5. Kanye West

Another exception to the rule, Kanye Westis as musically talented as a person can come. Sadly, I don’t think Kanye would have gotten an opportunity to do anything but produce had Biggie stuck around. It would have been inevitable for Jay-Z and Notorious to collaborate more and more as they grew closer, and Jay-Z wouldn’t have needed a little brother in Kanye tagging alongside him and aspiring to reach his level of lyricism. Kanye would have gone down in history as one of the greatest producers ever, though, and that’s got to count for something.

4. Lil Wayne

Lil Wayne has what some would consider to be an impressive body of work. That said, he would have had no chance of surviving alongside the likes of Big or Pac, regardless of how much of a STAN he is. For starters, he became rich at a very young age due to his affiliation with Cash Money Records — which makes one wonder why he had the need to sell all these drugs and shoot all these people in his lyrics. He also finds it normal to wear skin-tight women’s pants while publicly making out with his adoptive father Birdman. And the only time he was wounded from a firearm was when he shot himself with his own gun. Shameful. Something tells me Pac might have had an unkind word or two to say about some of this stuff.

3. Soulja Boy

You know, Soulja Boy might have been able to launch “Superman Dat Hoe” in the Big and Pac era, but after that it would have been lights out. No “Pretty Boy Swag,” no racing around with Bow Wow in Lambos. He would have been one and done. Funny that he couldn’t even really survive in an environment without Big and Pac to deal with.

2. Rick Ross

Although Ricky Rozay has the modern day rap game on lock, his questionable past as a former correctional officer who locked people behind bars wouldn’t fly in the age of credibility. I mean, just think of it for a second: Tupac featuring Rick Ross? Never. Ross is the definition of a fraud, albeit a talented one. I have a couple of his albums, and I enjoyed some of his mixtapes. The guy paints incredibly vivid pictures about a world he knows absolutely nothing about. God, I hate myself right now.

1. Nicki Minaj

I really don’t understand why Nicki Minaj is famous. I don’t say that to be disrespectful or sarcastic. Take Kim Kardashian: she is famous for a reason — and regardless of how super raunchy and triple-X-rated that reason may be, it still counts (sort of). Nicki Minaj, on the other hand…I don’t know; I really can’t call it. Where is the market for people who like to listen to a grown woman ramble in a weird, non-melodic baby voice that sporadically ascends to a tantrum throughout her verses? Needless to say, if Biggie were still around to write Lil Kim’s verses, the Queen B might have had the ammo she needed to fend off newcomers trying to seize her throne, and I wouldn’t attempt to kill myself every time Minaj comes on the radio.

RIP to Big and Pac. The game will never be that awesome again.

Nick James, B*tch