The American rapper, producer, and actor Antonio Hardy (born September 10, 1968), better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, started his career in 1986 as a member of the Juice Crew. He is considered one of hip-hop’s most influential and talented MCs. As “a great writer of rap’s late-golden age and a big impact on a generation of MCs,” Rolling Stone named his song “Ain’t No Half-Steppin’” number 25 on their list of The 50 Best Hip-Hop Tracks of All Time.
Big Daddy Kane is recognized as one of the most important and accomplished rappers of the golden age. On MTV’s list of the “Greatest MCs of All Time,” he came in at number seven. In Kool Moe Dee’s book There’s a God on the Mic: The Real 50 Greatest MCs, he is ranked No. 4. He was ranked third on the “Top 50 MCs of Our Time” list by About.com, while RZA named him as one of the “Top 5 finest MCs” in his list. He was voted No. 8 on The Source’s list of the “Best 50 Lyricists of All Time” in 2012. According to AllMusic, “his best material ranks among the finest hip-hop of its era, and his sex-drenched persona was enormously influential on countless future would-be players,” calling him “one of rap’s major talents,” “an enormously talented battle MC,” with “near-peerless technique,” “first-rate technique,” and “first-rate rhyming skills,” adding that he “had the sheer verbal facility and razor-clean dexter He is referred to as “one of the true greatest emcees ever” and “one of the most imitated emcees ever in the game” by Kool Moe Dee.