The BIG List: The 21 Most Important Black Artists Alive (Under 40)!

NUMBER 21

NUMBER 20

→ NICKI MINAJ, 26Go To Album: Pink Friday  
She may be the most polarizing and freakish female to ever slobber a mic, but dammit wish Nicki a belated Happy Father’s Day because chick is sonning her invisible competition. With a loony art of seduction and cannibalistic delivery, Barbie’s more than the hottest babe in toyland. And you don’t even have to agree. Kanye West (fun fact: she went platinum before dude!), Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Britney Spears (fun fact 2: she’s the first hip-pop artist to ever go on tour with Brit), Diddy, Ludacris and over a million believers can do all the cosigning for you. Important is a motherfucking understatement. —T.G.

NUMBER 19

→ CHRIS BROWN, 22Go To Album: Chris Brown
If you put the Rihanna relationship/incident to the side for a second—and, believe us, that’s not something we do lightly at all—it’s not hard to see why Chris Breezy deserves a spot on this list. He’s got four albums in his discography, including his double-platinum, self-titled debut, his triple-platinum sophomore project, Exclusive, and his most recent effort, F.A.M.E. He can sing and dance. He’s got chart-topping hits for days. And he’s only 22—which leads us to believe that he can turn all of the controversy that’s plagued his younger years into some truly meaningful stuff in the not-too-distant future. As long as he continues to mature both on and off stage (SMH at the recent incident involving Frank Ocean) this guy has a gift that’s just waiting to be shared with the rest of the world.—C.Y.

NUMBER 18

→ DRAKE, 23Go To Album: Thank Me Later Drake is a double-headed giant. One dome shows a hyper-pompous asshole who’ll easily make a booth (and your girlfriend) erupt. On the other he’s a uber sensitive every-man with a soft spot for snail-speed compositions. It’s a face hip-hop’s not used to seeing… both literally and figuratively. But by ditiching trite caricatures Aubrey Graham consistently proves that being yourself—no matter how dual the realities— always makes you a winner. —T.G.

NUMBER 17

→ RIHANNA, 22Go To Album: Loud  The moment Rihanna grabbed a pair of scissors, it wasn’t just her hair that got a big chop (not to mention it’s own moniker), but also her sweeter than mangos flair. And with a loss of innocence comes a gain of maturity, gain that helped this show-and-tell artist beat out Lady Gaga for this year’s Billboard Female Artist Of The Year. Rih’s I-don’t-give-a-f-u-c-k demeanor is one we haven’t seen in a black female singer for years and certainly not propelled to the levels of pop mania experienced now. Without it, the void would be gaping. —T.G.

NUMBER 16

→ NE-YO, 32Go To Album: Year Of The GentlemanYou may not always know it, but Ne-Yo is your favorite male R&B artist. One of the few charmed songwriters whose showmanship matches his penmanship, if you’re not copping Ne-Yo’s soul-preserving albums, you’re adding to his song credit bank. Penning the most beloved songs of our time for others (see Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable”) and himself, no matter how much the current rap&b hybrid soars, Ne-Yo’s spot can never be smudged. —T.G.

NUMBER 15

→ BUSTA RHYMES, 39Go To Album: When Disaster Strikes…
Who knew that the Native Tongues affiliate would prove to be one of his era’s most savvy survivors? The bombastic showstopper—who dropped his first verse in 1991 as a member of the Long Island crew Leaders of the New School—can today be found stealing shine from Chris Brown on his frenetic single “Look At Me Now.” Talk about staying power. —K.M.

NUMBER 14

→ LIL KIM, 36Go To Album: Hardcore
The explicit lyrics, the super risque outfits, the “Queen B” persona—Notorious B.I.G.’s female protege was a slap in the face (and the ass!) when she made her unadulterated debut back in 1996. But it was her skills on the mic and her crossover appeal that helped her stick around beyond that. As a result, she’s one of only two female rappers (Missy Elliott is the other) to have not one, not two, but three platinum solo albums with ’96’s Hardcore, 2000’s The Notorious K.I.M., and 2003’s La Bella Mafia. Forget the recent beef with Nicki Minaj. At one point in time, Kim was the total package.—C.Y.

