The NBA was recently rocked by several emoji-related news stories, including DeAndre Jordan's waffling between the Clippers and the Mavericks, and DeMarcus Cousins labeling coach George Karl a "snake in the grass" with the digital art. It's somewhat humorous to consider near seven-foot men tweeting like teenage girls, but we digress. HipHopWired took it in an entirely different direction when it decided to make an "unofficially official" listing of hip-hop emojis for most of the genre's biggest stars.
"After Kobe Bryant asserted his #Mambaout hashtag to the top of the ranks, the people banded together to create an unofficially official NBA emoji chart," posted the hip-hop site. "Without further adieu, we present to you the unofficially official rapper emoji chart."
Most don't take too much thinking about. MC Hammer, for example, is simply a hammer, and Future is a crystal ball. Others are a bit more clever, referencing essential characteristics from the emcee's lyrics or career: Jeezy is represented, of course, as a snowman, while J Dilla is given a donut to represent his favorite food and the name of his acclaimed album.
The best entries however are the ones that take subtle (and not-so-subtle) digs at the rappers they represent. Iggy Azalea is the easiest target in hip-hop nowadays, and HipHopWired doesn't work too hard to express its feelings for her music: The emcee is symbolized by a steaming pile of fecal matter. Eminem won't take his icon—a pill—as hard, considering that he has used it in his album art for the several years, a representation of his own struggles with addiction. Tyga gets two (which strikes us as cheating but whatever): One is a tiger (duh) and the other is the digit "18" with a line drawn through it, probably a reference to his uncomfortable relationship with Kylie Jenner, still a minor. Rick Ross gets the last blast, as his logo features a regular emoji face...wearing a police officer's cap.
This is a good start, but if someone were to animate actual hip-hop emojis...our texts would be so much more exciting and colorful.
