It is nearly impossible to get a bunch of passionate hip hop fans to agree on anything. But I tried anyhow, starting with a series of polls on Facebook that aimed to figure out which emcee or group was the best in the game as driven by the letters of the alphabet. No specific rubric or criteria was given; just a simple request for answers to the question, "Who is the best emcee or hip hop group beginning with the letter 'A'?; 'B'?; 'C'?; 'D'?…" and so on. The responses were immediate and spurred some pretty spirited discussions. A general consensus was ultimately reached for each and per the request of Music Editor Leilani Polk, I'm bringing the poll results to Ear Buds. Each week, I'll reveal a letter and its "winning" artist, and then I'll re-open the question for further debate. Once we finish the first 26, we'll start it all over again fresh.
The letter V of the Hip Hop ABCs shines some light on one of the comparatively lesser-known names in our list. You might recall that earlier in the list we had a little controversy involving this gritty-voiced emcee’s group. There was no denying their frontman.
Vinnie Paz is no stranger to hip hop heads, but he hasn’t had as much of the limelight as most of our list. As the leader of the Jedi Mind Tricks, Paz has been sharing the stage and cranking out consistently grimey records since 1996. The Philadelphia bred emcee made things even more crowded for himself when he formed the underground super group Army of Pharaohs two years later. Their exhaustive roster also includes local legend Celph Titled.
It is interesting to note that Paz didn’t release his solo debut, Season of the Assassin, until 2010. By then, he had helped create no fewer than nine group projects. Here is a little more solo time, Vinnie. You alone are the winner of the Hip Hop ABCs letter V.
Did we get it right? Who gets your vote for this letter?
Infinite Skillz is a Hip Hop fan and emcee. Click here to find out more about his music.
This article appears in Sep 11-17, 2014.