NUMBER 13

→ D’ANGELO, 37Go To Album: Voodoo 
D’Angelo kicked off rhythm and blues’ rebirth with his stunning 1995 debut Brown Sugar, opening the door for the likes of Erykah Badu, Maxwell and Jill Scott. And when the artistic confines of the so-called Neo-Soul movement proved too claustrophobic, the mercurial singer-songwriter-keyboardist colored outside the lines on his trippy, stripped-down 2000 masterpiece Voodoo. The impact? Fans are still waiting for D’Angelo’s long-in-the-making follow-up over a decade later. —K.M.

NUMBER 12

→ WILL.I.AM, 36Go To Album: The Black Eyed Peas’ The E.N.D.
 Go ahead. Bristle if you want. But pop music’s Superman has it covered from all angles. You want heartbreaking lyricism (John Legend’s “Ordinary People”); fist-pumping arena anthems (the Peas’ “I Got A Feeling”); or nostalgic early ‘90s hip-hop bliss (Nas’ “Can’t Forget About You”)? Ambitious Black Eyed Peas’ frontman Will.i.am is your man. —K.M.
 

NUMBER 11

→ LAURYN HILL, 36Go To Album: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
You know how you can tell how important Lauryn Hill is? These days, she shows up three hours late to concerts. She shows very little regret for it. She yells at fans who complain about her behavior. And yet, people still continue to jump through hoops and stand around for three hours to hear her perform tracks from an album that she put out 13 years ago. She may never fulfill her true potential (if you think her sophomore album is ever really going to drop, we’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn we’d like to….oh, you’re already interested?). But, if nothing else, she’ll always have that beyond-incredible album to fall back on. And that still makes her pretty damn important.—C.Y. 

NUMBER 10

→ 50 CENT, 35Go To Album: Get Rich Or Die Tryin’
50 Cent Is The Future. That’s the bold, forward-thinking title Curtis Jackson chose for his first official 2002 mixtape. And we’ll be damned if he wasn’t 100 percent right. Fif revolutionized the mixtape game as a whole at the start of his career and used it to his advantage to generate enough hype to make his 2003 debut album a critical and commercial (six million albums sold to date!) success. So, get rich…or die tryin’? You already know the answer to that.—C.Y.

NUMBER 9

→ MISSY ELLIOTT, 39Go To Album:  Miss E…So Addictive
The unpretentious Ms. Elliott obliterated the female rapper playbook. From her trailblazing accomplishments as an in-demand studio producer—a rarity in the male dominated hip-hop scene—to the platinum plus albums and off-the-rails music videos, the accolades don’t lie. Missy is that chick. —K.M.

NUMBER 8

→ MC LYTE, 39Go To Album: Lyte As A Rock
The history of female rhyming can be divided into two landmarks: Before MC Lyte and After MC Lyte. But the fierce Lyte also kept the boys on their toes by flexing two-fisted swagger (“Paper Thin”); battle-tested verbiage (“10% Dis”); effortless story-telling skills (“Poor Georgie”); and hit-making prowess (“Cold Rock a Party”). From Queen Latifah to Nicki Minaj, the Brooklyn spitter’s blueprint is incalculable. Girl power. —K.M.

NUMBER 7

→ LIL WAYNE, 28Go To Album: Tha Carter II
In a few years, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Weezy F. creep up to the top of this list. In the age of Internet rappers, he’s become one of rap’s only viable commodities by releasing hundreds of songs over the course of the last few years to stake a legitimate claim to the title “Best Rapper Alive.” But his diesel body of work and his lyrical supremacy are only two of the many reasons we fully expect Wayne to go down as a legendary figure in the rap world. From kiddie rapper to full-fledged superstar, Wayne’s taught us one thing: Hard work definitely does pay off. —C.Y.

