The five greatest rappers of all time, according to Idris Elba

Posted On January 25, 2026January 25, 2026

At this point, were you to find yourself aboard any form of public transport only to look over and spot Idris Elba sitting anywhere near you, you’d be well within your rights to either pull an emergency cord or just politely tell someone you’d like to get off now, please. 

As if one season of the brilliant Apple TV series Hijack wasn’t enough, with Elba getting stuck on a passenger plane being piloted by gun-toting psychos doing even worse things to the airline industry than Michael O’Leary has, he’s now back for more of the same in season two, albeit much closer to the ground.

This time, it’s a train he has to try to safely bring to a standstill without everyone on it getting pancaked, but let’s face it, if there’s anyone who has proved capable in pretty much any kind of situation, then it’s Elba. After all, he is the man who, aside from being an A-list actor with six Golden Globe nominations under his belt for shows like Luther, has also taken on intensive kickboxing training, resulting in a pro fight, which he won, back in 2016.

As if that weren’t enough, he’s also invested in a motorsport team, a Formula E outfit called Kiro Race Co, and worked with the UK government to combat knife crime, acting as an ambassador and setting up a foundation. Plus, another of Elba’s true passions is music, and he’s been a rapper, a singer, and he performs under the name DJ Big Driis, appearing on albums as notable as Jay-Z’s American Gangster and Pharoah Monch’s W.A.R in 2011. 

So it’s fair to say he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to hip-hop, and in picking out his favourite five rappers of all time, he showed a breadth of knowledge and eras that you might well expect from someone who has been involved in the industry for 20 years or so. 

The first name he went with was Biggie Smalls, AKA the Notorious B.I.G. and a man who left a mark on hip hop that’s been unrivalled ever since. He won countless awards in his short life, and his posthumous double album Life After Death topped the charts around the globe, getting certified diamond in the US. Tragically, he was killed at just 24 in 1997. 

Next up Elba went with the aforementioned HOV himself, Mr Jay-Z, a man who since founding Roc-A-Fella records back in 1994 in order to release his first two albums has gone on to be possibly the biggest name in rap history, releasing 11 albums, selling 140million records, and becoming the first living rapper to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

Thirdly, Elba went with J Cole, the first artist to be signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label and a man who has topped the Billboard 200 with each of his album releases, all of which have since gone platinum. He’s also an influential producer, working with artists including Kendrick Lamar and Janet Jackson.

Fourth on Elba’s list was Nas, the legendary East Coast rapper who dominated the 1990s with a string of acclaimed albums, including Illmatic and It Was Written. With ten gold, platinum and multi-platinum albums under his belt over thirty years, Nas is often cited as one of rap’s greatest ever lyricists and co-founded a label that signed artists including Run the Jewels and Swizz Beatz. 

Finally, Elba went with one of modern rap’s founding fathers, Rakim, the man who along with Eric B made one of the most important records of all time in the form of 1987’s Paid in Full when he was staggeringly only 19 years old. Hailing from New York, Rakim is a rapper of almost immeasurable influence on those who came after him, changing the way MCs delivered lines of lyrics and making them far more complex than had previously been witnessed.

Elba, meanwhile, will be seen this year in the new Masters of the Universe reboot as Man-At-Arms, and is also going to voice Knuckles in Sonic the Hedgehog 4. 

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