My list is rather long ..Artist whose philosophy, lyrics are contrary to my way of thinking but I find myself just liking.. including the aforementioned Eminem
I also like and a lot The Notorious B.I.G. IMHO his album Ready to die is the best Hip Hop album of all time and to me a true masterpiece... once in a while a Snoop Dog (don't care about the person or his message but ..) . I find myself listening to Guns and Roses again in my car...not much at home ...
Just from an historical perspective.. Jazz was also frowned upon in the beginning... I don't honestly think that what commercial Hip-Hop has now become: a bass laden, misogynistic, bragging formulaic repetition with heavy marketing, focus group-derived tunes and heavy handed studio production will reach the height of jazz but the tendency to look down at hip-hop is a prejudice there is much more to hip-hop and rap than the noise made by its most famous entertainers. Hip-hop is anew direction in music. Music the world over has been influenced by hip-hop.. That includes what we would call "serious" music.