Rap music which has become very popular across the globe in recent time has undergone several transitions. This genre of music now enjoys a global recognition and its widely accepted because it communicates deep messages to listeners and rap lovers.

However, before the emergence of this new generation rappers, there have been rappers who gave this genre of music the recognition they now enjoy in recent time, but unfortunately, most of these early rappers seem to have gone into music extinction as they and their songs have been forgotten so soon.

Below are ten great rap music to refresh your memories:

GZA

Gary Grice, who is popularly known by his stage name GZA is an American rapper and songwriter.

He is a founding member of the hip-hop group the Wu-Tang Clan, he is known as the group’s “spiritual head”, being both the oldest and the first within the group to receive a record deal.

The 52-year-old rapper since the release of his critically acclaimed solo album Liquid Swords (1995), he has maintained a successful solo career.

He is considered to be one of the best MCs and lyricists because he is “armed with sharp metaphors and a smooth flow” and has been noted for his lyrical style, which often dismisses typical rap storylines in favour of science and wide-ranging philosophies.

An analysis of GZA’s lyrics found that he has the second largest vocabulary in hip-hop music. He teamed up with an education group to promote science education in New York City through hip hop.

Too $hort

Todd Anthony Shaw better known by the stage name Too Short (stylized as Too $hort), is an American rapper, record producer and actor.

The 52-year-old rapper is best known for his hit songs like “The Ghetto” and “Blow the Whistle” and “Ain’t Nothing Like Pimpin.”

Too Short is one of the very few musicians to have been able to collaborate with both 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. during the height of their careers when the rappers engaged in a protracted feud.

He is credited as being one of the pioneer rappers of West Coast hip-hop although his rap lyrics are primarily about pimping, drug use and promiscuity.

Bushwick Bill

Richard Stephen Shaw better known by the stage name Bushwick Bill is a Jamaican American rapper.

The 52-year-old rapper is a member of the hip-hop group Geto Boys.

Eazy-E

Eric Lynn Wright better known by his stage name Eazy-E, was an American rapper who performed solo and in the hip-hop group N.W.A.

Wright is affectionately called “The Godfather of Gangsta rap” was born on September 7, 1964, he died in March 1995 after a brief battle with AIDS.

Eazy-E, who was born to Richard and Kathie Wright in Compton, California, after dropping out of high school in the tenth grade, supported himself primarily by selling drugs before founding Ruthless Records and becoming a rapper.

Cypress Hill

Cypress Hill is an American hip hop music group from South Gate, California. Cypress Hill was the first Latino American hip hop recording group to have platinum and multi-platinum albums, selling over 20 million albums worldwide.

They are considered to be among the main progenitors of West Coast rap and hip-hop in the early 1990s, being critically acclaimed for their first four albums.

The band has also advocated for the medical and recreational use of cannabis in the United States.

Biz Markie

Marcel Theo Hall better known by his stage name Biz Markie, is an American rapper, beatboxer, DJ, actor, comedian, singer, reality television personality and commercial spokesperson.

He is best known for his single “Just a Friend”, an American Top 10 hit in 1989. In 2008, “Just a Friend” made #100 on VH1’s list of the 100 greatest hip hop songs of all time.

Biz Markie lives in Howard County, Maryland and has helped support County Executive Ken Ulman during his fundraisers.

The 54-year-old rapper has been called the “Clown Prince of Hip Hop.”

Slick Rick

Richard Martin Lloyd Walters better known as Slick Rick, Rick The Ruler and MC Ricky D, is a British-born American rapper.

He has released four albums: The Great Adventures of Slick Rick (1988), The Ruler’s Back (1991), Behind Bars (1994) and The Art of Storytelling (1999).

His music has been sampled and interpolated over 600 times in over 35 songs by artists including Eminem, Beyoncé, The Beastie Boys, TLC, Nas, Miley Cyrus, Kanye West, Black Star, The Notorious B.I.G., Snoop Dogg, MC Ren, and Color Me Badd.

In the process, the 53-year-old rapper has become the most-sampled hip-hop artist ever. Many of these songs based on Slick Rick samples went on to become hit singles. He’s been a VH-1 Hip Hop Honors honoree, and About.com ranked him No. 12 on their list of the Top 50 MCs of Our Time, while The Source ranked him No. 15 on their list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time.

Immortal Technique

Felipe Andres Coronel better known by the stage name Immortal Technique is a Peruvian-American hip hop recording artist and activist. Most of his lyrics focus on controversial issues in global politics.

The 48-year-old rapper’s lyrics are largely a commentary on issues such as politics, socialism, class struggle, poverty, religion, government, imperialism, economics and institutional racism.

Immortal Technique has aims to retain control over his production and has stated in his music that record companies, not artists themselves, profit the most from mass production and marketing of music.

He claimed in an interview to have sold close to a combined total of 200,000 copies of his first three official releases.

Big L

Lamont Coleman better known by his stage name Big L, was an American rapper from Harlem, New York in the early to mid-1990s.

Big L became well known amongst underground hip-hop fans for his freestyling ability and was eventually signed to Colombia Records, where he released his debut album, Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous in 1995.

His second album, The Big Picture, was put together by Coleman’s manager, Rich King, and released posthumously in 2000 through Coleman’s independent label, Flamboyant Records.

Big L who was born on May 30, 1974, was on February 15, 1999, shot 9 times and killed by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting in his hometown of Harlem.

He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most lyrical rappers of all time noted for his use of wordplay.

Ghostface Killah

Dennis Coles better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah is an American rapper and member of the Wu-Tang Clan.

Ghostface Killah debuted his solo-career with Ironman in 1996, which was well received by music critics. He has continued his success over the following years with critically acclaimed albums such as Supreme Clientele (2000) and Fishscale (2006).

He is the founder of his own label Starks Enterprises. He is critically acclaimed for his loud fast-paced flow and his emotional stream-of-consciousness narratives containing cryptic slang and non-sequiturs.

In 2006, MTV included him on their honourable mention list of The Greatest MCs of All Time, while the editors of About.com placed him on their list of the Top 50 MCs of Our Time (1987–2007), calling him “one of the most imaginative storytellers of our time.” Q magazine called him “rap’s finest storyteller.”

Pitchfork Media stated that “Ghostface has unparalleled storytelling instincts; he might be the best, most colourful storyteller rap has ever seen.” NPR called him “a compulsive storyteller”, and asserted, “His fiction is painterly.”