Takeover Magazine 1st issue april 15th 2016 | Page 25

1. Notorious B.I.G.
Death at a young age can often elevate a rapper from modern-day star
to bona fide legend. But Notorious B.I.G. already attained the latter
status early on his career. His storytelling rhymes mined straight from
his experiences in the Brooklyn streets materialized on 1994’s instaclassic Ready to Die, a wild mosaic of vividly visual rhymes delivered
with the expertise of a linguistic master. By the time his group album
with Junior M.A.F.I.A. dropped the following year, and his ambitious
sophomore double-disc album Life After Death bowed just six days after
his passing in March 1997, he’d already earned his title as the greatest
rapper of all time. Unlike everyone else on this list, Biggie never
dropped a single bad song, or a single errant bar.

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