The Greatest Conscious Rappers of All Time

Conscious rap been a force since the ’80s, when real MCs started speaking truth over dope beats. It goes way beyond sick flows – these cats drop knowledge bombs, sparkin’ change in the streets and in your mind.

The legends who built this – Immortal Technique spittin’ that revolutionary fire; Brother Ali with soul and social awareness; Killer Mike droppin’ truth about politics; and Talib Kweli forever fightin’ for what’s right. Then you got heavyweights like Black Thought, droppin’ deep wisdom, and Mos Def, the real all-rounder. These are the OGs of conscious rap, their words changed the game and still ring true today.

The most streamed Conscious Hip Hop artist is Kendrick Lamar with 30.25B streams, which includes 23.56B as lead artist and 6.69B from features, followed by J. Cole (13.48B) and Logic (5.88B).

A top list of Conscious Hip Hop artists in order of streams as lead artist is as follows:

1 Kendrick Lamar: Streams as a lead artist: 23.56B; Streams as a featured artist: 6.69B; Most streamed song of all time: HUMBLE. with 2.20B streams; Most streamed song today: Not Like Us with 10.1M daily streams
2 J. Cole: Streams as a lead artist: 10.55B; Streams as a featured artist: 2.93B; Most streamed song of all time: No Role Modelz with 2.20B streams; Most streamed song today: No Role Modelz with 1.3M daily streams
3 Logic: Streams as a lead artist: 4.72B; Streams as a featured artist: 1.16B; Most streamed song of all time: 1-800-273-8255 with 1.33B streams; Most streamed song today: Sucker for Pain with 303K daily streams
4 Chance the Rapper: Streams as a lead artist: 3.76B; Streams as a featured artist: 4.58B; Most streamed song of all time: I'm the One with 1.25B streams; Most streamed song today: I'm the One with 257K daily streams
5 Ice Cube: Streams as a lead artist: 2.84B; Streams as a featured artist: 12.7M; Most streamed song of all time: It Was A Good Day with 1.11B streams; Most streamed song today: It Was A Good Day with 726K daily streams
6 Nas: Streams as a lead artist: 1.57B; Streams as a featured artist: 843.5M; Most streamed song of all time: Rodeo with 306.1M streams; Most streamed song today: N.Y. State of Mind with 188K daily streams
7 Jay Rock: Streams as a lead artist: 1.38B; Streams as a featured artist: 1.52B; Most streamed song of all time: Money Trees with 1.44B streams; Most streamed song today: Money Trees with 1.5M daily streams
8 Lupe Fiasco: Streams as a lead artist: 1.34B; Streams as a featured artist: 349.0M; Most streamed song of all time: Battle Scars with 373.9M streams; Most streamed song today: Touch The Sky with 238K daily streams
9 Nipsey Hussle: Streams as a lead artist: 1.31B; Streams as a featured artist: 234.6M; Most streamed song of all time: Grinding All My Life with 193.4M streams; Most streamed song today: Grinding All My Life with 72K daily streams
10 A Tribe Called Quest: Streams as a lead artist: 1.28B; Streams as a featured artist: 491K; Most streamed song of all time: Can I Kick It? with 280.0M streams; Most streamed song today: Can I Kick It? with 124K daily streams
11 Vince Staples: Streams as a lead artist: 893.7M; Streams as a featured artist: 284.0M; Most streamed song of all time: Norf Norf with 201.2M streams; Most streamed song today: Norf Norf with 50K daily streams
12 Gang Starr: Streams as a lead artist: 762.0M; Most streamed song of all time: Full Clip with 145.5M streams; Most streamed song today: Work with 72K daily streams
13 The Roots: Streams as a lead artist: 516.5M; Most streamed song of all time: You Got Me with 159.8M streams; Most streamed song today: You Got Me with 79K daily streams
14 Mos Def: Streams as a lead artist: 508.2M; Streams as a featured artist: 151.9M; Most streamed song of all time: Ms. Fat Booty with 240.3M streams; Most streamed song today: Ms. Fat Booty with 113K daily streams
15 Public Enemy: Streams as a lead artist: 358.7M; Most streamed song of all time: Harder Than You Think with 97.4M streams; Most streamed song today: Harder Than You Think with 53K daily streams
16 Common: Streams as a lead artist: 330.6M; Streams as a featured artist: 270.7M; Most streamed song of all time: Make Her Say with 96.2M streams; Most streamed song today: Invocation with 28K daily streams
17 Scarface: Streams as a lead artist: 242.8M; Streams as a featured artist: 38.5M; Most streamed song of all time: Smile with 75.4M streams; Most streamed song today: Smile with 25K daily streams
18 Big K.R.I.T.: Streams as a lead artist: 240.1M; Streams as a featured artist: 173.4M; Most streamed song of all time: 1Train with 129.5M streams; Most streamed song today: 1Train with 45K daily streams
19 Aesop Rock: Streams as a lead artist: 170.6M; Streams as a featured artist: 44.8M; Most streamed song of all time: Preservation with 43.9M streams; Most streamed song today: Preservation with 40K daily streams
20 Killer Mike: Streams as a lead artist: 89.1M; Streams as a featured artist: 812.2M; Most streamed song of all time: Legend Has It with 97.1M streams; Most streamed song today: SCIENTISTS & ENGINEERS with 40K daily streams
21 Queen Latifah: Streams as a lead artist: 61.7M; Streams as a featured artist: 491K; Most streamed song of all time: U.N.I.T.Y. with 37.4M streams; Most streamed song today: U.N.I.T.Y. with 15K daily streams
22 Boogie Down Productions: Streams as a lead artist: 47.7M; Most streamed song of all time: 9mm Goes Bang with 11.2M streams; Most streamed song today: The Bridge Is Over with 7,534.0 daily streams