mac dre, tupac, brotha lynch, tech n9ne, ras kass, crooked i, nas, method man, bone thugs...basically cats that are lyrically sharp and still hold it down for real niggas...none of those fake ass dictionary rappers... i also take influence from other genres: rock, metal, jazz, blues, reggae, trance/break beats...if it has a good beat, and i can relate the lyrics (when there are some) i will most likely bump it, dig the hell out of it...and eventually be inspired by it... could say im even influenced by others, who are not known, nor signed...if they aspire to bring hip hop back to what it was when it first emerged into the music scene, theyre most likely to influence my rhyming some way or another...