Rap Battle 90's Bracket Round 3: Ice Cube (3) vs Lauryn Hill (14)

dnc · July 2018

While Eazy E was the personality of NWA and Dr Dre was the sound, Ice Cube was the voice. Undisputedly the hardest emcee from the west coast's dopest group, Cube has managed to maintain greater and longer relevance than any of his late 80's/early 90's contemporaries. Gangsta rap's most successful actor, Cube has given us plenty of big screen moments both memorable and forgettable, and now he's trying to make professional three on three basketball a thing which who isn't all for that?

But this tourney is about rap, and as a rapper Cube has few equals. The first of NWA's members to make it on his own, Cube had two massively successful solo albums before any of the others had one.

O'Shea also gave us two legendary one liners: You better check yo self before you wreck yo self and today was a good day. And he teamed up with George Clinton for one of the most underrated cuts of the decade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvRc7pwnt0U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4UqMyldS7Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjsvqQUcqCs

Lauryn Hill's chinclusion here has generated plenty of controversy and I get it. But I did consult a few lists of greaters rappers just to make sure I wasn't forgetting anyone before compiling this, and the rap community seems to agree Lauryn belongs. If I ruled the world she'd be on the list, and guess what, in this case I do. So fuck off.

Musically, Lauryn is the female Nate Dogg if Nate could flow. By that I mean She's more known for her pipes (and for good reason), but her bars are strong as well. A highly unique talent, you would be hard pressed to find another talent that could rap her verses and sing her own hook the way Lauryn could. Hill made her name as an actress in Sister Act 2, then earned her street cred in the Fugees (who I didn't rank because Wyclef can't rap), leaving her as probably the only person on the list with only one solo album, but what an album it was. My general rule of thumb is this: quality > quantity. And LH never did anything that wasn't quality.