Gallery: Readers weigh in on the best rappers By Lisa Respers France and David Williams, CNN January 8, 2013 -- Updated 1838 GMT (0238 HKT) 2Pac is the greatest rapper in history. His songs actually meant something...and continue to mean something. 2Pac had more talent than any 10 rappers mentioned in this article combined." - Turdferguson No Chuck D? Mos Def? Black Thought? Any discussion of rap's best lyricists has to include them." - sporty1 You have GOT to be kidding me. Rakim is literally your favorite rapper's favorite rapper. He IS the reason for multisyllabic rhyming. Eminem pays homage to him. Jay-Z pays homage to him. 50 Cent pays homage to him. And so on and so forth." - Maroonsista AtTwitter Are you serious...Nas is good but not the best lyricist. Hands down Eminem takes the crown, and also has been holding it since 2000. Everything else is junk. Hip Hop is dead as far as I'm concerned." - shaunforreal Black Thought is a lyrical beast. Rap has simply had a ton of talent in 20 years and I'm ignoring like all of the 2000s. lol." - DiamondDNice Nas Tupac Shakur Chuck D Rakim Eminem Jay-Z Mos Def Black Thought Talib Kweli