NUMBER 6

→ NAS, 37Go To Album: IllmaticNas could have fizzled out of the rap games years ago. After establishing himself with his seminal 1994 debut and his underrated 1996 sophomore album, It Was Written, he could have blown his chance at hip-hop immortality by releasing a pair of commercial and critical duds in 1999’s I Am… and 1999’s Nastradamus. But rather than wilt, he weathered the storm and eventually staked his place in the game again in 2001 by holding his own in a lyrical war of words with fellow New York kingpin Jay-Z on his venemous diss record, “Ether.” Ever since, he’s been playing with house money and proving over and over (and over!) again that Nas was, is, and always will be nasty on the mic. —C.Y.

NUMBER 5

→ USHER, 32Go To Album: Confessions
Forget the 23 million albums sold in the United States, the 65 million albums sold worldwide, the seven Grammy Awards, the four World Music Awards, the six American Music Awards, the 22 Billboard Music Awards, the nine Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hits, and the….well, we think you get the point. If you really want to feel the importance of Usher Raymond, pop in his fourth album, Confessions, and feel it.
From “Yeah!” and “Confessions, Part II” to “Burn” and “Caught Up,” the diamond-selling (yes, diamond-selling) album is easily the best R&B album of the last decade—and may just go down as one of the best R&B records of all-time. And, in turn, that makes us believe that Ursher is one of the most important artists not just of his generation but in the history of R&B. That’s one confession that’s not hard to make. —C.Y.

NUMBER 4

→ SNOOP DOGG, 39Go To Album: DoggystyleWhere do we even start? It’d be easy to say that Snoop’s legacy starts and ends with the West Coast classic that doubled as his 1993 debut disc. But that was, both literally and figuratively, only the beginning. Over the course of the last two decades, no rapper has crossed over into the mainstream as effectively as Snoop. Sure, there are bigger names on hip-hop’s marquee—Jay-Z, Eminem, and Lil Wayne are the first to come to mind—but no one (no one!) has made himself a commercial commodity like the Doggfather.
Snoop has popped up in major motion pictures (Training Day, Old School, Starsky & Hutch). He’s contributed to a countless number of commercials for everything from Orbit Gum to Pepsi. He’s played himself in a soap opera, hosted WWE Raw, and even participated in a Comedy Central roast of Donald Trump. And he’s done it all while continuing to change and evolve with the times enough to put out quality music that still bangs. They say every dog has its’ day. For Snoop, that day has been everyday since 1993. —C.Y.

NUMBER 3

→ OUTKAST: Andre 3000, 36 & Big Boi, 36Go To Album: Aquemini
Yes, the mighty Outkast is still a group. Yes, there have been rumblings that hip-hop’s most celebrated tag-team may be back in the lab following the news that their old label boss L.A. Reid has just been named the chairman of the Epic—a label group that includes the Atliens’ longtime label home Jive Records. Yes, Andre 3-Stacks remains a top 5 MC breathing today. Yes Big Boi made the doubters look silly with his triumphant solo statement Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty. Yes, we could all use another Outkast album. —K.M.

NUMBER 2

→ BEYONCE, 29Go To Album: 4 
After 13 years it can be said in once sentence — Beyonce is the most anomalous and ridiculously polished talent of our generation. From the vocals, to the vision, to the presence, to the work ethic, to the unending mystique, the hair, the class, the ass—Hov’s wifey-turned-wife is untouchable. Bow down to King B. —T.G.

NUMBER 1

→ KANYE WEST, 34Go To Album: Late Registration 
Part of the Kanye West mythology has been his over-the-top hubris; the kind of cocky I’m-the-shit self-assuredness that would drive a man to dismiss the American Music Awards, the Grammy’s and MTV, at various times, for not basking in the genius of the Chi-Town’s Native Son. But when you stand head and shoulders above your peers as the ultimate combination of MC and producer, you can forgive such brash behavior. 
Simply put, West tops VIBE’s list because he reminds us of an era when performers lived and died for their art. The same relentless recording studio rat who created the brilliant soul-stirring signature sound for Jay-Z’s flawless 2001 album The Blueprint is the same dude who dropped so far the most immaculate, ambitious achievement of this year, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. A Kanye West album races beyond the usual industry hype. It’s an event, and for good reason. You never know what West is going to pull off next. In these color-by-number times, how cool is that? —K.M.