Best rap voices ever

[⠀]

Pac is just too obvious as an answer because his tones were so unique and how you knew instantly who it was even if it was bumping on a tiny radio in a Honda Civic filled with eses on the other side of the street.

Apart from that I've got to hand it to Snoop Fraud as well as his sing song melodic style is dope but the underdog pic has to by Shyne. Sounded nothing like BIG even though people tried to say so but man did his vocals command respect on a beat and he had such clear enunciation:



Without Shyne there'd be no Game as he was a hardcore knock off biter of his style and even remade his tracks in his early days in the Bay when he was trying to get on.

E as well, no one ever sounded anything like him and he wasn't even a rapper!



Last but not least, C-BO fathered many many styles:



Gotta mention Dru Down as well:



Man, what happened to rap. There was so many unique styles in the 90s because there was so little video play so your tones defined who you were but the moment Pac hopped on a track it was over.

 

[Sccit]

dope thread

for me, the grimey/deeper voices always stood out.. xzibit, rbx, fatlip, big lurch, chali 2na, del, cpo boss hogg were some of my favorites growin up

[⠀]

Lets extend the scope:



First time you heard a rapper, didn't know who but the vocals made you go "Who TF is that?"

For me one of the most memorable was def Xzibit with this:



heard it on a mixtape. No tracklist or names and based on lyrics, topic and production I thought he was an East Coast cat but listening to the words it was a surprise to hear he repped the West. Copped the tape, bumped it on repeat. Certified classic.



This was the first joint I heard him on and I think thats why I linked him with the East in my mind but the track wasn't all that to me:



Cos Prodigy had the standout verse but when Foundation was played next it was whew!

[Jay_J]

Goldie Loc, Rbx, Bas Blasta, Busta Rhymes, King-T, Dr. Dre, Six-Two...

[HighEyeCue]

West Coast I have to give it to Snoop

underrated - Richie Rich. Tray Deee. CPO Boss Hogg

from the East I have to say Prodigy

[⠀]

Prodigy and Mobb in general were so grimy and birthed the whole "use your local lingo that sounds cool and no one else has a clue what you're talking about" style that became so popular after.

Mans once said that QB housing projects and the rappers it spawned were like a huge dysfunctional family looking for someone to fight with when they weren't busy arguing among themselves. So true.

Another wildcard with such a unique, dope voice:



Out of this world live performer as well when so many rappers only sound nice in the booth due to Pro Tools, comped takes and studio trickery because on stage they shout and get out of breath real quick due to too many blunts and Hen.

Really being a rapper is at least 50% voice with 25% flow and the rest is everything else. Cam and Dipset proved that as they were the original "say a whole load of nothing but sound real fly doing it" crew who were carried by production, charisma and fuckery.

[dnjp4life]

I’ll add Big Syke and B-Legit into the mix.

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

Pac is just too obvious as an answer because his tones were so unique and how you knew instantly who it was even if it was bumping on a tiny radio in a Honda Civic filled with eses on the other side of the street.

Apart from that I've got to hand it to Snoop Fraud as well as his sing song melodic style is dope but the underdog pic has to by Shyne. Sounded nothing like BIG even though people tried to say so but man did his vocals command respect on a beat and he had such clear enunciation:



Without Shyne there'd be no Game as he was a hardcore knock off biter of his style and even remade his tracks in his early days in the Bay when he was trying to get on.

Dogg was talking about how Kurupt fell off harder than possibly any rapper in history... but Shyne's fall might have been just as bad or worse... in fact, I hate Puffy but I got to give him props sometimes because he put a battery in this mutherfuckers back for that one self-titled album---that shit is and has always been a fucking BANGER!!

And anything I ever heard before or after that album from this dude was fucking trash.. I mean.. like nails on a chalkboard and more recently the guy literally lost his voice and sounds totally different.  Talk about fallin off.  It was like it was painful for him to rap or something, only major rapper I've heard sound that bad on record was listening to Hammer's Death Row material

[⠀]

only major rapper I've heard sound that bad on record was listening to Hammer's Death Row material

Can there be anything worse than Hammer impersonating a Pac flow on Death Row? I thinks not but post jail Shyne would certainly give him a run for his money. Thing is he switched his flow and voice up because Game and Ross had sharked his style because he dropped this:



from the bing and still had it. I expected Shyne to come home like Pac and drop AEOM Part 2 instead he was rocking curly sideburns and sounding like half a fag when he could easily rock the old voice but it was a (dumb) artistic choice to leave his most iconic attribute in jail when he was released.




First album is pure heat though. Another good voice was Cuban Link who reminded me of Pacs cadence without obviously trying to bite it and also had a dope first album:



Thing is his never got released!

[Westdog]

Many good voices: Cube in 90s, Snoop, B-real!, Pac, Xzibit, Big, Nas and Raekwon r similar voices, Eazy-e, Eminem

[doggfather]

dope thread

for me, the grimey/deeper voices always stood out.. xzibit, rbx, fatlip, big lurch, chali 2na, del, cpo boss hogg were some of my favorites growin up

the grimey voice to me too, so Sticky Fingaz, fredro starr, dmx on my list too with these.


Busta Rhymes got unique voice. Pharrell IMO.

[The Predator]

Eazy-E had the most unique rappin voice in hip-hop ever.

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

Many good voices: Cube in 90s, Snoop, B-real!, Pac, Xzibit, Big, Nas and Raekwon r similar voices, Eazy-e, Eminem

Initially that’s what turned me off to Xzibit was I thought his voice was too rough.  Like MOP for example it doesn’t sound nice to me even with the Premier production and all that.  But once Xzibit got the Dre co-sign I was on board, but more because of his lyrics than his voice.

Snoop, Krayzie Bone, Nas, and Slick Rick I’d put down as having the smoothest voices in rap and my ears prefer that voice over Xzibit (though X is in my top 5) RBX voice is unique and that why Dre wanted to work with him even without hearing him rap.

Eminem doesn’t really have a good rap voice but he was able to overcome that and make it work for him. 

Biggie had that melody to his voice and so did Mase, Shyne.. Wish bone has a lot of melody in his voice

...Never liked Bus voice, thought it was too rough and clownish.. but I got Maad love and respect for Bus as an icon and artist but wasn’t a fan when he first went solo

Cube got a lot of power in voice, Eazy got that unique voice Dre took notice of...

[RoscoeOutlaw]

2pac
Ice Cube
Kam
Threat
WC
Lil C Style
Techniec

[Hittman2001]

I think Dr. Dre has the best voice/flow for (gansta) rap.  I've always thought that since I first started listening to him.  It just fits.  Whether or not lyrics are good is another thing.  I know recent releases he has sounded different, age and hgh will do that to your voice... But he knows what he should sound like on tracks that he works on.  As far as uniqueness, there are plenty others out there that can be noted