The Best Beards in Hip Hop Culture! Ranked

Written By Bakes

Avid writer on Men's Hair, Grooming, and Lifestyle!

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From the hipster beard, goatee, chinstrap, Balbo, to the full beard we have a large representation of all types of facial hair within Hip Hop and each of the rappers with beards falls into 1 or more categories!

The truth is not all men are avoided the opportunity to grow a full beard so we took the trouble to highlight the most iconic ones in Hip Hop.

Our editorial highlights all rappers with Beards and their particular beard style

All Rappers with Beards (Past & Present)

Rick Ross

Type: Faded Full Beard

Rick Ross may have one of the most distinctive beards in Hip Hop! At this point of his career it forms a large part of his personal brand and identity.

rick ross makes the best Rappers with Beards list

The subtle detail of his beard is what makes it distinctive, the clean line up and faded sides, its immediately apparent why his beard stands out.

In addition to this his beard has created brand extension opportunities as we have seen the rapper release his own beard and hair grooming line Rich by Rick Ross.

Action Bronson

Type: Hipster/Full Beard

Its hard to imagine a list of rappers with beards and not have Bronson high on the list, the hipster beard was iconic and separated him from his peers.

Rappers with Beards in 2023

In a web series with GQ he explained how he accidently cut his beard and decided to have it trimmed all the way.

“I just started trimming and it went bad, it went away,” he confessed. “I tried to give it a fade, I tried to make it slim. I couldn’t stop, and then I ended up looking like Hulk Hogan in the face.”

Nipsey Hussle

Type: Bushy Beard

Each Nipsey Hussle Beard stage represents a different part of his career. For example clean shaven Nip marks time as when he was new to rap.

Rappers with Beards all types

Full beard Nipsey Hussle marks the latter years of his life prior to his death.

 From our archives we begin to see Nipsey growing his full blown beard at the start of 2017 which turned into what we see above

The Game

Type: Bushy Beard

Throughout the 1st half games career we saw the rapper keep it clean shaven, today however he sports his full blown beard.

the game beard

Whilst the rapper may alternate between various hairstyles such as his buzz cut, afro and braids he keeps it consistent when it comes to his facial hair.

The full blown beard is usually maintained with a fresh line up and tapered sides to fully bring attention to his facial hair, hate it or love it you can’t ignore it!

Freeway

Type: Full Beard

If there’s one word to describe Freeways beard then it would be consistency. Since his prime years in the 2000s we saw Freeway in his trademark beard.

Decades later and that’s still the case, which speaks volumes with regards to having a routine and ensuring the health of your beard still looks as good as when you started it.

Freeway’s full beard is simply the result of years of patience, maintenance and grooming habits!

Joe Budden

Type: Full Beard

With over 20 years in Hip Hop and Joe has earned a reputation for himself for having one of the thickest most noticeable beards.

salt and beard pepper

A few years ago he decide to try a goatee and social went mad, why? Simple, we hate change as people, even when the change is from your artist rappers.

Whilst he has since reverted back to his full beard we are ensured he will never go beardless

We’ll end it with a tweet from Joe Budden back in 2014.

Joe Budden Beard Tweet

Need I say more?

Drake

Type: Full Beard

A major change in appearance would be the growth of his beard, from lover boy drake to champagne papi, so he claims!

If we date back to his last days on the Degrassi TV show to his legendary mixtape comeback season this period of his life saw Drake with a clean shaven face (2006 – 2009).

Today he prefers the more masculine look with a full on beard.

Common

Type: Full Beard

Common makes both lists, Bald rappers in Hip Hop and rappers with beards, which is a combination that’s been known to serve looks for years!

common bald head

For most men who experience male baldness partner the answer is simple to embrace your masculinity and grow your beard.

Common is the epitome of this and his beard seems to be working for him all this years later! Music videos, award shows, movies, you name it commons beard stays intact.

Snoop Dogg

Type: Handlebar Mustache/Goatee

We all know Snoop having different hairstyles throughout his career, however when it comes to his beard he has kept it simple, goatee or handlebar beard.

snoop with handlebar mustache

To compliment his hair we usually see him styling the right beard for the occasion.

As an elder statesman in Hip Hop we see traces of grey in his beard, and whilst that’s nothing but a sign of aging his facial hair is always kept neat and presentable.

Quest Love

Type: Full Beard

Its hard to find images from the roots drummer clean shaven and as long as we’ve followed Quest he has always rocked the big beard.

His image is cemented in our minds at this point, afro hair, big afro pick and his full blown beard.

We could really say its quest he influenced a large majority of rappers to start growing their facial hair.

Flo Rida

Type: Full Beard

The Miami native rapper can be seen in various images alternating different bear styles. Stubble, balbo and the full beard.

Rappers with beards are usually fortunate enough to have their personal barbers to groom them at their convenience, this is evident with Flo Rida. 

Jeezy

Type: Chin Strap Beard/Full Beard

What rapper rocks the chin strap beard better then Jezzy, ill wait ……exactly nobody!

What makes his beard much more noticeable is his bald head. The contrast of his beard with no hair on top further draws attention to his facial hair.

Outside of his trademark chin strap look we also see him alternating between other beard styles such as his stubble look and full beard.

Ice Cube

Type: Chin Strap Beard/Goatee/Full Beard

ice cube makes the list of best rappers with beards

We have seen various Ice Cube Beard styles throughout his career.

Whilst he usually alternates between the chin strap and goatee in his personal life we have seen the actor have different beards for his movie roles.

For example the full on beard probably wouldn’t work for his movie classic Friday as craig Jones.

Black Thought

Whilst our editorial includes various rappers with hipster beards his patches of grey is what makes Black Thoughts a little more distinctive in comparison to his peers.

THICK beards in hip hop

During an episode of Black Thought Grooming Gods he shares his routine around his beard grooming habits and favourite products.

Donald Glover

Everything about Donald comes down to making a statement whether that be his visual art, music or his appearance, more specifically his beard.

donald glover makes the list of best rappers with beards

All likeness of the rapper includes his distinctive big bushy beard such as graphics or cartoons of the rapper.

At this point the beard forms a large part of his identity and that’s evident by the consistence styling.