The Groove

The greatest boom bap artists of all time

21 artists ranked by the Groove — music.nw’s own measure of renown. Not an opinion, a fact computed from the record. Why?

No. 1

Wu‐Tang Clan

United States of America · 1992– · hip hop

5.520

Why this number?

The full board

Nas

United States of America · 1973– · hip hop 3.414

Eminem

United States of America · 1972– · hip hop 2.762

4 A Tribe Called Quest

United States of America · 1985–2017 · hip hop 2.630

5 The Notorious B.I.G.

United States of America · 1972–1997 · hip hop 1.745

JAY‐Z

United States of America · 1969– · hip hop 1.226

7 Mobb Deep 1993–2017 · hip hop 1.148

8 GZA/Genius

United States of America · 1966– · east coast hip hop 0.980

9 MF DOOM

United States of America · 1971–2020 · hip hop 0.873

10 Fugees

United States of America · 1992– · hip hop 0.767

11 Joey Bada$$

United States of America · 1995– · hip hop 0.667

12 Doechii

United States of America · 1998– · hip hop 0.607

13 Raekwon

United States of America · 1970– · hip hop 0.548

14 Cypress Hill

United States of America · 1988– · hip hop 0.547

15 Arrested Development

United States of America · 1988– · hip hop 0.533

J. Cole

United States of America · 1985– · hip hop 0.468

Beastie Boys

United States of America · 1979–2014 · hip hop 0.399

18 Onyx

United States of America · 1989– · hip hop 0.300

19 The Pharcyde

United States of America · 1989– · hip hop 0.289

20 Big L

United States of America · 1974–1999 · hip hop 0.280

21 Eric B. & Rakim

United States of America · 1986–1992 · hip hop 0.225