Rapper Tier List: The Greatest MCs, Head-to-Head
All 32 artists here, ranked by 138 players. Kanye West leads: it wins 75.8% of its matchups (n = 314) and was champion in 26 of 138 brackets. Disagree? Your first pick is right here. No sign-up.
Size
Rakim1987-present
Nicki Minaj2010-present
Tap a poster to make your pick. Crowd numbers appear after you choose.
Greatest Hip-Hop Artists: the community’s best
Win rate across 3,358 head-to-head picks from 138 finished brackets. n is the number of matchups behind each win rate; only entrants with 30 or more are listed.
| # | Rapper | W–L | Win rate | vs .500 | Titles | n |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kanye West2004-present | 238–76 | 75.8% | 26 | 314 | |
| 2 | 2Pac1991-1996 | 242–108 | 69.1% | 16 | 350 | |
| 3 | Kendrick Lamar2011-present | 216–99 | 68.6% | 13 | 315 | |
| 4 | Eminem1999-present | 191–95 | 66.8% | 14 | 286 | |
| 5 | Drake2009-present | 169–101 | 62.6% | 12 | 270 | |
| 6 | 178–108 | 62.2% | 4 | 286 | ||
| 7 | Nas1994-present | 149–97 | 60.6% | 5 | 246 | |
| 8 | Lil Wayne1999-present | 166–116 | 58.9% | 8 | 282 |
Greatest Hip-Hop Artists: the community tier list
From 3,358 head-to-head picks in 138 finished brackets. Placed by win rate, steadied toward 50% for entrants with few matchups: S is 75% or more, A 60%, B 50%, C 40%, D 25%.
Stier, win rate 75% or more
- Kanye West
Atier, win rate 60% or more
- 2Pac
- Kendrick Lamar
- Eminem
- Drake
- The Notorious B.I.G.
- Nas
Btier, win rate 50% or more
- Lil Wayne
- J. Cole
- Andre 3000 / OutKast
- Jay-Z
- Future
- Travis Scott
- 50 Cent
- Snoop Dogg
Ctier, win rate 40% or more
- Wu-Tang Clan
- Dr. Dre
- Tyler, the Creator
- Ice Cube
Dtier, win rate 25% or more
- A Tribe Called Quest
- Lauryn Hill
- Rakim
- Childish Gambino
- SZA
- Nicki Minaj
- Public Enemy
- LL Cool J
- + 4 more
Ftier, win rate 0% or more
- Megan Thee Stallion
How the Greatest Hip-Hop Artists bracket works
This rapper tier list is played, not dragged into rows. You get one matchup at a time — 2Pac or The Notorious B.I.G.? Jay-Z or Nas? — and after 15 picks the bracket has a champion, with everything else placed by how far it got. Comparing two artists is far easier than sorting 32 of them at once, which is why the finished list tends to survive a second look.
This bracket runs 4 rounds at the default 16-slot size (Round of 16, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Final), drawn from a pool of 32 artists. Everyone gets the same draw on a given day, so you can compare runs with friends; New draw gives you a genuinely different bracket rather than the same path twice. You can also play it at 8 or 32 slots for a shorter or longer run.
15 picks, 4 rounds
- Round of 168 matchups
- Quarterfinals4 matchups
- Semifinals2 matchups
- Final1 matchup
Roughly 1-2 minutes start to finish at the default size.
