Best Rapper Alive Competition Feels Slim Shady
Posted Mon Oct 13, 2008 1:26am PDT by Billy Johnson, Jr. in Hip-Hop Media Training
If you feel like there's a pun in the headline of this blog post, good.

Last week Vibe magazine announced that Eminem had won its Best Rapper Alive competition, a NCAA-style tournament that pitted the "top" 64 MCs against each other. (See the list of the 64 nominees http://www.vibe.com/bestr...ckets.pdf)

The online contest polled users over a 5-week period. During the first week, the 64 competing rappers were paired off and users were asked to select the best 32 artists. The second week, that group of 32 lyricists was also grouped in twos and the voters picked their favorite 16. Over the subsequent weeks, the list dwindled down to the last b-boys standing, Jay-Z and Eminem. Eminem won by a landslide of 69 percent, compared to Jay-Z's 31 percent.


The results have sparked heated discussions.

Before getting into my opinion of the crowned champ, I am way curious as to how a Best Rapper Alive contest can include the likes of Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em, Shawty Lo and Flo Rida, but not list lyrical geniuses Rakim, MC Lyte, Chuck D, KRS-One or Slick Rick. I'm 38, so yes, I'm repping a different era. But if I am to take the title Best Rapper Alive literally, I say, these guys are alive and frankly can still put to shame the majority of the 64 artists who have made it on the ballot. Maybe instead they could call this list, Best Rapper To Recently Release An Album.

I'm sure some of my questions will be answered in the November 2008 issue of Vibe, on newsstands October 21. In this issue, the Best Rapper Alive staff will explain the contest in detail. I must add that I respect the publication, still having in my possession its 1994 premiere issue with Treach of Naughty By Nature on the cover and having written freelance articles for the magazine from 2000 to 2006. I just don't get the criteria.

I understand that the results were driven by the voters, but the brackets used for voting are suspicious. Take for example the following pairings that caused upsets during the first round of voting:

Lil' Kim vs. Lauryn Hill
Lupe Fiasco vs. Q-Tip
Mos Def vs. Talib Qweli
Ghostface Killah vs. Raekwon
Method Man vs. Redman
Common vs. Black Thought

Pairings like these assured that six of the aforementioned rappers were not going to make it to round two. Each of those artists should have made it to the second round. And in other instances, favored artists were matched with MCs who had no chance of winning the first round:

Andre 3000 vs. Dizzee Rascal
Eminem vs. Soulja Boy
Lil' Wayne vs. Trina
T.I. vs. Shawty Lo
Ludacris vs. Young Dro

Are you kidding? I think Dizzee Rascal is dope, but could he possibly get more popular votes than ANDRE 3000? Have the majority of the voters even heard of Dizzee? Soulja Boy, Trina, Shawty Lo, and Young Dro against those guys? Is this poll even real?

Out of 32 pairings, the first round only had a handful of legitimate groupings:

Cam'ron vs. Juelz Santana
Fabolous vs. Cassidy
Lil' Boosie vs. Webbie
Lloyd Banks vs. Young Buck
Chamillionaire vs. Paul Wall

I realize the difficulty and pressure that lies in compiling lists. As a journalist, it's something that you don't take lightly because you know you're going to get called out if your list is wack. I'm feeling bamboozled by this one.

I consider Eminem to be one of the greatest MCs to have ever rhymed. He has an undeniable gift of storytelling. He can freestyle. He's passionate, and is one of the few who is blessed with the ability to simultaneously go straight mega pop and still reach the heads. He's top 10 without question.

I'm in one of those moods and can go and on about this as if it was something important. So I'll stop and let some of my favorites conclude my argument. Check out their videos.

The fact he's #1 invalidates the whole thing

bboy87 said:

It's a reader poll. Basically.. it was the big test and the readers flunked.

murph said:

Fair and legit points, but Vibe set itself up for this whole thing. Its credibility should take a hit.

namepeace said:

Thank you. While he and Kris still breathe, they will eclipse just about anyone I can think of.

-Snoop
-LL Cool J
-Chuck D

Hell, even, MC Hammer...who made up the "choices" to pick from?
Eminem has some catchy songs but his last few hits have sounded
like stale beats from a Sega game console. He went away for like
3 years and music has been better without him. I prefer his time
of ruling the music industry being a memory. Enough is enough of
him.

Oh, hell.

