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Listen to enough rap songs and interviews with rappers and you'll hear the term "big homie" again and again. You'll hear some giving props to people they see as their big homie, while others will lament the fact that people don't consider them big homies. Puffy even made a dope song titled "Big Homie." It all raises two questions: 1. What makes one a big homie and 2. Who, exactly, are the big homies in rap right now?
A big homie, to us, is someone who's resume is unfuckwithable. Someone who's had continuous, notable success for multiple years. Someone who has amassed a fortune from rap and outside businesses and partnerships. It's also someone who's not only respected by most, but also cool with nearly everyone. Not many people can check all of those boxes, but we found 10 who do.
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10. Snoop Dogg
Accomplishments: West Coast legend
Lil Homies: Kendrick Lamar, Game, YG, Wiz Khalifa
No one on this list embraces their Big Homie position quite like Snoop. After all, he's not just Snoop, he's Uncle Snoop. The Doggfather is always quick to give a co-sign and down to give rap's younger generation, be it YG or A$AP Rocky, a few kind words of advice. He's also an example of an ever-evolving brand—as marked by his recent transformation into Snoop Lion. In a career spanning more than 20 years, Snoop has had nearly every up and down a rapper could possibly have and survived it all. He's still one of rap's greatest ambassadors, whether he's cooking with Martha Stewart or making random appearances in Bollywood movies. How can you not love Snoop?
9. Rick Ross
Accomplishments: MMG, Wingstop, Belaire Rose, Bawse
Lil Homies: Wale, Meek Mill, DJ Khaled, Gunplay, Stalley
He isn't quite "the biggest bawse you've seen thus far," but Rick Ross is doing his best to get there. A true hustler, Rick Ross has worked tirelessly the last few years building and repping his MMG brand (as well as Wingstop). He's modeled himself after other kingpins on this list, like Birdman and Puffy Daddy. Sadly, he'll likely never reach their status thanks to her penchant for making boneheaded comments like his infamous Molly lyric.
Yet, he still commands a surprisingly significant amount of respect from most of his rap peers. Even if it's on the decline, MMG remains a force to be reckoned with. Outside of hip-hop, his reach wanes severely, but that's not enough to derail him. Despite his past as a corrections officer, Ross is the biggest street rapper out today, and that has to count for something.
8. Pharrell
Accomplishments: Star Trak Entertainment, Creative Director of KarmaloopTV, Ice Cream, Billionaire Boys Club, Countless collaborations with clothing, shoe, and accessory companies, Certified hitmaker
Lil Homies: Pusha T, Tyler, the Creator
Unlike just about everyone on this list, Pharrell is still a hitmaker for himself and for others. And he's arguably at the peak of his career right now coming off his recent solo album, G I R L, and last year's hits "Blurred Lines" and "Get Lucky." However, it's more than just the music. P's business acumen is rather underrated— he's got a bunch of ventures on and popping. He's involved with i am OTHER, he still co-owns Billionaire Boys Club, he serves as Creative Director of KarmaloopTV, he's still making business deals like his recent one with adidas, and Star Trak is still the label. Wanna see how much reach P has? Just watch his Coachella performances where he was able to bring out everyone from Puffy to Jay Z.
7. Lil Wayne
Accomplishments: Young Money Entertainment, GOAT status
Lil Homies: Drake, Nicki Minaj, Young Thug, Tyga
At 31, Lil Wayne is the youngest Big Homie in the game. With over 15 million albums sold in the U.S., Cash Money's flagship artist has managed to influence an entire generation of artists. Listen to the current crop of popping rappers, not only below the Mason Dixon, but from all around the nation, and you can hear traces of Weezy—at least one of his many permutations—in their flows and rhymes. There's a reason Young Thug openly idolizes Weezy. Though many don't rock with his sartorial style, he can be seen as trendsetter of sorts: He helped Beats by Dre become an accessory staple for a new generation of audiophiles by wearing them absolutely everywhere. But, more importantly, he's the dude who signed two of rap's brightest, and most lucrative, stars: Nicki Minaj and Drake.
6. Eminem
Accomplishments: Best-selling rapper of all time, Shady Records, GOAT status
Lil Homies: 50 Cent, Royce da 5'9", Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, Crooked I, Yelawolf
Despite owning a record label and gearing up to launch a battle rap league, Eminem never seemed interested in much besides rapping. Simply put, despite being richer than his wildest dreams, Em never seemed too interested in business. You get the feeling he'd be fine living his life without having to oversee anything but a rhyme book. Still, Eminem persists simply because of the audience he commands. He's one of the few rappers who can sell out arenas throughout the entire world. But he's also earned the distinction as one of the most respected wordsmiths the rap game has ever seen.
5. Kanye West
Accomplishments: G.O.O.D. Music, DONDA, Sneaker designer, Creative genius
Lil Homies: Big Sean, Pusha T, Kid Cudi, Travi$ Scott
Kanye may make the least amount of money out of anyone on this list, but that may not be true forever. Especially if he can convince investors to pour money into one of his ideas, which he seems intent on doing. But it doesn't matter. Kanye's status as a Big Homie relies mostly on his influence and relevance. Kanye is the greatest creative powerhouse in rap right now.
