Me as myself i think 2pac influenced it the most because he was intelligent and a poet, and he made songs for old folks, young folks, small kids, big kids, etc. And he was an actor. He did it all in a thugged out intelligent kind of way.

i agree - and his songs werent all about being a pimp or whatever, like many of the rappers these days

rakim aka your favorite rapper's favorite rapper

2Pac - I Get Around

I'd have to go with Run DMC here...pretty much pioneered rapping and wow, were they great, broke boundaries when they did a song with Aerosmith too. Awesome guys.

By the way, Kool and the Gang were a funk band. Little to no involvement with hip-hop.

Yes, I chose Run DMC

TUPAC

jason61992

iz that a hip hop group or something cuz i never heard of it?

hahahahaha look around entertainment and youll see

Run DMC. They paved the way for Hip-hop and helped it to appeal to a bigger audience especially with the collabo with Aerosmith.

And Rakim introduced more creative lyrics and wordplay into emceeing. Like Steven said, he's mostly every rapper's favorite rapper.