Common has unveiled his Mount Rushmore of Chicago rappers, which includes some familiar names.
The Windy City icon stopped by 1075 WGCI on Monday (July 22) alongside Pete Rock to discuss their new album The Auditorium Vol. 1.
During the conversation, the “Go!” rapper was tasked with highlighting his favorite rappers to emerge out of Chi Town.
He said: “Well, Kanye is going on there, for sure. I’ma put Lupe Fiasco on there. Twista is bad, but lemme see. It’s tough.”
After some banter, Common continued: “I’ma put Durk up there because Durk is doing what he do. And then, man, I think, I’m excluding myself because I would be up there, but I might have to go with Chance [The Rapper] at that point.”
He received pushback for not including Chief Keef on the list, who helped pioneer the drill movement in Chicago.
Common gave Sosa his flowers, but noted that Durk helped bring the subgenre into a more mainstream space, while also shouting out rappers like G Herbo and Lil Reese.
Check out the discussion below, which begins at about the 7:20 mark.
Common isn’t the only rapper to have recently given props to MCs from Chicago.
In an episode of It Is What It Is that aired last week the Dipset icon Cam’ron big-upped the rap city alongside co-host Ma$e and special guest Maurice Clarett.
He said: “I lived in Chicago and they may have the best lyricists. Them and Louisiana. I’m talking about as far as lyricists. We really take [it] for granted. New York used to call people ‘country’ in the ’80s and early ’90s. Even thinking about Lil Wayne. If you get on a record with Lil Wayne you gotta be careful. Lil Wayne will go crazy. If you go on a record with Eminem, you gotta be careful. These n-ggas are really lyricists …”
He continued by mentioning a number of Chi-town legends, including Twista and Yung Buk, both of whom Cam teamed up with on 2004’s “Adrenaline Rush 2,” before concluding: “I think Chicago artists are really, really underrated as far as rap is concerned.”
Common and Pete Rock released their first joint album The Auditorium Vol. 1 earlier this minth.
Now available on streaming services as well as other formats such as CD, cassette and vinyl, the 15-track album features contributions from De La Soul‘s Posdnuos, Bilal and Common’s girlfriend Jennifer Hudson.
