The Best Crew Out

This past half decade has seen the return of the hip-hop crew.  A staple of the genre made infamous by likes of the Wu-Tang Clan in the early 90s.  And because I am who I am I have decided to answer the unasked question that has come about with the return of said crews and that is… Who is the best?  This is a ranking of the best crews not groups or super crews so no Black Hippy, Slaughterhouse, Buff Nerds, Bruiser Brigade, or All City Chess Club.  Which is why Kendrick, Royce Da 5’9″, K.i.D., and Danny Brown didn’t make the list so don’t start your crying just yet I know as well as you how sick they are.

This first graphic is a bit complicated so I will break it down (if I didn’t want you to read my blog I’d say, “for my slower readers”) but I love you guys and want you to keep coming back so I won’t.

The top five artists in each crew are ranked from top to bottom (best to worst) and then each member in that position is ranked against other members in that same ranking.  For example, Wale is the best member in MMG but he is only the fifth best of all six of the best members from each crew.  Then because I firmly believe in the over-used colloquialism “only as strong as your weakest link” the worst signed member in each crew are compared against each other.  I also take into account the two best producers, best collaboration albums, and the best albums released under the label of the crew whether or not that member is still in the crew (for this one I am not counting releases by artists before they were signed which is why you don’t see More About Nothing under MMG).  The best member gives a -1 to the total ranking and the worst member gets a +1.  Then each score is added up and averaged (out of 11) the crew with the lowest ranking (closest to 1) is obviously the best and the highest is the worst.

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No Mos Def isn’t the greatest rapper to ever live and you could make the case he isn’t even the best rapper active but he is the best rapper on this list of 36 which is why he gets the honor of -1.  Lil Twist is absolute garbage so that’s why he gets a +1 but then an extra +2 for YMCMB because someone signed Paris Hilton.  No, not a rapper ironically named Paris Hilton, this dumbass:

Which would have been fine if Wayne and his cohorts just wanted the money that comes with… that.  But apparently they will be featured on Hilton’s next album, that is right, NEXT.  It pained me greatly to put Deymond Lewis in the “Worst Artist” group because he is dope, but when you roll with a crew like Pro Era its easy to be the worst.

If the above graphic is not the best way to view it below the artists are organized by they’re rank:

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While I really don’t like Lil Wayne he does have his prolific moments and is, if I may begrudgingly say, a pretty talented lyricist even if he has about as much ability to see talent in others as Kenshi does to see a brick wall in front of him.  G.O.O.D. Music, Pro Era, and Jet Life are the best crews out MMG and YMCMB are on these lists because they are the most popular crews out there dominating all the radio waves but despite the best efforts of Wale and Meek Mill they still suck, like a whole fucking lot.

The final rankings are below of the top 20 members in these six crews as well as the top ten crews in all of hip-hop.

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