Big Daddy Kane, Rakim and Kool G Rap, all 44, were game changers, trailblazers even, but their catalogs get thinner the deeper you move into the '90s.

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"I think that if Lil Wayne is the best rapper alive, that's a slap in the face to not only Jay-Z and Nas rappers we've seen in our own generation but Rakim, Kool G Rap, Ice Cube, so many of the torch carriers who have passed us throughout the era, " Paine says.

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