Unlike some of his peers, 21-year-old YBN Cordae has a lot of respect for hip-hop’s greats.
During an appearance on Power 106’s radio show Nick Cannon Mornings, the rapper revealed his top five emcees, dead or alive. Starting at the 20-minute mark above, he shared his list, in no particular order, beginning with JAY-Z and Nas. He then went on to name two deceased legends, The Notorious B.I.G. and 2Pac.
He gave his final spot to another late, illustrious spitter, Big L. “I’ll give Big L the edge over Eminem. ... I just fucked with his shit—his cadence and wordplay was just so crazy,” he explained.
Cannon applauded the young rapper for including the famed lyricist. “That shows that you a real student of hip-hop ’cause even cats my age and in my generation wasn’t up on L like that.”
Cordae released his debut album The Lost Boy on July 26. Spanning 15 tracks, the project includes contributions from Chance the Rapper (“Bad Idea”), Pusha-T (‘Nightmares Are Real”), Meek Mill (“We Gon Make It”), and J. Cole, who produced the Anderson .Paak-assisted “RNP.” Cordae is currently on the Lost Boy Tour, which is set to wrap Aug. 1 at Lollapalooza.
