Scott Storch Biggie was to me the guy who was the best at painting the picture and making you visualize something, Pac was the best poet, and I feel like Jay Z is all of the above. Then Rick Ross is just, every line he spits is just perfect, and he’s one of my favorite MCs of all time. – Scott Storch
Rza While a lot of hip-hop was inspired by jazz or James Brown samples and was made to be played live in the clubs, I made hip-hop that was made for MCs to eat the mic up. It was an aggressive form of hip-hop. It was made just for hip-hop. It’s not made to sing or dance to, though you can if you want. – Rza
Ryan Lewis I think most producers and MCs are constantly in this competition, but it’s usually with yourself. It’s usually wanting to be innovative: wanting to catch yourself when you’re doing the same thing or throwing out the same art you’ve already done. – Ryan Lewis
Quavo The greatest MCs came out of groups; the greatest singers came out of groups. So you can’t tell us we’re not MCs. – Quavo
Pepa I grew up with park jams. That’s how I knew about rap… The local MCs would grab the mic and start rapping. I just used to be so in awe and fascinated and like, ‘Wow, this is amazing!’ But I would never, ever touch the mic. Heck no. – Pepa
Method Man I’m serious; I don’t, I don’t rap. I flow; I’m a flow-er. You’ve got rappers, you got MCs, and then you got flow-ers, I’m a flow-er. – Method Man
Lil Mama TLC has helped me to know that as a musician, I can talk about anything; that there are no barriers, and that you can be yourself. That’s what I love about them. Left Eye in particular helped me to stay on top of my A game. She’s one of the best female MCs that I’ve heard. – Lil Mama
John Cena Pretty much my feel toward MCs is, if you really got heart, you got passion, let’s get on and do something. I like doing stuff with people that’s real. – John Cena
Jme MCs want to represent how it is on their streets. But many of the younger ones are closed-minded: they think about the image more than the music. But as they grow older they realize the music matters more than their image. – Jme
Ice T A lot of the younger kids now can rap, but they’re scared of the crowd. Mastery of that stage is an MC. I don’t know if you’ve seen any great MCs on stage but when you do it’s like wow, this is more than the words to rhymes. – Ice T
Gza Like MCs, each chess player has his own style: how he likes to open, when he likes to attack. Just like we face off with each other lyrically, we challenge each other’s minds on the chessboard. Sharpen each other’s swords. – Gza
