Kool G Rap

No other MC would do more to define New York's version of gangsta-isms than Kool G Rap. Known as much for his machine-gunned delivery as for his trademark lisp, the Queens emcee had been flirting with the sound since his earliest recordings: "Rikers Island," a survey of life in New York City's notorious jail, and "Road To The Riches," a hard-as-Kevlar cautionary tale about the life of a drug dealer. On 1990's "Wanted Dead Or Alive," from the album of the same name, he finally went all-out gangsta mode. Following it with classics like "Ill Street Blues" and "On The Run" from his third LP, "Live And Let Die, G Rap spun crime tales that would've given Scorsese a run for his money and almost single-handedly spawned a sub-subgenre called "Mafioso" rap.