Hate It or Love It? Hip-Hop's 10 Most Polarizing Rappers

November 3, 2010 - 1:57 pm by Chris Yuscavage TWITTER

People Who Love Him Say: "He's the definition ofg a hustler."

People Who Hate Him Say: "Is he even trying to be a good rapper?"

Before Waka Flocka Flame, there was Soulja Boy. Lyrics? Forget lyrics. SB got his first taste of success thanks to his dance song, "Crank That," and never looked back.

SOULJA BOY TELL 'EM

NICKI MINAJ

People Who Love Her Say: "That's my girl! She's representing for all the ladies out there." People Who Hate Her Say: "Enough with the voices! And the wigs! And all of those stupid metaphors! Nicki SUCKS!" Clearly, Waka Flocka isn't the only new rapper under attack right now. Nicki's had the same exact polarizing effect on the masses this year. With her debut album, Pink Friday, on the way, half the rap fans out there seem to hate her—and the other half can't get enough of her. But as you'll see, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Not a bad thing at all.

GUCCI MANE

People Who Love Him Say: "Don't you hear that wordplay, that garbled flow, that genius?" People Who Hate Him Say: "Um, WTF did he just say?" Before legal problems got the best of Gucci's career (sigh—arrested again this week, Gooch?), he was one of hip-hop's mixtape kings, dropping hundreds of songs and freestyles in a short amount of time. Looking back, he enjoyed a real moment and capitalized off it. But it's still unclear if he can become a bonafide superstar or if he'll remain a niche rapper for the rest of his career.

YOUNG JEEZY

People Who Love Him Say: "That guy is a movement! Someone grab me one of those Snowman T-shirts." People Who Hate Him Say: "Ugh, doesn't this guy rap about anything except cocaine?" Jeezy used distinct ad-libs and a whole lot of drug slang in order to carve out a lane for himself called coke rap at the beginning of his career. That upset some folks who thought Jeezy was too rough-around-the-edges as a rapper to receive all the acclaim he did. But he eventually did improve his skills on the mic and show folks that he was more than just a drug dealer with a record deal. Now if only he could get Def Jam to release Thug Motivation 103...

People Who Love Him Say: "He's soooooo dope! Especially for a white boy." People Who Hate Him Say: "He's soooooo overrated! People only like him because he's a white boy." His name may get thrown around in the "Best Rapper Alive" conversation now, but it took Slim Shady seven solo albums, a movie appearance, countless guest verses and cosigns from almost every single mainstream rapper to earn the respect he's received. It's crazy to think, but at the beginning of his career, there are plenty of people who thought he would simply be a one-hit wonder. The joke was on them, huh?

People Who Love Him Say: "Drake is such a great rapper. I love him as a singer, too!" People Who Hate Him Say: "That guy from DeGrassi should stick to singing." From his ethnicity to his hometown to his rap style to his eyebrows, Drake's detractors have stopped at nothing to find something wrong with him. His fans, on the other hand, can't get enough reference tracks to please their palette. Very few rap fans fall in between.

RICK ROSS

People Who Love Him Say: "He's gotten waaaay better on the mic than he used to. He spits that gangsta #^$%!" People Who Hate Him Say: "Didn't this guy used to be a corrections officer? Case closed." Ross has managed to shut a lot of his haters up by sticking to the script over the course of the last few years and rapping his ass off. He consistently drops freestyles over other artists' songs, tours and records remixes with fellow rappers. But even with all that under his belt, he's struggled to gain the support of those rap fans who truly can't look past the C.O. charges that popped up a couple years ago. And, unfortunately, he probably never will.

People Who Love Him Say: "He spits that ish for the streets—and for all the people who are locked up!" People Who Hate Him Say: "Why is this guy always yelling? Plies has always had the best intentions for his career. From the beginning, he's catered to the street crowd and stated that he'd like to give hope to all those that are behind bars. However, he does always sound like he's yelling and he has made a boatload of R&B-tinged songs that haven't exactly sounded like they're helping to carry out his mission. So we could agree with both sides on this one.

CAM'RON

People Who Love Him Say: "Cam has mad swag!" People Who Hate Him Say: "Computers 'putin'? What the hell does that mean? And why is he wearing pink?" You can't have it both ways. You either love Cam's style and the way he raps or you absolutely hate it. He's not as polarizing as the next two rappers, but he's damn close...

NOTORIOUS B.I.G. AND 2PAC

People Who Love Him Say: "He's the greatest of all-time!" People Who Hate Him Say: "He sucks because he's from the East/West coast!" The most polarizing rappers of all-time? You bet. You might not remember, but once upon a time, you couldn't be a 'Pac fan and a B.I.G. fan. You had to choose one or the other because they were from opposite coasts. Great logic, right? Um, yeah. Anyway, more than a decade after their respective deaths, people have finally realized you can like both. Nonetheless, these guys were both extremely polarizing rappers who created rifts between rap fans. Who is your favorite polarizing rapper of all-time? Can you think of any other polarizing rappers that should be on this list? Leave us a comment below and let us know!

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