South African rapper Kid X has named the South African hip-hop artists he considers his favourite rappers of all time, a list that stops at nine names and leans heavily toward acts that entered the scene before him.
Asked to name a top 10, Kid X said the list was “in no particular order.” The nine artists he named were:
He described Skwatta Kamp, Teargas, Zubs, Proverb, ProKid, Stogie T and HHP as “foundational” to his appreciation of South African hip-hop. He praised Morafe as a veteran emcee whose impact he admired, and mentioned the late AKA while briefly weighing whether to include a newer name before stopping at nine.
A list rooted in the old school
As he worked through the names, Kid X acknowledged the selection was weighted toward earlier generations.
“It’s looking all OG,” he said.
He said the list was not meant as a definitive ranking, but as recognition of rappers whose work he studied and respected.
“That’s from a rapper perspective,” he explained. “These are the guys that I look up to.”
The standard before his rise
Kid X said his choices were influenced by writing ability and the standards those artists set before he entered the scene.
“From a pen perspective, these are the guys that, yeah, I really studied a lot of their work,” he said.
He noted that every artist he named had come into the game before him.
“In fact, all of those guys came in before me,” he said.
Rather than focusing on popularity, he said the list highlights lyricism, longevity and contribution to South African hip-hop.
“These are the people who I look at and say, yo, okay, that’s the standard,” he said.
