By Martin A. Berrios
Yeah we’re back once again with your favorite rapper’s favorite column TOP 5 DEAD OR ALIVE. We know some of you were outraged last week with your boy Max B’s picks, but everybody sees the game different. Regardless we still make the world go around.
Up this week we got Corey Gunz. Admit it; he murdered Lil Wayne on his own ish. If you’re still in denial go back to that “A Millie” one more time to see the light. Since then the kid has gained notoriety for ripping down other people’s beats like he bought them. Always spitting something crazy, Corey’s choices shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Jay-Z
Corey Gunz: On the real it's tough for me to narrow it down to five people because so many dudes have influenced me so I don't want to offend anyone. Let me get that out. But I have to go with Jay-Z first and foremost. Being the lyricist he is, the trends he sets in Hip-Hop and how he approached the game. He made a movement. He’s dope. He’s monumental, he’s a lyricist too.
He’s one of the legends. I was raised in a real musical household and I grew up listening to a lot of different stuff. When I first heard Jay it was around Reasonable Doubt, I was around eight [years old] I think? I was attracted at the beats at that age. I was memorizing his sh*t at that age. For him to carry those criminal flows based on sh*t that has more than one meaning; that was unheard of.
Nas
Corey Gunz: I would have to say Esco because he paints pictures with his words. When he spit it you could really feel it. At the same time he is so witty and humble, it goes over your head. Jay is more disrespectful with his approach where Nas is like "I’m your brother but stay in your lane." Like yo he gave us “I Gave You Power”, and “New York State Of Mind”; I could go on [laughs].
[In response to Nas having one foot in the grave when “Takeover” dropped.]
I mean who didn’t think that? I knew Nas was going to come back because I knew his capabilities. But I don’t think anybody in their wildest dreams knew what kind of impact he was going to have when he made “Ether”. For him to come back the way he did after “Take Over” and then he came with a classic right after [Stillmatic].
Eminem
Corey Gunz: I’m a Hip-Hop fan at heart. I’m into lyrics. I don’t care if your name is MC Garbage Pail, if you spitting something crazy, I’m f***ing with you. At the end of the day, Eminem was spitting some bugged out sh*t but it was fire. I also relate to him as an artist, he’s come from a lot. He came up from the grind. I grew up in this game battling but with him it was so much differences with him.
First of all he’s white, him having to go to different hoods and get respect shows he came up from nothing. And bottom line his lyrical abilities, his concepts, his wittiness is crazy. Yo to be honest I know this is going to sound on some real Stan sh*t, which is really not the case. I can’t name one joint that is my favorite from Em’, he has so many joints where he went off.
Big Pun
Corey Gunz: How could I not mention Pun? Like I’m going to keep one hundred with everyone; if you can’t hear Big Pun in my flow then you’re a retard because I’ve grown up listening to that dude. In ’98 I was one of the only dudes on my block pumping his music period. I would be repeating the bars from “Twinz”. I would be repeating number seven off Capital Punishment [“The Dream Shatterer”]:
"Reverse that / I curse at / The first wack n**** with the worst rap / Cuz he ain’t worth jack / Hit 'em with a thousand pounds of pressure per slap / Make his whole body jerk back / Watch the earth crack / Hand his purse back / I’m the first Latin rapper to baffle your skull..."
[In regards to Pun’s passing]
It struck heart and home when Pun passed. My pops and Tariq took it real hard, so did The Bronx as a whole took it hard. He just came off making history, Pun was history walking. That sh*t hit people hard. Him and my dad did a lot of shows, so me going to their shows chilling and meeting him it hit me hard when he died.
& 
Lord Tariq / Jada Kiss
Corey Gunz: I’m not going to lie; my last choice is a tie. It got to be Lord Tariq and Jadakiss. Honestly Tariq has been a big influence to me period. Lyrically he’s ridiculous. He’s so underrated and one of the greatest to touch the microphone. People just haven’t listened to him and paid attention. The streets will say it; the legends will say it too. Tariq recorded with Biggie; dudes overlook that. They did a song together called “Think Big”. Even from when I was in elementary school, Tariq was always putting work in. So dudes don’t pay him respect.
But at the same time my cousin Jay put me onto to The Lox at a very young age. This is before Puff snatched them. Jada is one of the most spit in your face kind of disrespect there is. Honestly he is one of the most consistent sixteen bar spitters; that’s why he’s in my top five. You got to think about it, Jada has always been on point. I’ve never heard him spit something trash. Think about that. I keep my ear to the streets and he’s never spit anything wack.
The Sidebar:
Corey wants to clear up things up about a record recently blasted out that was supposed to be him featuring T-Pain. Mr. Autotune was no where to be found; as it was a reference for another artist that got leaked. So don’t think the son of Peter fakes the funk. In closing Corey felt in a terrible way when Shaq went on stage him asking Kobe how his ass tastes. Pause.