No. 8: Big Daddy Kane

Antonio Hardy's reign at the top of the hip-hop world probably didn't last as long as it should have. But for that too-brief period when Big Daddy Kane was at his best, he was completely unfuckwithable.

After rising up through the underground ranks in the mid-1980s, hooking up with the Juice Crew and writing rhymes for his friend Biz Markie, Kane blew up in 1988 with his debut LP, Long Live The Kane. Tracks like "Ain't No Half Steppin" — along with a memorable anchor leg on Marley Marl's "The Symphony" — immediately solidified his reputation as one of the best rhymers around.

With his follow-up, It's A Big Daddy Thing, Kane actually made a strong case for supplanting Rakim as the best emcee on the planet. His ability to spit clever, rapid-fire rhymes (despite asthma) along with his rare ability to appeal equally to both sexes made him a star but also helped him maintain his respect.

Kane held the crown for a while...but not quite long enough.

Guys wanted to be down with him, and girls wanted to go down on him. At the time, only LL Cool J could make a similar claim...and he couldn't appeal to both on the same song the way Kane did on "I Get The Job Done," one of the most complete hip-hop songs ever made. With a delivery that managed to be hard and smooth at the same time, Kane effortlessly delivers lines full of bedroom braggadocio and intricate rhyme schemes:

A champ like Tyson a captain like Kirk
No, employee of the month, 'cause yo/I do work
The K-A-N-E is on the J-O-B/an expert
'Cause I get it D-O-N-E...

In the early 1990s, though, Kane saw his albums starting to generate less and less buzz. Still, he remained the go-to guy for movie soundtracks, providing jewels for the movies Lean On Me and Juice. His effort for the latter, "'Nuff Respect," might have been his last real stab at remaining on the top of the rap world. From there, it went downhill incredibly quickly.

(Sadly, his most noteworthy achievement to many younger fans might be that he gave Jay-Z his first major-label action on 1994's "Show And Prove.")

For a stretch of at least two years during hip-hop's greatest stretch, Big Daddy Kane was almost indisputably the number one emcee in the world. If only he could have kept it going a little longer...