Nearly every rapper out now—from Tyler, The Creator to Drake to J. Cole and even Jay Z—owns some kind of debt to Kanye. He's diversified rap's palette, and helped make it relevant to people in high fashion and high art in a way it never truly was before. Rappers have always rocked Versace and Gucci, but they weren't recognized by the owners of those brands until Kanye made them do so. Name another rapper who had people lining up for their sneakers like they were a pair of rare Jordans.
Just how far does Kanye's impact reach? Consider that A$AP Rocky—who was named after Rakim, another one of rap's great creative architects—once claimed he wanted to name his son Kanye.
4. Birdman
Accomplishments: CEO of Cash Money Records, rap's most powerful label
Lil Homies: Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Drake, Tyga, Mack Maine, Rick Ross
Birdman may not immediately come to mind when you think of hip-hop titans, but he should. With Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, and Drake under his wing, the CEO of Cash Money Records currently runs the most successful label in rap. You may never, ever cop a bottle of GTV vodka or any books from Cash Money Content, but you've undoubtedly spent money on the three aforementioned superstars he's got on the payroll.
3. Jay Z
Accomplishments: Roc Nation label and management, GOAT status
Lil Homies: Kanye West, J. Cole, Jay Electronica, Jeezy, Nas, Rick Ross, Wale
When you're the GOAT, everyone wants to be your friend. Seriously. Ask any rapper or producer who they would love to work with and more often than not the answer will be Jay Z. It ain't hard to tell why. At 43, Jay is constantly redefining the parameters of rap success. As he said, there's never been a dude this good for this long. That's why he's able to pull together an all-star team of producers, rappers, and singers every time he makes an album. That's why he was made the face of the Brooklyn Nets. It's why he didn't have trouble recruiting talent when he decided to become a sports agent. That's why Kanye, despite all his success, still looks to him as a big brother.
2. Dr. Dre
Accomplishments: Aftermath Entertainment, Beats by Dre, Greatest producer of all time
Lil Homies: Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Game
Before Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine linked up to blow up the headphone game, Dre was already one of the biggest homies in the game. Andre Young is responsible for orchestrating and launching the careers of some of rap's biggest stars. The resume speaks for itself: Straight Outta Compton, Niggaz4Life, Tha Chronic, Doggystyle, The Slim Shady LP, 2001, The Marshall Mathers LP, Get Rich or Die Tryin', etc. He may not run as many businesses as Puff or drop albums as frequently as Hov, but he doesn't need to. Beats by Dre is reportedly on track to be scooped by Apple for an estimated $3.2 billion, which would make him the wealthiest person in hip-hop. If that happens, he'll be the Big Homie. Sorry, Puff.
1. Puff Daddy
Accomplishments: Bad Boy Records, Revolt TV, Ciroc, Sean Jean, AquaHydrate, Master of the Universe
Lil Homies: Rick Ross, French Montana, Machine Gun Kelly
Between Bad Boy, Ciroc, Revolt, Sean Jean, and AquaHydrate, Puff has been working hard to become a captain of multiple of industries. Thanks to those ventures, he's consistently topped Forbes list of Hip-Hop Cash Kings with an estimated worth of about $700 million. Business aside, Puff has aligned himself with nearly everyone in the game. When he's not producing albums and hits for some of rap's biggest names—Jay Z, Rick Ross—he's popping in random videos, recruiting people for Ciroc commercials, inviting people to come to his music videos, and, if he can't make it, sending cases of Ciroc to various video shoots just to make his presence felt.
Honorable Mentions
50 Cent - Despite all his accomplishments and massive amounts of money, 50 Cent, for some reason, may have the worst ratio of respect to wealth in rap. Simply put, dude has no homies. Even his G-Unit soliders like Banks and Yayo won’t stand next to him anymore.
The RZA - If this was 1997, RZA would have had a high spot on this list. He has been making moves in Hollywood, like directing 2012’s The Man with the Iron Fists (shoutout to the Big Homie Quentin Tarantino!). But the de facto leader of the Wu-Tang Clan can hardly even get Raekwon to respect his decisions anymore. That ain’t Big Homie, bruh bruh.
Tech N9ne - Stop sleeping on Tech N9ne! Tech might not be a household name and people are probably gonna front on him for life, but it doesn’t matter. Tech is a king in the midwest and his Strange Music empire has set the template for what independent hip-hop can do. As hip-hop continues to go more independent, smart rappers would watch and learn from Tech’s moves.
Ice Cube - Kids these days front on Ice Cube’s mic skills and act like he’s not one of the all time greats, but that’s mostly because they usually see him in kiddie movies instead of stomping out of the CPT. Still, Cube holds a lot of weight in Hollywood and has executive produced a ton of hit films including the upcoming N.W.A biopic, N.W.A: Straight Outta Compton.
Drake - “I'm the big homie, they still be tryna lil bro me, dog,” rapped Drake on "Paris Morton Music 2." But truth is, just based on years in the game, Drake is still a lil homie. However, he’s the biggest of all the lil homies and will likely be a big homie soon if he can get his OVO label popping. After all, like J. Cole said, “Throwing thousands in the strip club with Drizzy/Difference is I'm throwing four, he's throwing fifty.”
