nas inst even orignal he jacked his style from rakim.

not saying he is wack, but noway you put nas over rakim when rakim gave nas his style

werd...
I have to agree with Dezzizzle on this one.
Tupac was good....for his time period. He didn't really express many original thoughts, just talked about persecution in life, love etc. Everyone talks about this.
Pac is dope to listen to, but he really didn't possess as much talent as everyone gives him credit for. I read his poetry book "The Rose That Grew From Concrete" and it isn't nearly as good as half the poetry on this site alone.
It just talks about his life.

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Life isn't a bitch...
she's just sick of being personified -Sage Francis

I noticed that all the posts following mine.. Still none of ya'll mentioned Talib Kweli.. Is there some sort of biased towards commercially inclined MC's? I mean, yeah, Jay-Z is nice, Nas is Nice, Em is nice, but now I pose this questions.. What about Kweli?

Everyone knows Blondie was the greatest. . She rapped before all them hoes.

I dont consider pac the greatest lyricist, but he had the most meaningful songs of any rapper. even with commercial crap like california love, he was putting his heart and soul into every word he spoke, which makes him special. His songs meant something, and 90% of rappers these dont have any point to their songs. Canibus, for example, might be the greatest lyricist of all time, but almost everything he records is about how "hes the greatest", basically battle raps. I personally get bored of him spitting about his own skills for pretty much entire albums. Other rappers, like nelly and chingy, put in stupid, club songs like "hot in herre" and "right thurr", and sometimes even self degrading shit like "pimp juice", one of the worst rap songs ever recorded. IM nto saying Nas, Jay z dont have meaningful songs, and they do, but theyre nothing on 2pac. And to top it off, 2pac isnt bad with lyrics himself either, id still put him in the upper class level of rappers, lyrically...

I Think The Feeling He Put in Songs Were Great, But I Still Don't Consider Him To Be in The Top 10 Or 20, Alot of Mainstream Rappers Shit On 2Pac, Yet They Don't Even Know It. And Underground, Shit, There Would Go His Chance Completely. Remember, 2Pac Is Considered The Greatest Now, Because thats How America and Any Other Country Portrays Him As. And When He Died, Thats When He Became Loved, But I Never Liked 2Pac, And I Never Will, Because To Me, He Fucked Up On His Own, He Signed His Own Death Basically, And Beef Is Created Over Some Bullshit Mistake, He Was Basically Talented, But If Anything, Is Responsible For Some Of Problems In Rap Today. And You Guys Criticize Rappers Who Forever Stay On The Same Old Topic. Most Of His ALbums is On Are On The Same Shit, And Look at Some Of His SOngs, For clubs and Shit, Yet Rappers Who today Attempt to Make A Few Of Those Songs Get SHitted On, Because Most Likely They Ain't Die Or Whatever. If 50 Cent Died, You Know How Many People Would Jump On To His Dead Dick and Never Let Go? Maybe Not Us, Because We Don't Consider Him Shit, But We are Not The Majority, Which Is The Same As Tupac.

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Only God can judge me, Who THE FUCK IS YOU?!

I agree that once an artist dies they suddenly become more popular. But didnt the conversation start about nas. We've gone way off track here. What we think bout 2pac doesnt matter coz this is about the best rapper BREATHING. I dunno who that is but i think it's between nas and eminem.

[edit by C-section, dont leave links to your battles.]

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HARRY R.I.P
1940 - 2002

In Respect

Talib is dope. Theres no doubt about that. There aren't many arguements people can put to that, which is why nobody posted about him. It's much easier to post about Pac, who is so clearly over rated. Talib is not the best breathing. There are tons of people who I would say are doper than talib, but that is just because I enjoy their music more. Which all goes back to preference.

__________________
Life isn't a bitch...
she's just sick of being personified -Sage Francis

^Word Like The AlphaBet

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Only God can judge me, Who THE FUCK IS YOU?!

Talib is ill...but don't get it twisted...he ain't even close to Jay Z's level...in the following categories:

Flow
Lyrics
Flavor
Delivery
Staying power
Releases

The three best rappers alive are

Jay Z
Nas
Eminem

this is fact to true hip hop heads (real recognize real)...but do understand, that I realize these three people are beat in some categories...such as...canibus may have more sicker lines than Jay Z or eminem at times, or Talib may have more deeper lines than eminem at times...etc etc...its a toss up if you look at it like that...but I say they are the three best alive right now, becuase they statistically are the best in each category per every song and album when compared to other artists...

Word ^^^

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Concise Music

i agree with luminous.... all good rappers deserve to be in the top 3 for one reason or another... it all depends on taste.... if you think lyrics are the most important, then canibus would be 1st for you... if meaning is most important, than 2pac will be there... if poetry is big for you, Nas will be your 1st choice... but on the overall, all those things put together, jay z nas and eminem have the first 3 positions from the rappers that are still alive... dont get me wrong, canibus, talib kweli, common, DMX are all great rappers and have their own special thing which no one can do as well as them, but on the overall, they lose to jay z nas and eminem... ill break it down:

for example, eminem vs canibus

Flow: Canibus
Lyrics: Canibus
Meaning: Eminem
Overall "dopeness" of albums: Eminem

You gotta admit, eminem's skill in his battle days (infinite days) were comparable to canibus except for the fact that canibus is all scientifical etc.. but anyway, in pure potential, the two are very similar (canibus just beats him by a little), but in meanings and quality of albums, eminem wins by miles, besides rip the jacker, all of canibus' albums had wack beats, and 90% of his songs are made up of the battle topic, while eminem talks about life and things people can relate to...

so this proves that some rappers might be the best in one category, but overall they are overshadowed by others... so while Talib might at times be better than eminem, nas or jay z, and might have deeper songs, on the whole these 3 ^ are better

Just curious why you think Canibus has better lyrics than em? lol.. Vocabulary?

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Concise Music

^^perfectly put.. nas is ILL, but w/ everything else theres haters.. i like his style.. "rewind" i thought that song was so dope.. who else has done that b4? n yea illmatic speaks for itself..