"By far the greatest rapper of his era"— Internet reacts as Kendrick Lamar tops Spotify's list of 100 greatest Hip-Hop songs

On May 2, Spotify named Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 song Alright as the number one on the list of 100 greatest hip-hop songs of the streaming era on the platform since its inception. It is part of Spotify’s CLASSICS Catalog Program. This feat comes after Kendrick Lamar’s feud with longtime rival and rapper Drake, whose song God’s Plan earned the number three spot on the list.

In the wake of this, the internet is having a diverse reaction. For instance, an Instagram user with the handle @immnotlisaaa commented under @theshaderoom’s post on the same, calling Kendrick Lamar “by far the greatest rapper of his era.”

A fan calls Kendrick Lamar the greatest rapper of his generation. (Image via Instagram/@immnotlisaaa)

Several others joined in the conversation. While fans of Kendrick Lamar hailed the achievement, those of Drake claimed that it was Spotify’s “conspiracy” as the Toronto native recently signed an Apple Music contract. Here are some of the varied reactions from the comment section of @chartdata’s post on X.

“Kendrick winning everywhere, he literally made a Drake diss a global anthem and dropped the greatest hip-hop song ever. Respect him!!” a person wrote.

“Well deserved,” another person wrote.

“He just… keeps winning,” a K-Dot fan wrote.

“Kendrick on top like always,” one person wrote.

“I’m all for praising Kendrick but this is clearly wrong and most likely biased,” another fan wrote.

“aight I’m convinced there’s a conspiracy going on,” a person wrote.

“Is there a direct connection at Spotify to Kendrick’s team?” an individual asked.

“I can’t tell if these numbers are real anymore or if Spotify is glazing Kendrick since Drake signed that contract Apple lol,” one person wrote.

At the time of writing, the song Alright has over 686 million streams on Spotify and 173 million views on YouTube. K-Dot’s 2017 songs DNA and HUMBLE were also included in the 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs list, at 28 and 16, respectively.

Meanwhile, Cardi B’s Bodak Yellow was the number two song on the list. Lil Uzi Vert and Future grabbed the fourth and fifth spot with their songs XO Tour Llif3 and March Madness, respectively.

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Kendrick Lamar’s Spotify topper was featured on his third studio album

Alright by Kendrick Lamar appeared on the rapper’s third studio album, To Pimp a Butterfly, launched in June 2015 as its fourth single. It revolves around the themes of hope, empowerment, reassurance, and positive affirmations amid personal struggles. The song resonated as an anthem within the Black community following its release and during the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.

The 3-minute 39-second long track featured uncredited vocals in its chorus from Pharell Williams, who co-produced it with Sounwave. Alright also earned Kendrick Lamar four nominations at the 58th Grammy Awards in the categories Song of the Year, Best Music Video, Best Rap Performance, and Best Rap Song. The artist won the latter two.

The song, which was released under the labels Top Dawg, Aftermath, and Interscope, also earned the Video of the Year nomination at the 2016 MTV Video Music Award.

Pharell Williams and Mark Spears also co-wrote the single alongside the Pulitzer winner. In 2019, Alright, which is hailed for its lyrics “But if God got us, then we gon’ be alright,” was named the best song of the 2010s by Pitchfork.

During the halftime show of Super Bowl LVI in February 2022, Kendrick Lamar, along with fellow rappers 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Mary J. Blige, performed the iconic song onstage.