If he completely retired tomorrow, Would Eminem be Top5 dead or alive?

[Hyman Roth]

Skills and impact alone put Eminem in the top 20 but a huge drop off in the quaility of his albums after The Eminem Show killed any claim of top 10, let alone top 5.

 

[Billy Ocean]

IMO, SSLP, MMLP TES and relapse are all 4 or better, and a hell of a lot of people consider the first two classics.

- skillset
- about a 4 mic average over his solo catalog
- 1 dope group project and 8 mile
- his underground and battle circuit run
- sales
- longevity
- influence
- impact

I think that's worthy of top 20 all time, easily, 10-15 for me. (overall/criteria based)

He's overrated because people in general can't be objective and put the sales and hype inflation in proper perspective when ranking him. I still feel like he's solid though, he just doesn't have the catalog to really be getting top 5 nods like he does when they have the mass media popularity contests.

* Skillset - Eminem, IN HIS PRIME, was definitely a beast BUT his fall off is legendary. He hasn't been THAT good in a LOOOOONG time. He only had a 5-7 year clip where he displayed extraordinary skills.

* There's no way he has a 4 mic average on albums. More like 3/3.5. TOO MANY albums filled with some of the worst, most vacuous filler you'll ever hear.

* 8 mile was definitely dope but those D12 projects were at best average. Very forgettable, and also had some terrible tracks on them.

* Can't even deny his legendary underground/battle circuit run.

* His sales, impact and influence are almost solely because he's a marketable WHITEBOY who actually had a concrete black hip hop co-sign. If Marshall Mathers was black, he would've never had the uber success he's had in his career that he's had. It's undeniable.

 

[Billy Ocean]

I dunno bro, to me it is in the same league as those albums. Lyrically its Ems best album, and you've also got thematic cohesion and Dre in his second prime on the boards."The Way I Am", "Stan": "Criminal", "Remember Me", "Kim"; so many classic joints. I agree that Em stans are some of the worst in hip hop, and this makes the music offputting, but we're going to have to agree to disagree on this album being classic.

Never really see MMLP mentioned as a hip hop classic. And it shouldn't be, imo

 

[Billy Ocean]

All the rappers in the top have similar stats, no rapper has put out more than 3 stellar albums.

Unbelievably ridiculous statement.

 

[JuvenileHell]

Eminem is a white Canibus

 

[The Ruler 09]

Not even close to me, wouldn't even be in top 20. Think he's overrated, on the whole not much content, doesn't make a lot of classic music, think his lyrics are a lot of multies mostly but they aren't normally efficient effective ones, just any shyt that rhymes or some bad joke, his voice is whiny and annoying, fake character, not much soul to the music, just am not a fan and wouldn't place him anywhere in a list.

 

[The Ruler 09]

Plus I'm not a fan of all the rape references and shyt like that.

 

[Ziggiy]

Is that your order too?

More or less.

 

[R.E.N. Spells Ren]

I don't get any of you guys arguments about Eminem being overrated. He's not a top 5 emcee, but he's made incredible songs and albums. All the things you hold against Eminem, might as well hold against Redman, ODB, and other rappers who are abstract and animated in their raps.

he's overrated cuz many people put him in their top 5. What don't you get about that?


You put him next to Redman and ODB, which is fair, but too many other folks put him next to Jay, Nas, Pac

 

[Billy Ocean]

he's overrated cuz many people put him in their top 5. What don't you get about that?


You put him next to Redman and ODB, which is fair, but too many other folks put him next to Jay, Nas, Pac

Absolutely. It kills me when these Em stans try to slide Eminem in with Jay, Nas, Rakim and them, and than act when people call him overrated.

 

[The_Third_Man]

If we only talking about pure skills, yes.

As far as discography, no.

overall, no.

 

[Omerta]

I didn't read much of this thread, but Relapse is a great album. One of the best conceptual albums of all time.

 

[The Ruler 09]

I'm not sure Eminem would crack my top 5 white rappers dead or alive.

 

[BigF]

In terms of pure mic skills there's only a handful of nikkas in history who are really fukkin with Em

that being said I'd never even think about putting him in my top 5, technical ability aint everything. You can't have a decade long stretch of putting out a mediocre product the way Em has and still get a place on the Mount Rushmore of hip-hop.

This. That boy used to rhyme his ass off but that alone is not enough.

 

[inndaskKy]

How come people exclude Eminem from a possible top 5 position because of poor subject matter but not Jay-Z?