FYI: To liven things up (because it's so quiet out there!), I've decided to provide my overwhelming and omnipotent knowledge to some of today's MCs. They don't get enough attention: too often, people are blaming them for getting kids hooked on drugs, joining gangs, and investing in other vices. But fuck that and fuck them. As Wordsworth says, "Rap is the world's only consciousness/ We rap about everything that Congress miss"
Let's start with the cat who is by far my favorite MC, Common.
Common is as skilled a lyricist out there. He has charisma and energy -- and it hasn't fallen off (i.e. Nas). Electric Circus came with the same power that Can I Borrow a Dollar had. He sure sounds older, wiser -- less homophobic remarks and more expansive considerations of identity and culture -- but he still has a battle mentality, the aggressiveness, the swagger to pull it off.
He's also thematically deeper than Henry David Thoreau, who managed to spend several volumes talking about nature. Among the topics Common has covered in his five albums include: Assata Shakur's heroic narrative, the death and revival of hip hop, having to proceed with abortion, the search for religion, dealing with alcoholism, the meaning of music, race relations, the cityscape, getting robbed, etc.
More so, he's the most clever. He is undoubtedly a thinking human's MC, though that doesn't mean someone who hasn't been to college won't feel him. It's just richer if you've been. He has all these cultural references embedded in his lyrics, they are full of puns and metaphors.
He has worked with Jay Dilla, ?uestlove, James Poyser, Hi-Tek, DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Psycho Les, No ID, etc. His live show and band, A Black Girl Named Becky, have only gotten better.
I would rank his five albums as follows:
1) Resurrection
2) Like Water for Chocolate
3) Electric Circus
4) Can I Borrow a Dollar
5) One Day It'll All Make Sense
One.