Rap Mount Rushmore

Timbaland Delivers A Unique Hip-Hop Mount Rushmore

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Timbaland is easily one of the greatest producers to ever grace the genre of hip-hop. Moreover, he has done some exceptional work in the pop and rock spaces, as well. One can just look at his work with One Republic, Nelly Furtado, and Justin Timberlake to understand what we mean. Overall, the producer will go down as a legend, and at this point, he is already considered as such. These designations are absolutely deserved, and it’s good to see the artist getting a ton of shine in interviews and other forms of media.

Additionally, Timbaland has been paying homage to the greats, whenever he can. For instance, he was on the I Am Athlete podcast, where he was asked to give his hip-hop Mount Rushmore. “Slick Rick, Doug E. Fresh, they changed my life,” Timbaland said. “I started getting more into it. Rakim who really set the bar high for me. I was like, ‘Oh, this bubblegum rap gotta go.’ Then Big Daddy Kane, you know what I’m saying? Then I was like, for me, like who is this? Then came LL Cool J. I’m goin’ from my DJ career. I’m naming them from that perspective.”

Timbaland Honors The Greats

From there, Timbaland continued to name the people who helped him throughout his career. Whether it be as a producer or just as a DJ, the artist got to see the history of the genre play out. “And then there was RUN-DMC. RUN-DMC might’ve been before LL Cool J because RUN-DMC had a lot of lyrics and they was poppin,’” Timbaland explained. “Now, if you want to talk about lyrics, I’m goin’ by what moved and changed lives. Then after that, then came DJ Premier and Guru. Then Wu-Tang, Method Man. Then came, I can say after that, Fat Joe and Big Pun, for me. But, then Outkast. Then Ludacris.”

While this might be a crowded Mount Rushmore, you cannot blame the super producer for including so many people. After all, hip-hop has a ton of amazing artists who have influenced the current generation. Let us know who would make your hip-hop Mount Rushmore, in the comments section below. Additionally, stay tuned to HNHH for more news from around the hip-hop world.

Nick Cannon Put Lauryn Hill, Nicki Minaj, And Missy Elliott On His Female Rap Mount Rushmore

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The Rap Mount Rushmore meme reared its head once again on the latest episode of The Bootleg Kev show as the DJ asked his guest Nick Cannon about one of the most notable names in rap.

Cannon and Kev shared their praise of Nicki Minaj, who Cannon took care to note is among the greatest of all time regardless of gender. “She’s one of the coldest artists in the last decade,” he enthused. “We can’t sleep on her skill, her pen, sonically. She changed the game. ‘Monster’? That was her record.”

As he expanded, he went a little more old-school, saying, “The only person, to me, that has the same level of talent, and that we should even be comparing her to, is Lauryn Hill or Missy Elliott. Those three, that’s the Mount Rushmore.”

The Rap Mount Rushmore meme has been a recurring theme online since it’s always good for some engagement. Within the last few years, we’ve gotten takes from the likes of Ja Rule and J. Cole, with the latter putting a tongue-in-cheek spin on things, along with reactions from the likes of the West Coast rap legends who named their group after the meme and Nicki Minaj herself. Meanwhile, Lil Baby had some fun with it for the cover of his album It’s Only Me after fans debated his inclusion in one for Atlanta rappers.

Rap Caviar Launched Some ‘Rap Mount Rushmore’ Murals That Surely Won’t Be Controversial

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Kendrick Lamar Rap Mount Rushmore
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Let’s begin by thanking Spotify for the great utility of their plentiful playlists. For instance, in the Running section of the app, the pop playlists are broken down into ’00s pop, ’10s pop, and even ’90s pop — this one goes hard for those middle miles.

Anyway, it seems like their hip-hop curation team, Rap Caviar, has decided to break down their own genre in a similar way, by organizing it into decades. That seems fine, except, they also decided to tap into the ongoing greatest-of-all-time conversation by actually painting a “Rap Mount Rushmore” mural in various cities. They also chose to break their Rushmore down into just the 2010s, selecting Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Nicki Minaj, and J. Cole. Which is exactly where things might get a little messier.

First of all, I have great respect for Nicki Minaj and believe she’s an incredibly important MC, but her greatest sphere of influence was definitely waning around 2015. By the time Queen hit, she wasn’t very influential at all. So putting her on the mountain when other massive names like Future, Young Thug, Tyler The Creator, Travis Scott and even Kanye himself are all let off is pretty alarming for even a casual rap listener. She might be there due to the fact that she called out a similar Rushmore on Twitter for not including her, but hey, desire isn’t achievement.

The fact that there’s no southern rap (no, J. Cole doesn’t count) is another issue some might find contentious! Anyway, at least they got Kendrick right.