50 Greatest Rap Groups of All Time: A Kenyan Approach

Previously:

Hip Hop Top 50 Lists: A Kenyan Approach

50 Greatest Female MCs of All Time: A Kenyan Approach

Coming Up:

50 Greatest Rap Albums of All Time

50 Greatest Rap Songs of All Time

50 Greatest Rap Verses of All Time

50 Greatest Hip Hop Collabs of All Time

There are several ingredients to a successful music group. First and foremost, is obviously Talent. Whether the group is all-lyricist, an MC and the DJ, an MC and instrumentalists – however the crew has been put together – the best groups have all members pulling their weight equally. Another vital cog in the group machine is Chemistry. We have borne witness to groups where each MC is undeniably phenomenal on the mic. Yet when they come together, the results are admittedly sub-par. Yaani, it’s less of Voltron and more of Soul Train – in the sense of everyone being more intent on breaking out their best moves with little regard to whoever came before or whoever’s coming after (pause…). To use a WWF (the only REAL wrestling) analogy, anytime a new member gets tagged in, excitement should build for what they are about to unleash. Whether it’s bars or some deft DJ handiwork – or even an infectious call-&-response by a hype man extraordinaire. After all, a group is only as great as the sum of its parts. Think The Legion of Doom or The Rockers (to borrow the tired cliché, if you don’t gerrit, forgerrabourrit)…

For the purposes of this list, ‘group’ includes duos, trios, quartets, even (spoiler alert) 9-man crews. While there are recognized ‘crews’ comprising several groups within them, I have decided to look at musical collectives individually as much as possible. Plus, it must be an actual group; whose journey as a group can be traced. Not just individual artistes finding strength in numbers, friendship, or any other thing that brings humans together, coming together for the obligatory collective album to represent that union – then quickly going their separate ways, until the next one. After all, there are collectives with many groups each bringing a unique dynamic, as well as mediocre (or downright wack) artistes hidden in the shadows cast by the glare of the crew’s brightest luminaries. So, no Juice Crew, Terror Squad, Flipmode Squad, DITC, Ukoo Flani Mau Mau…

As always, let’s chop it up – Who did I criminally leave out? Who would you have placed differently?

Here we go…