The Big 5

At first the Big 5 was simply a money saving endeavor.  If you listen to as much music as me (which let’s be honest if you do, something is really really wrong with you) the bills can wrack up to an insurmountable fee with the quickness.  So I decided after spending all the loose change I could find on music that I would choose my five favorite artists and buy anything they put out.  The rule was as long as the artist remained in the Big 5 I would buy any of their releases no matter what. Everything else would be torrented first then after examination I would pay for quality work of other artists.  The first instance of the Big 5 was formed in 2008 and the original members were (in order) Wale, Talib Kweli, Curren$y, Los, and Wiz Khalifa.  Over the years there have been quite a few replacements, additions, and quite a few rappers that got they ass kicked out after too many bad releases.

The Current Roster:

1. Childish Gambino

Article (coming soon)

Who got booted: Sorry Talib but you had to go between Eardrum and Prisoner of Consciousness there were no good releases to speak of.

Why is he on my top 5: Camp, Royalty, Culdesac take your pick honestly.

Chances he gets replaced in the near future: 0% especially, with the singles from Because the Internet I don’t see Gambino even losing his top spot.

2. Blu

Article (coming soon)

Who got booted: Wiz Khalifa, I was not sad to see this nigga go.  Flight School, How Fly, Burn After Rolling, and Kush & OJ Wiz died and was replaced by a Wiz with a better grasp of what white frat boys wanted to listen to than what true hip-hop fans did.

Why is he on my top 5: Below the Heavens…. obviously.  But if you need more convincing, Open, Maybe One Day EP, or Bruiser Brothers.

Chances he gets replaced in the near future: 5%, there is one thing Blu has got against him and that is inconsistency.  It is good for him though that even at his worst he remains one of the game’s best.

3. Curren$y

Article (coming soon)

Who got booted: No one.  Curren$y is in fact the only remaining member of my original Big 5.

Why is he in my top 5: Oh come on? Not only is he the hardest working rapper ever he drops so much consistently good work I don’t know why everyone isn’t bumpin’ Curren$y.  (New Jet City, Covert Coup, Pilot Talk, Weekend at Burnie’s, and so on… moral of the story there’s a whole lot of dope shit coming out of Jet Life).

Chances he gets replaced in the near future: 10%, 5 years strong doesn’t bode well for any new comers but there was once a time back on Young Money that Curren$y was awful so maybe that Curren$y rears his ugly head.  Unlikely to say the least though.

4. Danny Brown

Article (coming soon)

Who got booted: Los.  Danny, the newest addition to the list has proved over the years that he is and will remain on of the best rappers in music.  And it gives me a lot of pleasure to find out people don’t like him, its like when people hate calculus or physics just makes me feel smarter for loving it.

Why is he in my top 5: XXX, everyone was talking about the conceptual nature of Good Kid M.a.a.d. City while I was still loving XXX‘s story telling.

Chances he gets replaced in the near future: 50% yes I have quite faith in Brown’s ability to remain at the top of the industry but being the newest member of the list if his next release after the excellent Old is a flop he will also be flopped.

5. Logic

Article (coming soon)

Who got booted: Wale. I was sad to see my former favorite rapper drop from such high graces but he may make a reappearance if he manages to get his shit together.

Why is he in my top 5: Young Sinatra, period, no explanation necessary.

Chances he gets replaced in the near future: 70% bottom of the top five is where people get booted from. Especially if some other rapper steps their game up or if someone new comes around.  So while Logic is still in the very elite he could find him self a Harden or J. R. Smith if someone turns my ear soon.