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Who is the Best Rapper Alive?

Everybody wants to be the best rapper alive. The question is ... Who exactly is the best rapper alive? Even more important what do you go by to make this decision. Lets go through the list. Now this is bound to get plenty of bitter responses so don't get butt hurt.

Kanye West: You can make a compelling case for Mr West but honestly its a proven fact that he's had a ghostwriter in the past. (Rhymefest, Consequence) Does the best rapper alive have to write their own shit? I would think even the biggest buffoons on this site would have to agree that you at least need to write your own shit. I like Kanye though as a rapper whether he writes or not. Through my sources I heard he's written everything since the 2nd album on his own. With that being said I think his best shit comes from his own pen and pad. So for that, Kanye can be mentioned in this discussion. Kanye has style, a dope delivery, says decent shit, and sometimes even has decent word play especially for somebody who's very mainstream at the moment. Every now and then he'll say some corny ass shit but hey ... Its Kanye West and sometimes he's playing his role . Kanye has mastered the art of doing something that makes him look incredibly vulnerable and stupid; 5 months later he'll put what he did in the song and apologize for how dumb and immature he was. The fans reaction is oh so precious: "oh he's so pure." Its the best thing ever and I respect him for that. The fact that even a Kanye fact can admit he's corny gets him eliminated from this list however. Face it, being corny is not Hip Hop. It may be a part of Hip Hop but you just can't glorify being corny. So Kanye you may win the record sales battle and you make good music and all but your corniness just got you eliminated.

Lil Wayne: Where does it start with this guy and where does it end? He's like the existence of life. (Overstatement) Saigon on Kay Slay's show insisted its his dreds that got some super Jedi effect. I don't know what it is but lets face it Wayne has mastered the art of making the most subpar shit sound pretty good. More often than not Wayne doesn't say a damn thing. He gets away with it with his great mic presence and maybe his dreds does actually plays a role as well, thats debatable. I'm not gonna grow any dreds to find out. Wayne is the self-proclaimed "best rapper alive" whether he gets the nod from me or not. In Hip Hop if you say something enough times and actually sound believable like any good speech giver, the people will believe you too. Wayne believes he's the best rapper alive cause he outshines his daddy Baby, Mannie Fresh, and Paul Wall a couple of times. Unfortunately that doesn't convince people like me. Also you can't just make up your own words and use them in a setence and then correct yourself in the next line. Thats not witty to me. Wayne sometimes goes off on tangents and says shit that makes zero to little sense. His fans however love amazing lines like "call me Captain Kangaroo cause I got money in my pouch" or "I'm a venereal disease?" I know that lost me too. Some people are still dumb-founded that he kissed Baby his self-proclaimed daddy in the mouth. I'm more dumb-founded of how easy he got away with it in this Homophobic culture called Hip Hop. That shit was pretty gay. There's no debating that shit even Obama can call it. So Wayne is eliminated off this list. Too much homo shit and not making sense won't win you any points on this list. His hype will only make you want to listen to him more but unforuntately Public Enemy had the best response to that shit. I'll let you tell it.

Jay Z: Jigga has about 3 classic albums under his belt at least, depending on who you are arguing with. Jay is probably the most consistent MC of all time mainstream wise. When Lil Wayne was just saying "wobble wobble" on a song Jay Z was dropping gems and creating a format for young not rapping ass Lil Wayne to follow once upon a time. Jay Z mastered the art of kicking a rhyme where a 8 year old will like it, a 45 year old, and another dope MC will appreciate it. Nobody else has ever done that. The closest one is probably Eminem. A lot of people say Eminem outshined Jay Z on "Renegade." This goes back to the point I made earlier. When you say something and you sound believable fans will believe you too. Nas said it on "Ether" and some idiots just took his word for it. Jay Z did not get killed by Eminem on Renegade. Thats a matter of opinion and preference. I thought Jay Z bodied that record completely. Jay's one big mistake in his career was waking up a sleeping lion. He picked on Nas who was falling the fuck off the map and woke Nasty Nas up. That was a mistake cause after "Ether" Jay kicked a freestyle responding way too soon which was funny but too subpar especially compared to Ether. Jay took off for a bit and then a little later dropped his worst LP "Blue Print 2." He later then admitted he made a mistake by dropping "Blue Print 2.5" to no avail. This is the one blemish on his entire career if you start from when he dropped his first LP. If only he didn't call out Nas. You can talk about his business mind, cash flow, Beyonce, and even the fact that Nas signed to him years later. Doesn't negate the fact that Nas pretty much won that battle between the 2 at that moment. "Take Over" was a great record but instead of wasting lines of Prodigy Jay should have dedicated more time to Nas cause it doesn't hold a candle to what "Ether" did to Jay. So can the best rapper alive be somebody who lost a battle pretty decisive? I don't know... I'll let you tell it.

Nas: Illmatic is the greatest album of all time! If you don't agree with this you are not Hip Hop so they say. Well I guess I ain't Hip Hop. Its a great album and probaly had the biggest impact especially for the shit that I like but I don't think it was the greatest album of all time just cause some editor thought so when they reviewed the album for The Source in 1993. It did however help the golden era kick it to 2nd gear. For whatever reason I can actually listen to "It was written" more now than I can "Illmatic." I don't know if its cause I know Illmatic from front to back more than I know my own rhymes or what but its true. Here is ANOTHER case of people believing shit rappers say. "One was ehhhhhhh the other was Illmatic, thats a one hot album every 10 year average." Sorry Jay but even though I'm a native of BK I must disagree. Nas's first 3 albums were all great LP's. You can debate which one is better but "I AM" often gets overlooked. Around the time "I Am" dropped a lot of new faces arrived like Canibus, The Lox, DMX, CNN, Pun and etc. It might have gotten overlooked cause many new artist were hot at that time and people were looking for the new blood but "I AM" did not disappoint. The next album however I can't say the same thing for. "Nastradamus" was very subpar especially for Nas's standards. I'm probably being too nice right now by not saying it was pretty shitty. Nas picked it back up with "Stillmatic" though and he's pretty much been that concious/ black leader of a rapper or at least thats what he presents himself as. In my opininon Nas has lacked the intensity he once had and just doesn't sound like he means it anymore. "Hip Hop Is Dead" was a great title and statement and he definitely tried to say something but the music just didn't live up to the hype. Nas has pretty much done the same type of songs the past 4 years. Nothing stands out at all. Nas will be praised for his consistency one day but he'll also be condemed for the same thing. Lately his career has been driven by controversial titles and statements rather than the quality of his music. I wouldn't be suprised if he tried to name his next album "I've Payed My Jews" or something. I mentioned earlier he beat Jay in the battle but at the end of the day he did sign to him later. So for that alone that eliminates Nas from this list. Or does it? I'll let you tell it.

Stay tuned for my next blog while I give you the real answer of who is the best rapper alive and we'll end this discussion once and for all.

www.myspace.com/ninobless

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