Stogie T on greatness: Hard work is the key, not just natural talent

Rapper Stogie T has listed who he considers legends in the game.

In a rambling Twitter thread, the rapper said he had noticed similarities in the people he considers to be heroes.

“You know, I have discovered a bit of a pattern around the people I admire: I prefer Ronaldo over Messi, Kobe over Jordan, Batman over Superman, Jay Z over Nas. In fact, it leads to my preference for Stogie over Tumi,” he wrote.

While sharing the names of those he considers greats, Stogie said he was not trying to start a debate over greatness.

“Can't question Messi or Jordan's prowess or Superman's powers. Nas wrote in ways previously unheard of in hip-hop. Messi has moments of genius are so frequent you can set your watch to them. MJ's 40-inch vertical fade-away is straight out of the Bolshoi ballet.

“Does anybody doubt Superman will swoop down just in the nick of time to save Ms Lane? When an 18-year-old rapper from Queens exhibited a natural gift for words, the best producers in hip-hop clamoured to compose the score to his life.”

While not questioning all these heroes' greatness, he said it was one's commitment to working hard rather than one's natural talents that ultimately swayed his own preference. Elaborating on this, he said the thing that Jay Z, Ronaldo, Batman and Kobe Bryant all have in common is that they work hard and are determined to succeed.

“I am not saying Jordan wasn't motivated, but with less attributes Kobe challenged him. Not saying Messi doesn't work hard, but Ronaldo has played everywhere and won. Batman fought a God. Jay Z studied, read the dictionary had life experience, went from rapping like Das Efx to 'the flow of the century' became Hov.”

Stogie pointed out that Jay Z is 50 years old and still going strong, while many of his peers "are dead and others 'retired'".

"Ronaldo shouldn't even be able to compete with Messi, but he does and often beats him," he added.

Turning the lens onto his own career, Stogie said he can relate to the hard-working underdogs, rather than the success stories of the gifted and popular.

“I don't have the luxury of time, freshman excitement, a new movement to be part of. What I do isn't necessarily new, it isn't record-breaking, it doesn't excite the majors, it doesn't get me millions of streams or screams. It's rapping. Studied, practiced, worked and reworked rapping.

"It doesn't come naturally to me. It's an acquired skill - probably the only skill I have as an adult male (don't tell my kids that) - but you know what, I do it at a really high level y'all. And I am going to win in this life because all the guys I know that worked this hard won."