The best rapper from all 50 states

West Virginia

Artist – Mini Thin

Years Active – 2009?

Notable Track – Hillbilly Murda

Sample Rhyme:

See I gotta be real

Can’t come fake on this track

When you see Mini Thin the whole state’s on his back

I got love for you cats whether you white or you black

And I’ll murder whoever don’t put my state on the map

—

There’s something to be said for embracing the labels others apply to you and rolling with them. In some ways, that is a core concept of rap culture. True to the culture he’s adopted, Mini Thin does just that.

West Virginia’s stuck in a strange place both geographically and culturally. Crammed between historic north and south, and so dependent on the coal it mines that it has at times in its history resembled a feudal state.

Straddling the Appalachians as it does, many residents of West Virginia have (unfairly) been labeled as hillbillies, when in fact that pejorative could just as easily be applied to residents of Virginia, Ohio, Maryland or Kentucky.

Mini Thin revels in the hillbilly label, using it as a jumping off point to defend his state and prove just how hard he’s repping it. He can be forgiven if he veers a bit too hard toward rap stereotypes that might not entirely apply to life in his home state.

Next: Wisconsin