhymes. Really it revolutionized how rapping was done period. Looking at the 90's and a lot of what's underground now, you can see how influential Rakim was on hip hop. It wasn't just about the material being rapped, what Rakim brought to the game changed everything. It influenced backpack rappers, it influenced gangsta rappers, it influenced the conscious rappers. Everyone from Mos Def to Tupac to the likes of Atmosphere. Every realm of hip hop can point back to Rakim bringing the intricate flows and rhyme schemes. When you can walk in, and change how literally EVERYONE is writing and rapping by yourself, that makes you the most influential person in Hip Hop history.

And that honor goes to Rakim and it's not even close.

 

[Trance Metaphor]

Yep. It's gotta be Rakim. He enters the scene with Eric B. and they drop three consecutive classics packed with more quoted lines (that have been numerously sampled in future rappers' releases) than a philosophy book. Even now when you listen to "Lyrics of Fury" or "Let the Rhythm Hit' Em," it sounds amazing. Pun intended, this guy can flow forever. Not only did he have revolutionary rhyme-schemes, he had a way of combining political/conscious knowledge with clever wordplay/metaphors. A great slew of MC's today have been influenced by Rakim and if you don't think so, you need to listen more.

 

[Big Sexy]

No love for Rakim? Really? Alright fine let me break this down. Back in the early 80's while rap was gaining popularity, a lot of artists there were using a more basic rhyme scheme and didn't differentiate from it. Enter Rakim in 1986, and any artist out there will tell you that if it wasn't for Rakim most artists would be rhyming in a simplistic manner to this day. The likes of Kool Moe Dee, Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, etc have gone on to say that Rakim changed how an emcee flowed. Literally Rakim came in and changed the game and flipped it on it's head.

Rakim came in and he brought the complex and the internal rhyme schemes. Back in the day every rhyme was at the end of the sentence but Rakim brought the style to the forefront where you could rhyme within your rhymes. Really it revolutionized how rapping was done period. Looking at the 90's and a lot of what's underground now, you can see how influential Rakim was on hip hop. It wasn't just about the material being rapped, what Rakim brought to the game changed everything. It influenced backpack rappers, it influenced gangsta rappers, it influenced the conscious rappers. Everyone from Mos Def to Tupac to the likes of Atmosphere. Every realm of hip hop can point back to Rakim bringing the intricate flows and rhyme schemes. When you can walk in, and change how literally EVERYONE is writing and rapping by yourself, that makes you the most influential person in Hip Hop history.

And that honor goes to Rakim and it's not even close.

I love Rakim and he is easily a top 5 rapper of all time. In fact an argument can be made that he is the greatest of all time. When it comes to rhyming technique alone he was without a doubt the most influential because he was the first guy to get away from the simple rhymes and bring in a complex scheme. However, we all know that hip hop is bigger then just rhyme schemes.

With Pac he also changed the rhyming style by getting a more poetic like flow in his songs. Not only that, but he changed hip hop on other levels as well. He made it even more of a mainstream thing then it already was. He was also one of the first rappers to branch out into other forms of the media. Rappers had been in movies before but not like Pac with the roles that he was getting. Rakim laid the foundation from a pure rapping standpoint but if we're talking the most influential person in hip hop as a whole then you got to go with Pac. He not only influenced it from a music standpoint, he influenced hip hop culturally as well.