We asked and you answered. Who's the most conscious rapper in hip-hop? The results
are in from a 7-day poll conducted on @A3C twitter. #A3Cpolls is a series where we ask
the hip-hop community questions that we want to get answered.
For an artist who won five Grammy’s in one night, it's no surprise that Kendrick Lamar
received the most votes from the #A3C community. In 2010, Kendrick Lamar began
attracting many eyes in the industry after the release of his project titled 'Overly
Underrated', which did well enough to earn him a spot on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop
Albums. This same project is also what got Kendrick on the XXL Freshman cover in
2011, as well as a meeting with the one and only Dr. Dre. On top of being considered
“the most conscious,” Kendrick was also given the title of “New King of the West
Coast,” by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg.
Most recently, Kendrick Lamar has received many accolades from his renowned album,
'To Pimp A Butterfly'. As a result of being a great conscious artist, there has been much
controversy in regards to Kendrick, as well as his album. To Pimp A Butterfly talks a
great deal about what it means to be an African-American growing up in the system of
America, as well as its cons. However, this approach has been seen by organizations such
as Fox News as sending the “wrong message” to the youth, and “inciting violence.”
Others argue that songs on the album such as “Alright,” “King Kunta,” and “I,” were
made for the sole purpose of fighting self-hate, low self-esteem, and police brutality
within the Black community. Despite the many opinions of Compton rapper, Kendrick
Lamar, at least we can all agree that he is still the most conscious of them all.
