Who are the 10 Greatest Rappers of All Time? Billboard just publish its list of the 10 Greatest Rappers of All Time and Brooklyn dominate it with Notorious B.I.G. coming in first and Jay Z second.

Death at a young age can often elevate a rapper from modern-day star to bona fide legend. But Notorious B.I.G. already attained the latter status early on his career. His storytelling rhymes mined straight from his experiences in the Brooklyn streets materialized on 1994’s insta-classic Ready to Die, a wild mosaic of vividly visual rhymes delivered with the expertise of a linguistic master.

By the time his group album with Junior M.A.F.I.A. dropped the following year, and his ambitious sophomore double-disc album Life After Death bowed just six days after his passing in March 1997, he’d already earned his title as the greatest rapper of all time. Unlike everyone else on this list, Biggie never dropped a single bad song, or a single errant bar.

“Jay Z’s nimble flow,” the magazine wrote helped him to rise among the ranks back in the mid to late 1990s. Billboard rank Jay Z No. 2 on the list behind Biggie Smalls.

Rap legends Rakim and Nas rounded out the top five with Andre 3000 of Outkast taking the No. 6 position. Lauryn Hill is the only female rapper to make the list coming in a No. 7.

“As one of the most versatile musicians in hip-hop, Lauryn Hill buoyed her group The Fugees in the ‘90s with professor-level raps and velveteen vocals,” the magazine wrote. “It was with her 1998 debut, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, though, that she became fully realized, boiling down a bad breakup into a project equal parts grit and vulnerability.”

The list would not be complete without the addition of Lil Wayne, who made a name for himself with the most Billboard Hot 100 hits after surpassing Elvis.

Ghostface Killah of Wu-Tang Clan also made the cut.

Top 10 Greatest Rappers of All Time:

10. Lil Wayne
9. Kendrick Lamar
8. Ghostface Killah
7. Lauryn Hill
6. Andre 3000
5. Nas
4. Rakim
3. Eminem
2. Jay Z
1. Notorious B.I.G.

Source: Billboard.com