Remember the good old days when lists were just good debate fodder and the stimulus for exploration.

At least this list is less embarrassing than VH1's list of the Top 20 Female MCs. Hell, that list didn't just include popular flavors of the moment, it included people who've never even performed rap (at least in public).

To be educated, I seek out experts.

I would have said ok some years ago, however Em's game slipped mercifully these past couple of years. It depends on your albums and your freeestyles. I think jay has a one up still being hot and not giving up, plus the man has longevity. Granted he is not the most killer MC as much as Eminem USED to be (even Em killed him on Renegade a la Nas' Ether), but he hasnt shown himself since 2005 really and thus I think Vibe 's voters were wrong.

SCNDLS said:

Can we please do a Prince.org's Best Rapper Alive????? Those pairings are ludacrise!

Damn, after all these years this shit still never ceases to amaze me. All this talk by some about his incredible skills are is bullshit. Yeah, he's got skills, but they are exaggerated by the media because he's white. Rapping fast doesn't substitute for actually saying something. Shit, imagine if someone like Nas was white. Every album he released would go diamond. Even Dr. Dre knew that Eminem's race would help sell records.

It's a fucking Tarzan complex - white guy amidst a group of blacks - doing what they do, but better - mastering their style, etc. People always looking for a Great White Hope.

namepeace said:

Nah...u guys just don't get it...

A huge part of the contest was online...

As stated early on, Eminem got a huge boost from outside elements...In other words, u didn't have say Nas or Jay Z getting boosted by online Detroit newspapers...They actually had a link to the contest...Eminem's fans showed and proved...

As for the question of why a Shorty Lo was in the tournament and not say Chuck D, it's quite simple...The criteria was that acts had to have had NEW material out that made a critical or commercial impact; or still current in the game in terms of years (Lauryn Hill has only been in the game since the late '90s)...

Hence you would have MC's like Talib Kweli (critical) and Lil Wayne (commercial) in the same contest...Chuck, who a legend among hip hop legends, has not made that type of impact in years...Nor does he have to...The man is an icon...But the criteria was stated early on siting (and giving due respect to) everyone from Rakim, Chuck D to KRS-ONe...

Back to Shawty Lo...it goes back to NCAA college b-ball format...Shorty Low was a low seed...16th seed...So you pair the 16th against the no 1 seed...and so on and so forth...

Now does that mean I believe that Em deserved to win the whole thing?...Hell naw...lol...But you have to blame his loyal fans for that, not VIBE...
[Edited 10/14/08 18:19pm]

Eminem? Seriously?

I'll admit my knowledge of rap and hip-hop is pretty limited, but there is no way that candypants is the "best rapper alive".

you mean "Worst Magazine Alive" = Vibe?

even this rapper is better than Eminem

http://jp.youtube.com/wat...qp4_ddhdRY

murph said:

thanks, we get it.

you're missing the point.

when you put an online poll up under the aegis of your publication, and you set the criteria such that you contradict the purpose of the poll (especially with an online poll), and you publish the results, you are equally deserving of the acclaim or the derision you get.

It's still VIBE's poll, is it not?

so i guess lil wayne can shut the fuck up with that bullshit he's the best rapper alive right?

much props 2 em but i agree as long as rakim, krs one and chuck d r alive he's not the best alive.

and as 4 the rules of this battle, public enemy's last album got rave reviews in rolling stone magazine and others

namepeace said:

But here's the thing...It wasn't an "online" poll...It heavily involved the book itself (fans were encouraged to mail in their picks on the tournament sheet...) with a slightly smaller emphasis on online voting...But as stared, Eminem's fans showed and proved....

VIBE is no more responsible for the voting of rap's biggest selling artist of all time (look it up...crazy right? ) as the best rapper alive as Rolling Stone was when Madonna was voted as the best artist of the year in the late '80s in some of their polls...

All polls when it comes to the general public are ruled by popularity or the more mainstream...My pick was Nas...

Welcome to the real world...lol
[Edited 10/15/08 14:00pm]

murph said:

Yet and still you miss the point.

Champ, when you put your name on something, and the results are unexpected, you own the results. That's the real world. Maybe VIBE got what it wanted, an influx of its target demographic participating, but it ultimately owns the results.

That's real world, son. That's accountability.

VIBE played itself.

Period.

You don't get that, fine.

I don't have time to draw a picture.