For the past two days, Brian “B.Dot” Miller has seen his followers debate his end-of-year wrap-up lists on Hip Hop, from the rap album of the year to the best features and now, the top 10 best rappers of the year, where J. Cole leads the pack.
On Friday (Dec. 29), the “Rap Radar Podcast” co-host sent the culture into debate mode after he ranked emcees based on skill, performance and presence. The list goes as follows:
- J. Cole
- Lil Wayne
- Latto
- Benny The Butcher
- Killer Mike
- Gucci Mane
- 21 Savage
- Conway The Machine
- Larry June
- Nas
In the Instagram caption for the lineup, Miller proclaimed, “In the year of our Lord 2023, J. Cole is the best rapper in the solar system — and it’s not even close.” One user who expressed opposition to Nas rounding out the list wrote, “[Laughing my a** off]. A guy drops [two] albums in 30 days, several features and runs the HH50 (Hip Hop 50), and they got him at 10. Now, features of 2024, Cole got for sure, but nobody was out performing Nas in 2024 honestly.”
Another person debated the notion that Miller may have missed the mark by excluding Roots frontman Black Thought. “You gotta have Black Thought on there. He dropped a top 3 album, Glorious Game, and that ‘Grammy Love Letter’ to Hip Hop performance was insane,” read the comment.
Ongoing debates can also be observed on the rap album of the year, whose top three spots are: Killer Mike’s Michael, Larry June & The Alchemist’s The Great Escape, and CurrenSy & Jermaine Dupri’s For Motivational Use Vo. 1. In a previous REVOLT report, Killer Mike declared his latest project as the album of the year. The Atlanta lyricist confidently boasted, “It’s beyond amazing… This album has pushed the emotions of masculinity past where rap prior had.”
J. Cole released his last album, The Off-Season, in 2021, and was therefore noticeably absent from the rankings. However, he resurfaced on the Best Features of 2023 list for his verse on Drake’s “First Person Shooter.” In November, it was revealed that the Dreamville Records founder would be hitting the road with Drizzy for a handful of shows on the 2024 leg of the “It’s All A Blur – Big As The What?” tour.