Common is unarguably one of hip hop’s best rappers. Yet when it comes to the best rapper alive, the Grammy-award winning artist says Nas is his favorite.

Speaking on MSNBC's Morning Joe, the Chicago-rapper says of the Queens Bridge MC, “Nas is so poetic with it. I feel like his lyrics, you could write it down on paper and they would last for time like literature.”

When asked how he feels about being called a “socially conscious rapper,” he says he initially didn’t like it but does now. “To me it means that I am aware. Aware of what’s going on in the community, what’s going on with people and I talk about those things.”

Noting other “conscious” musicians, such as Bob Marley, Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder, he says those are the performers he’d like to be in the company of.

(Photo: FRED PROUSER/Reuters /Landov)