Who Is Your Rap’s MVP of 2025?

The crown doesn't go to the most popular or the most prolific. It goes to the one who owned the year, the one whose work will still be defining 2025 long after the discourse moves on.

When you dig between the dusty relics of the old school rap scene and the glitzy stadium tours, it’s hard not to notice that the art of rapping took a beating, blog posts turned into career eulogies, and chart performance became a measure of a rapper’s personality. One tiny mistake would send a person’s reputation plummeting down the depths of the internet, but a well-timed co-sign could revive the careers of those who had spent years being ignored by the algorithm.

Rap in 2025 is a contact sport, and the top players have been trading blows all year.

The MVP nominees this year come with totally different claims to fame. Some of these nominees have been dropping devastating verses, the slick talk that you’d normally only hear in the backseat of a limo after an award show, while others have locked themselves away in studios and produced the kind of masterpieces that made you re-evaluate the entire discographies of the artists.

Coming out of nowhere and cutting through the noise like a secret that the internet couldn’t contain, a handful of MCs had their voices and cadences making the scene go mad, with their names suddenly everywhere. The only people in this list who’d been consistently successful long enough to be considered legends were selling out shows before some of their contemporaries even knew what they were doing. Some artists were essentially throwing open the gates and dropping features and solo tracks with the kind of swagger that comes from knowing they’ve got something that the world needs, when 2025 rolled around. Others were determined to show that bars still matter, that the art of dense, double-meaning lyrics and overflowing syllables is alive and well and has a ravenous audience.

Coming from a different angle, the hitmakers understood that moving crowds isn’t just about technical ability, it’s about having a feel for what people want to hear before they know they want to hear it. The bond between these artists is dominance. They didn’t get their spot on this list by participating in a popularity contest, they earned it by putting out music that knocked everyone else back on their heels and made people sit up and take notice.

Well-known voting issues come to the forefront, for example, how do you measure the impact of a mixtape that shook up an entire regional scene against an album rollout that completely hijacked the national conversation for weeks, or a year of quietly refining one’s craft against a twelve-month period of planned bedlam that’s had everyone talking about the artist’s name? The five finalists are now set, and the argument will begin.

Who is your rap’s MVP of 2025?

---

Rap MVP List for 2025

2 Chainz
Aasha Marie
Aesop Rock
AJ Suede
AKAI SOLO
Backxwash
Benny the Butcher
Big K.R.I.T.
BigXthaPlug
billy woods
BlackLiq
Blu
Boldy James
Brother Ali
Bronze Nazareth
Bruiser Wolf
Bun B
Cam Be & Neak
Cardi B
Chance the Rapper
Ché Noir
Chester Watson
Chris Patrick
Chuck D
Cise Greeny
clipping.
Clipse
Conway the Machine
The Cool Kids
CRIMEAPPLE
D Smoke
Danny Brown
Dave
De La Soul
Defcee
Deniro Farrar
Doechii
Doja Cat
Domo Genesis
doseone
Earl Sweatshirt
Edo G
Estee Nack
Evidence
Farma G
Fat Ray
Fatboi Sharif
Fly Anakin
Freddie Gibbs
G Herbo
Gabe ‘Nandez
Ghais Guevara
Ghostface Killah
Goya Gumbani
Ho99o9
Hus KingPin
IAMGAWD
ILLPO
Jackie Hill Perry
JID
Joe D
John Glacier
junclassic
Kae Tempest
Kelly Moonstone
Kendrick Lamar
Key Glock
Knowledge the Pirate
Kofi Stone
Kojey Radical
Larry June
Lecrae
Leikeli47
Little Simz
Lloyd Banks
Locksmith
Loyle Carner
Lukah
Marco Plus
MAVI
Maxo
McKinley Dixon
Mick Jenkins
MIKE
Mike Shabb
Miles Cooke
Mobb Deep
Monaleo
Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire
Nas
Navy Blue
Nick Grant
Niontay
Open Mike Eagle
Papo2oo4
PARTYOF2
Pink Siifu
Playboi Carti
PremRock
Queen Herawin
R.A.P. Ferreira
Radamiz
Raekwon
Ransom
Ray Vaughn
redveil
Reuben Vincent
RJ Payne
Roc Marciano
Rome Streetz
RoyKinsey
Saba
Saigon
Sækyi
Shane Eagle
ShrapKnel
$ilkMoney
Sleep Sinatra
Smif-n-Wessun
Sol ChYld
Tawobi
Termanology
THERAVADA
Tomorrow Kings
Ty Farris
Tyler, the Creator
UFO Fev
Vic Spencer
Von Pea
Wale
Westside Gunn
Wildchild
Willie the Kid
Wiz Khalifa
Wretch 32
Yugen Blakrok
YUNGMORPHEUS
YoungBoy Never Broke Again
Z-Trip
ZEKEULTRA