My wife didn’t know until about two weeks ago that “Regulate” was by Warren G (and Nate Dogg)…she thought it was Snoop. She lives 90’s hip hop, but I give her a pass because she has lived in the US for only the past 14 years.
The debate boils down to Nas, Biggie, and Wu Tang on one side versus Death Row (including Tupac). The younger me (growing up in a redneck suburb of Raleigh) was West Coast til I die, with the beats and sounds definitely more catchy with better hooks; the mellower, older, and grumpier version of me calls it a toss up, with the lo-fi, grittier east coast stuff hitting different (never liked Jay-Z or anything Diddy-related, except Biggie).
And then there’s the Midwest, with Kid Cudi those thugs representing E. 99 (Bizzy, Layzie, Krayzie, Wish, and Flesh-n-Bone), with Chicago coming in very strong with Kanye, Lupe, Common, and Chance and Eminem bringing that Detroit combustion. The Midwest rappers bring the most intelligent lyrics to the whole game, and it’s not especially close.
Donald Glover (Childish Gambino) is amazing. Drake is incredibly overrated (anybody calling him the GOAT rapper needs to do better).
With regard to the ACC, (Duke v. UNCheat) > (Stanford v. Cal), and anybody thinking the latter is a better rivalry needs to do better.