(ThyBlackMan.com) Talk of a rapper with the perfect combo of almost everything that makes one the greatest rapper of all time—from a wicked sense of humor, technical complexity, a knack for storytelling, all the way to the number of verses that have managed to pass as rap quotes or hip hop staples—Eminem, or better, the great Slim Shady, holds the torch as one of the legendary rappers that will forever live to be remembered in the hip hop community.
Some may find it easy to argue against him being the greatest rapper alive, bringing up hosts of other rappers they believe got matching rapping skills or can rap circles around him, but discounting the fact that his contribution into rap music or hiphop at large has influenced one too many of other influential rappers, including those nominated, reeks of intellectual dishonesty.
Even with the shit-storm spinning around his oft-misogynistic, violent, and gay-bashing lyricism, the rapper has managed to transcend hiphop boundaries, achieving what a long list of other great rappers can only but dream of. He’s also the only rapper who’s happened to have enjoyed a tremendous amount of airplay from rock stations with a longstanding aversion towards rap music.
And numbers do affirm the story, as it is—Eminem is by a grand scale the best-selling rapper of all time, having sold an upward of 155 million copies of albums and singles worldwide. Also adding to his list of accomplishments are the 13 Grammys, the Oscar and the first ‘Artist of the year’ award by YouTube.
Every hiphop fan who knows about Eminem also knows about his upbringing, relationship struggles, drug habits, and all the negative experiences he’s been through. It takes a great soul to come above it all and come up with something positive.
The three years between 1999 and 2002 marked his prime and the peak of his music career. For those who can remember, this was the time when he released a trilogy of albums capturing his split personality.
In these albums, we get to see the different sides of Eminem, as he separates his vocals and sound into two, a feat that many rappers can’t help but find themselves throwing brownie points at. First we have Marshal (the Em with a deeper voice and deep lyrics as in “Mockingbird” and “Beautiful”), then Shady (the Eminem with goofy lyrics and a high-pitched voice as in “Without Me” and “Just Lose it”). Only Eminem could mastermind these two personas and make them co-exist without creating a fuss.
Em’s mind is just one-of-a-kind. Besides rhyming in fascinating patterns, the rapper has proven that he can kick rhymes straight out of the dome and still manage to wow his audience. In one of his great interviews, Anderson Cooper tried to test his skills by making him rhyme using a word he thought was impossible to find rhyming words–orange. Only to be proven wrong when Eminem pulled a set of rhyming words out of thin air and even went ahead to kick a one liner using the words:
“I put my orange
Four Inch
Door Hinge
In a Storage,
And I ate Poridge with George.”
The rapper’s sick flow and fast delivery is another thing to note when running a list of things that qualify him as one of the greatest rappers of all time. Granted, only a few rappers can actually maintain a clean and smooth flow when rhyming. Eminem just happens to be among the bunch that does it almost faultlessly.
Even with all these accomplishments, the rapper still doesn’t consider himself “the greatest of all time”. In one of his songs, he’s quick to acknowledge a long list of other rappers including Jay Z, Tupac, Reggie, Nas, Jadakiss, Kurupt, and Andre, reserving the 9th slot for himself and even going ahead to let us know that he’s NOT offended when he’s not put in the list–it never gets more down-to-earth than this!!!
Staff Writer; JT Paul
One can connect with this Hip Hop guru who is based in the Bronx at; HipHopGuru@mail.com.