1999 thru 2003: Eminem (other favs: Jay-Z, OutKast)
As an 11 year old white kid from middle class suburbia in 1999, my obvious first favorite rapper was Eminem. He was *the* guy for me as I got into hip hop and traversed mostly the rap played on the radio/MTV.

2004 thru 2007: Talib Kweli (other favs: Kanye, Black Thought (Roots), Mos Def, Lupe Fiasco)
Eminem led me to The Roots via his Grammy performance, and The Roots led me to OKP and all the associated rappers/popular artists here. Talib was my guy though. Bought Quality after enjoying his verses on Phrenology and The College Dropout and was highly anticipating The Beautiful Struggle. This was the time period that I really started to branch out but Talib was always an instant check when it came to projects and guest spots.

2008 thru 2010: Brother Ali (other favs: Slug, Black Milk, Drake)
Finishing up my trek through the underground before finally coming up for air in the mainstream and catching up on acts I had previously ignored, as well as getting super into So Far Gone era Drake (something I will *not* apologize for)

2011 thru 2015: Kendrick Lamar (other favs: Big K.R.I.T, Kanye West, Oddisee)
I still remember listening to Section.80 for the first time in the parking lot of a train station waiting to pick someone up. And the month before that hearing "HiiiPower" for the first time. The fact that he exceeded the ridiculous expectations I had for gkmc still amazes me. KRIT and Oddisee were untouchable rapper/producers, and Ye had a renaissance with MBDTF and stole the show on WTT)

2016 thru 2018: No definitive #1, one of Lupe Fiasco, ScHoolboy Q, Royce da 5'9", J. Cole

2019 thru 2020: Toss up between Freddie Gibbs and Benny the Butcher (other favs: Conway the Machine, J. Cole, Rapsody, Lupe Fiasco)