Posted in: Musicouching by Simon Belmont on May 3rd, 2009 | 7 Comments
If you read my previous article you would know that I left the spot for best Rapper ever open but now were going to break it down more till we find an answer. Please enjoy So Technically Who Is The Best Rapper Of All Time Pt.2.
Firstly i decided to see who readers of Vibe magazine voted as the number one rapper alive. The voting was divided into four sections and the artist were distributed into these four categories based on which deceased artist they resembled the most the artist being Notorious B.I.G., 2Pac, Pimp C, and Big Pun. Jay-z was voted best in the Notorious category, Eminem in the 2Pac category, Ludacris in the Pimp C category, The Game in the Big Pun category and Eminem voted best overall. I found these results to be some what biased considering they were only given certain artist to choose from most of which were newer artists and Hip-Hop magazines have been known to be some what biased referring to when the Source magazine was owned by a rapper who gave them selfs better reviews then artist of a higher caliber which sparked a feud between source owner Benzino and artist Eminem in which Eminem emerged the victor. As i believe that the best rapper ever is solely a decision of the fan’s i also believe a voting system in a magazine could be flawed and is not reaching all audiences so once again i will take a closer look and break down some artist’s to see what out come we come to. First lets take a look at Vibe magazines winner Eminem. Eminem is probably the most successful white rapper and the protege of NWA’s Dr.Dre as well as being an established battle rapper upon signing with Dr.Dre so its evident that he quick witted and has lyrical talent but most battle rappers cant write song’s and never become mainstream is this the case with Eminem? Album sale’s would say differently with all of his albums going at least 4x Platinum proof Eminem can put together an album but does this make him more talented than every artist that sells less then him? Album sales often dictate people’s opinion’s of who the best rapper is for example Rapper Lil Wayne’s career started in 1997 and wasn’t nearly as popular as he is now until 2005 when he released his album the Carter II and nearly doubled his fan base and and Lil Wayne became the self proclaimed best rapper alive and fans agreed. So Lil Wayne’s growing following was the cause for Lil Wayne being called the best rapper alive but how did he increase his album sales? Simple he doubled the content he put out putting out mix tapes and featuring on many many artist’s song’s also his new and refreshing style of rap was well received by fans. Again in 2008 Lil Wayne flooded music fans with free content until he released his anticipated album The Carter III shattering record sales again. So if a rapper’s marketing strategy is the reason for there album sales this would rule out an artist being the best based on record sales.
Tremell Datoine May 3rd, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Spoken like someone who eats sleeps and breathes hip hop. I am happy to be the first to comment on this OUTSTANDING article. Good work.
My personal vote? 2Pac!
know your craft May 28th, 2009 at 10:28 am
What an Incredible Article!!! I thought that I was the only one who thought that you have to categorize these rappers first within their styles then compare them afterwards.I am glad to see someone else who is not comparing Biggie to Tupac. It would be like comparing George Benson v.s. Steve Vai both phenomenal guitarists but two totally different styles. Thanks for putting this out there only a real HipHop head thinks that way. I wish more people would think that way. Keep it coming!!!
big AL May 30th, 2009 at 12:33 am
my fav is 2pac he is just so influential i tried to have another fav but i just cant get pac out of me head……..there is no ‘greatest of all time’ there are just great MC’s that should be in the hall of fame for me
Simon Belmont May 30th, 2009 at 12:58 am
I agree Big Al in my opinion the greatest would be something like (In no order)
Tupac
Big L
Jay-Z
Rakim
Ghostface
Notorious B.I.G.
Eminem
Nas
Andre 3000
Method Man
Big Daddy Kane
Shyne
Common
Mos Def
Scareface
Black Thought
Jadakiss
Cam’Ron
Kool G Rap
Big Pun
Ice Cube
Honorable Mentions/ New Artist/ Haven’t done enough to be considered one of the greatest.
Ludacris
Bun B
Talib Kweli
Kanye West
Wale
Lil Wayne (Ugh)
T.I.
Busta Rhymes
Q-Tip
Tim August 19th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
great article
for me the best is and will always be 2pac he is just so amzing his lyrics he should aslo be compared in catigories out side of rap such as poetery he should be put in a league were he is compared to shakespare.
i belive Lil wayne is a up and coming as well
But for the future keep an eye out for a man by the name of Tim Scantlebury i think this man will add some compertition to 2pac
Ice Hot August 28th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
for some one born to breath nothing but hip hop this article looks at the qusetion from a corrext perspective in which i belive hip hop should nva be looked at as if to say comparing apples to steak completly diferent styles unbelivable article.
Yes i have herd about this tim Scantlebury i have herd many amazing things like Hip hop saviour and even look out 2pac biggie here comes tim scantlebury i herd he is bringing a completly new style to hip hop that will appeal to people out side of hip hop style aswell bringing awearness to the world issues. another quote on him is that he is the shock hip hop has been looking for to show all styles of music how amazing hip hop is.
He aparently lives in Australia
very excited about this upcoming
phil math August 30th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
And in my own opinion, i think lyrically, there is no way to put jay z and nas together, ‘cos nas is more poetic than jay z, though jay z is financially comfortable, but that does not make him comparable to nas