Kanye West, Common and Twista have been left off a viral Mount Rushmore of Chicago rappers which has sent Twitter in full debate mode.
On Tuesday (January 17), rap blog Raphousetv2 shared a Photoshopped image of its picks for a Mount Rushmore to represent the Windy City’s rap scene. Featuring G Herbo, King Von, Chief Keef and Lil Durk, the post’s caption read: “Is this Chicago/Chiraq Rap Mt.Rushmore Valid?”
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Replies immediately starting pouring in, noting that Chicago heavyweights like Ye, Twista, Common, Lupe Fiasco and more were missing.
“You would need to do an older / newer generation Mt. Rushmore. Because no Ye, Common, Twista & Lupe is nuts,” Fakeshoredrive‘s Andrew Barber responded. “Also people gotta stop acting like Chance doesn’t belong on this.”
“Nah, thats the drill scene,” another Twitter user responded. “real one is Ye, Common, Lupe Fiasco & Twista.”
“I don’t care if Kanye says he wants to own slaves, we’re not gonna just dismiss his entire body of work. Side note: does G-Herbo even have a hit song???” read another tweet.
Both Common and Twista were instrumental in putting Chicago’s music scene on the map in the 1990s. The latter popularized the chopper-style of rapping – even once holding the Guinness World Record for fastest English-speaking rapper in the world in 1992 with 598 syllables in 55 seconds.
Common took a more conscious route, gaining critical acclaim for his vivid storytelling in his lyricism in his 1994 sophomore album, Resurrection. He’s gone on to win multiple accolades in both music and film, including Grammys, a Golden Globe award and an Academy award.
And at the same time, a then-burgeoning Kanye West was making beats for both rappers along with a host of others, before going on to become one of the world’s best-selling music artists with over 160 million records sold. He’s won 22 Grammy Awards and 75 nominations, tying with Jay-Z for the most Grammy awards of any rap artist.
The three are pioneers in the Chicago rap scene, ushering in the drill class that followed which was arguably led by Chief Keef.
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While the viral tweet of the city’s Mount Rushmore could be considered blasphemous to some, it may be considered accurate if it was meant to solely represent the drill scene.
See more replies to the Mount Rushmore debate below: