Rap is a genre of music that can’t be overlooked when talking about Nigeria music industry. When talking about the music genre “Rap” in Nigeria music industry, there are some rappers worthy of mention. These rappers have taken Nigeria music industry to the next level with their songs topping both Local and International charts on a regular basis. Let take a look at the list of top 10 best rappers in Nigeria.
Top 10 Best Rappers in Nigeria.
Below is the list of the Top 10 best rappers in Nigeria.
10. Erigga.
Erhiga Agarivbie ( born 30 March 1987 ) better known by his stage name Erigga, is one of the best rappers in Nigeria. Erigga began his music career in early 2010 and his first musical release was “Mo Street Gan”.
In 2017, Erigga released his album “A trip to the South” which features popular musicians like Orezi, Skales, and Ducan Mighty.
Erigga’s hit single “motivation” earned him a nomination from The headies award under the category of “best street-hop artiste”. This song has gained over a million views on YouTube
Erigga released his highly anticipated project “The Erigma 2” Album, which has 18 tracks with guest appearances from Victor AD, Zlatan, Magnito, MI Abaga, Ice prince, Vector and others.
He also has few nominations from The Headies Award.
9. Illbliss.
Illbliss is a Nigerian rapper, business man and actor. He is also one of the best rappers in Nigeria who is widely known for rapping with his native language, Igbo. He is signed under Capital Hills record label and he is also the owner of a talent managing company known as “The Goretti”.
Illbliss is popularly called Oga Boss because of his hit single “Oga Boss” which was released in 2012.
He has several nominations from Soundcity Music Video Awards (SMVA) and The Headies.
8. Ycee.
Oludemilade Martin Alejo (born January 29, 1993), professionally known as Ycee is also one of the best rappers in Nigeria. He gained popularity after his single “Condo” which features Patoranking, earned him two nominations from Nigeria Entertainment Awards in 2015.
Ycee started his music career in 2012 as an underground rapper and was signed by Tinny Entertainment.
On 20 July 2015, he released the hit single “Jagaban” which earned him the attention of Nigeria rapper Olamide, who later asked to be featured on the remix.
Ycee has released other hit singles like Juice, Omo Alhaji, Something light and more.
He has won several awards from The Headies, Afrima, Soundcity MVP and other notable awards.
Read also: Top 10 Best musicians in Nigeria 2021.
7. Reminisce.
Remilekun Abdulkhalid Safari (born 26 January 1981), known by his stage names Reminisce and Alaga Ibile, is a Nigerian musician, rapper,record label and actor. He performs in both English language and his native language, Yoruba.
Reminisce is popularly known for his hit singles Daddy mi (featuring Davido) and Eleniyan (featuring Wizkid).
He is signed to Edge Records and he is also the founder of LRR records.
Reminisce’s first album, Book of Rap Stories was released on 31 March 2012. His second album, Alaga Ibile was officially released on 15 November 2013. Baba Hafusa, his third album was released in 2015. Vibes and Insha Allah EP was released in July 2020 during the Covid 19 Pandemic.
His song titled “Local Rapper” which was released in 2015, which he featured Olamide and Phyno is his most controversial music, and is said that the song was released to trash one of the best rappers in Nigeria, M.I. Abaga.
Reminisce has other hit singles such as Oja, Problem, Ponmile, Instagram and If E no be God.
Reminisce is definitely one of the best rappers in Nigeria who have earned himself nominations and awards from The Headies under the category of Best Rap artiste.
6. Vector.
Olanrewaju Ogunmefun, better known by his stage name Vector, is a Nigerian rapper and Songwriter.
He has released several albums including State of surprise and The Second Coming ( released in 2012). Lafiaji, his third Studio album was released in December 2016. In November 2019, his fourth studio album, Vibes Before Teslim: A Journey to Self-Discovery, was released.
He is also known as the rapper with “the longest freestyle rap in Nigeria”.
In 2020, vector released two projects which are Teslim and “The African Mind” EP.
Vector was in a rap supremacy battle with M.I. Abaga, one of the best rappers in Nigeria and has released diss trackers such as “The Purge” and also Judas the Rat, which was a response to M.I’s Tha Viper. On 25 March 2021, Vector and M.I released a single “Crown of Clay” which marked the end of their battle.
Vector has multiple nominations and awards from notable awards like The Headies and Soundcity MVP awards.
Read also: Most popular musicians in UK.
5. Ice Prince.
Panshak Henry Zamani (born 30 October 1984) better known as Ice Prince, is a Nigerian rapper and Songwriter. Ice Prince Zamani is another best rapper in Nigeria who was signed under the record label Chocolate City. He rose to fame after releasing “Oleku”, one of Nigeria’s most remixed songs of all time in 2009.
Ice Prince is one of the few popular Northern Artistes, who hailed from Minna, Niger State and he started rapping as early as in 1999 as a student. Ice Prince and some of his friends formed the “ECOMOG Squad” in 2002, but split after a year.
His debut album “Everybody loves Ice Prince” was released in 2011, it was supported by three singles: Oleku, superstar and Juju. In 2013, Ice Prince released Fire of Zamani as his second studio album and his third album “Jos to the World” was released in 2016. He also released EPs like Trash can (2015) and Cold (2018).
Ice Prince has won himself awards like Headies, City people Entertainment Award under the category of “Best Rap Artiste of the year”. He was also nominated as Best International Africa Act in Bet Awards (2012).
4. Phyno.
Chibuzor Nelson Azubike (born 9 October, 1986) better known as Phyno Fino is a Nigerian rapper, singer, songwriter and music producer. Phyno is definitely one of the best rappers in Nigeria, who started his music career as a producer in 2003 and he is renowned for rapping in Igbo language.
In 2012, Phyno gained popularity in the Nigeria music industry with his hit single “Ghost mode” featuring Olamide.
His debut studio album “No Guts No Glory” was released in 2014 under sputnet records and the album contained hit singles: Ghost mode, Man of the Year, Parcel and O set. His Second album “The play maker” was released in 2016 and his third album “Deal with it” was released in 2019.
Phyno also has a collaborative album with Olamide titled “2 Kings”,which was released on 1 April 2015.
Both Olamide and Phyno are considered one of the best rappers in the Nigeria, and there has always been a debate on who’s a better rap artiste between Olamide and Phyno.
Phyno has won a lot of awards like The Headies, Nigeria Entertainment Award, City People Entertainment Award and MTV Africa Music Awards.
3. Falz.
Folarin Falana (born October 27,1990) known by his stage name “Falz” is a Nigerian rapper, Songwriter and an award winning Actor who began his career while in secondary school after forming a group called “The School Boys” with his friends, before his professional career as a music artiste began in 2009 with the release of Shakara:The mixtape.
Falz became more well-known after releasing the song “Marry Me” featuring Yemi Alade in 2014.
He own an independent record label Bahd Guys Records. He released his debut album Wazup Gut in 2014. His second album “stories that touch” was released in 2015. He released “27” in 2017 and his fourth studio album “Moral instruction”, which is his most popular music project was released in 2019.
He also has a collaborative EP “Chemistry” with singer Simi which was released in 2016.
Falz is also widely known for talking about the hustle and suffering of Nigerians via his rap songs like This is Nigeria ( which was inspired by Childish Gambino’s “This is America”), Talk, Hypocrite and Child of the World.
Falz have been nominated in notable awards like Headies, and Afrima under the category of Best Rap Act.
2. Olamide.
Olamide Gbenga Adedeji (born 15 March 1989), known professionally as Olamide is a Nigerian rapper, singer and Songwriter.
He records most of his songs in his native language, Yoruba and mixed with pidgin language.
Olamide became famous after he released “Eni Duro” in 2010. In 2011, he released his debut studio album “Rapsodi”, while signed to Coded Tunes and the album’s lead single “Omo to Shan” charted on several radio stations in Nigeria. YBNL, his follow-up album was released under his record label YBNL in November 2012.
The YBNL boss is widely known for bringing artistes into limelight. Artistes such as Lil kesh, Adekunle Gold, Viktoh,Temmie Ovwasa, Chinko Ekun, and Fireboy.
Even though it is often argued that Olamide has switched to singing, his album “Carpe Diem” which was released on 8 October, 2020 proved that Olamide is still a Rap boss.
Olamide has won a lot of notable awards like Afrima, MTV Africa Music Award, The Headies, and City People Entertainment Awards under various categories: Best Rap Artiste, Best Artiste, and many more.
1. M.I. Abaga.
Jude Abaga (born 4 October 1981) professionally known as M.I. Abaga tops the list of the top 10 best rappers in Nigeria.
The North hailed artiste rose to fame in 2006 when his song “Crowd Mentality” became popular in Jos, Nigeria.
The former Chocolate City Record label boss raps fluently with English language and his music flow is described as “full of punchlines”. Those who know M.I have also compared his music style to that of Kanye West and Jay Z.
M.I is often compared with vector and it was rumoured that his single “Tha Viper” was released to trash vector. However, Vector ended the beef with M.I and featured him in his song “Crown of Clay”, which was released in 2021.
MI has been responsible for bringing out many artistes such as Jesse Jagz, which is his brother, Ice Prince and Blaq bones.
MI has done a lot to bring a Northern presence to the Nigeria music industry.
M.I. Abaga has won notable awards like best hip-hop and best new act at the 2009 MTV Africa Music Award, and was also nominated in the Best International Act category at BET Awards 2010.