Mooney
Moon for Short
Welcome to the King of New York, a borough-by-borough breakdown of every rapper who’s worn the crown. Before we dive in, let's lay some ground rules.
Rule No. 1: We’re tracing the lineage of kings in four of New York City’s five boroughs: The Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan (particularly Harlem).
Rule No. 2: Three New York rap hotbeds did not make the cut: 1) Staten Island (passing the crown between Wu-Tang members is not entertaining), 2) Long Island (while Strong Island produced four kings in the ‘80s—Rakim, Public Enemy’s Chuck D, EPMD’s Eric Sermon, and De La Soul—the throne has been vacant for nearly 30 years), and 3) Yonkers (DMX, The Lox, and nobody else).
Rule No. 3: The “King of the Bronx/Queens/Brooklyn/Harlem” crown is given to the rapper who owned their respective borough that year based on a combination of three factors: Musical quality, impact on borough, city, culture, and commercial success.
Rule No. 4: A defending king only loses the crown if they a) stop producing quality work, or b) get blown out of the water by another MC; so, just like in boxing, the crown can change hands in the same year—multiple times, at any given point.
Rule No. 5: For the majority of New York MCs, their borough is clear cut—Biggie is from Brooklyn and Nas is from Queens—but several aren’t so cut and dry. To keep things buttoned up, let’s agree on the following: Prodigy and LL Cool J rep Queens (despite spending much of their childhoods in Long Island); Busta Rhymes and Biz Markie rep Long Island (despite being born in Brooklyn and Harlem, respectively).
With all of that being said, let's jump in.
The Bronx may have created it, to paraphrase KRS-One, but Brooklyn took hip-hop and transformed it into one of the country’s greatest exports. BK boasts the highest concentration of talented rappers in all of New York—if not the entire world. Given that Brooklyn is, by population (2.6 million residents), the biggest borough in New York City, this is hardly surprising. But that doesn’t make it any less impressive.
Over the last 30 years, BK has produced superstars at an alarming rate across its various neighborhoods, particularly Bed-Stuy (Big Daddy Kane, Biggie, Jay-Z, Fabolous, among others), Brownsville (GZA, AZ, Masta Ace), Fort Greene (Mos Def, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Talib Kweli), and East Flatbush (MC Lyte, Joey Bada$$, Bobby Shmurda).
However, only a handful of Brooklyn-bred rappers have seized the throne. Without further ado, here’s who’s held the King of Brooklyn Title Belt every year since 1988—the year that saw the rise of the borough’s first superstar MC.
Rule No. 1: We’re tracing the lineage of kings in four of New York City’s five boroughs: The Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan (particularly Harlem).
Rule No. 2: Three New York rap hotbeds did not make the cut: 1) Staten Island (passing the crown between Wu-Tang members is not entertaining), 2) Long Island (while Strong Island produced four kings in the ‘80s—Rakim, Public Enemy’s Chuck D, EPMD’s Eric Sermon, and De La Soul—the throne has been vacant for nearly 30 years), and 3) Yonkers (DMX, The Lox, and nobody else).
Rule No. 3: The “King of the Bronx/Queens/Brooklyn/Harlem” crown is given to the rapper who owned their respective borough that year based on a combination of three factors: Musical quality, impact on borough, city, culture, and commercial success.
Rule No. 4: A defending king only loses the crown if they a) stop producing quality work, or b) get blown out of the water by another MC; so, just like in boxing, the crown can change hands in the same year—multiple times, at any given point.
Rule No. 5: For the majority of New York MCs, their borough is clear cut—Biggie is from Brooklyn and Nas is from Queens—but several aren’t so cut and dry. To keep things buttoned up, let’s agree on the following: Prodigy and LL Cool J rep Queens (despite spending much of their childhoods in Long Island); Busta Rhymes and Biz Markie rep Long Island (despite being born in Brooklyn and Harlem, respectively).
With all of that being said, let's jump in.
The Bronx may have created it, to paraphrase KRS-One, but Brooklyn took hip-hop and transformed it into one of the country’s greatest exports. BK boasts the highest concentration of talented rappers in all of New York—if not the entire world. Given that Brooklyn is, by population (2.6 million residents), the biggest borough in New York City, this is hardly surprising. But that doesn’t make it any less impressive.
Over the last 30 years, BK has produced superstars at an alarming rate across its various neighborhoods, particularly Bed-Stuy (Big Daddy Kane, Biggie, Jay-Z, Fabolous, among others), Brownsville (GZA, AZ, Masta Ace), Fort Greene (Mos Def, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Talib Kweli), and East Flatbush (MC Lyte, Joey Bada$$, Bobby Shmurda).
However, only a handful of Brooklyn-bred rappers have seized the throne. Without further ado, here’s who’s held the King of Brooklyn Title Belt every year since 1988—the year that saw the rise of the borough’s first superstar MC.