All 32 entrants
All 32 entrants are listed below, including 2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z and Nas. Updated
- 2Pac1991-1996
- The Notorious B.I.G.1994-1997Listen on Apple Music
- Jay-Z1996-presentPhoto: NYS Senate Media Services / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
- Nas1994-presentPhoto: All-Pro Reels / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Kendrick Lamar2011-presentPhoto: Raph_PH / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0
- Kanye West2004-present
- Eminem1999-presentPhoto: Brendan_linden / Wikimedia Commons · CC0
- Drake2009-presentPhoto: GabboT / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
- J. Cole2011-presentPhoto: HOTSPOTATL / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0
- Lil Wayne1999-presentPhoto: Chris Allmeid / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Andre 3000 / OutKast1994-presentPhoto: Sven Mandel / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Lauryn Hill1996-presentPhoto: Tore Sætre / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Snoop Dogg1993-presentPhoto: Diego Serrano / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
- Rakim1987-presentPhoto: Flowizm / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
- Wu-Tang Clan1993-presentPhoto: Miloš Krstić / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Ice Cube1989-presentPhoto: MILLION DOLLAZ WORTH OF GAME / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0
- Method Man1993-presentPhoto: Danielle G. Campbell / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Missy Elliott1997-presentPhoto: Atlantic Records / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
- A Tribe Called Quest1990-2016Photo: Various / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Travis Scott2013-presentPhoto: Bobak Ha'Eri / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0
- Tyler, the Creator2009-presentPhoto: Lygonstreet / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Nicki Minaj2010-presentPhoto: Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Future2012-presentPhoto: Frank Schwichtenberg / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Megan Thee Stallion2018-presentPhoto: Adweek / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0
- Run-D.M.C.1981-2002
- Public Enemy1985-presentPhoto: Ventura Mendoza of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, España / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
- LL Cool J1984-presentPhoto: Colleen Sturtevant / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Dr. Dre1988-presentPhoto: Jason Persse / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
- 50 Cent2003-present
- Chance the Rapper2012-presentPhoto: Hurstbergn / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0
- SZA2017-presentPhoto: Raph_PH / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0
- Childish Gambino2011-present
Tier list instead?
Load all 32 into the tier list maker and sort them into S through F yourself: same entrants, no matchups.
Open the tier list makerMissing something?
Build your own rapper bracket with exactly the entrants you want, then share the link.
Open the bracket makerGetting a ranking you actually agree with
- Go with the one you would rather hear right now — instant reaction beats a considered take.
- Start at 16 slots. If the result feels too obvious, replay at 32 so more of the 32 artists make the field.
- If a matchup genuinely splits you, undo and replay it — a coin-flip pick in round one distorts everything below it.
Questions people ask
What is the best rapper?
According to 138 BracketRanker players, Kanye West (2004-present). It wins 75.8% of its head-to-head matchups (n = 314) and was champion in 26 of 138 brackets (18.8%).
How many artists are in the Greatest Hip-Hop Artists bracket?
The pool holds 32 artists. A default run uses 16 of them and takes 15 picks across 4 rounds: Round of 16, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Final. Other field sizes are available too — 8, 16, 32 slots.
Which artists are included?
2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Nas, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Eminem, Drake, J. Cole, Lil Wayne, Andre 3000 / OutKast and Lauryn Hill, plus 20 more. Every entrant is listed further down this page with its artwork.
How long does the Greatest Hip-Hop Artists bracket take?
About 1-2 minutes — 15 choices at the default size, or 7 if you drop to an 8-slot bracket. No account is needed, and a run saves after every pick, so you can stop and jump back in later.
Can I turn the result into S/A/B tiers?
Both are here, and the bracket is closer to a tier list than it looks. It ends with a champion, a runner-up and then every other artist grouped by the round it went out in — which is exactly a set of tiers, decided by 15 direct comparisons rather than by your first guess at a layout. What it deliberately does not do is claim a precise gap between two artists that never met. If you would rather place the artists into S through F rows yourself, the tier list maker loads all 32 of them at bracketranker.com/tier-list-maker.
Can I compare my order with other people's?
Every completed bracket feeds the Greatest Hip-Hop Artists community results page, which aggregates win rates across all plays and tracks how often each of the 32 entrants takes the title. It updates continuously, so it moves as more people play.
What if a artist I wanted is missing?
Use the bracket maker: add your own artists, name it, and share the link so other people play the same field. That is the route to take when this pool of 32 is missing something you would have picked, or when you want a version scoped to one era, label or franchise.