The hip hop music world has been dominated by one subject this month: the rifts between superstar rappers Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and J. Cole.
After Kendrick seemingly dissed both of his rivals on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That”, J. Cole fired back, clumsily, with the diss track “7 Minute Drill”.
That came after Drake released his eighth album, For All the Dogs, last October, which featured a collaboration with J Cole. called “First Person Shooter”, in which J. Cole suggested they, along with Kendrick, were the ‘Big 3’ of current hip hop.
If Drake, Kendrick, and J. Cole are indeed the ‘Big 3’ in the US, what about here in Australia?
Australian music journalist Ben Madden started a discussion on Twitter/X this week: who would be the first local rapper to claim a spot in the Australian ‘Big 3’?
Suggestions ranged from self-made rapper Kerser, the pioneering performer from Campbelltown with ten albums and 188 million YouTube views, to Western Sydney group ONEFOUR, who recently made waves with their own Netflix documentary showcasing their explosive presence in drill music.
Other possible contenders mentioned were the seminal hip hop trio Hilltop Hoods, Sydney rapper Chillinit, and, of course, The Kid Laroi, who can reasonably claim to be the most famous Australian rapper of his generation.
There are so, so many more rappers who’d have a strong claim to make the trio… Tkay Maidza? J-MILLA? 360? Barkaa? Tasman Keith? Iggy Azalea?!
So, let’s settle this once and for all: cast your vote for who should be considered as one of the ‘Big 3’ Australian rappers below!
