Rakim

Because name one rapper(someone good) that he didn't influence.Your favorite NAs was one of them.Nas,Jay-Z,Canibus,Pun,...all were all heavly influenced by him and gave him props.Not to mention...that lines and beats in Paid in Full have and still are being sampled by rappers and producers.There have been endless remixes of his work with Eric B.Every one of these rappers today were influenced by Rakim.