XXL proclaims Lil Wayne "Best Rapper Alive"

[Confucius87]

Plus I really hate when people proclaim that they are the best at something. If you are the best at something it is univerisally recognized that you are the top dog.

Lil' Wayne, Track #4 on Gangsta Grillz: Dedication 2

The first time I realized I was the best rapper alive - and before I go any further into this conversation, let me let ya'll know what I mean by that 'best rapper alive' shit. I don't think I'm better than anybody personally. I don't think I'm better than anybody spiritually. I don't think I'm better than anybody in any way, form or fashion. But as far as this rap thing, I think I am better than everybody. I'm a competitor, I hope everybody else feel the same way about their craft. If you do, it makes it better for the people. It makes it better for the listeners. And that's how I feel about mine, so if you a listener and you wanna hear somebody that's dedicated into what they do, I'm so dedicated that I feel I'm the best, and that's that.

How could you not respect that?

 

[7 Syns]

If you were to break down emcing, or rapping into categories to judge whom is the best then there would be no clear winner. With that said, Wayne wouldn't even hold a candle on any of the categories either.

Flow =
Lyricism/Rhymes =
Poetry =
Quality =
Diversity =
Body of Work =
Live Showing/Moving The Crowd =

People actually believe that Wayne is outright better then the entire competition in all those categories? IMO he can't even make an album worth listening too start to finish. But hey it's only to sell magazines in the end and spark convo.

peac3.

 

[Confucius87]

Lyricism/Rhymes =
Poetry =

what's the difference between 'Lyricism/Rhymes' and 'Poetry'?

 

[ImmortalTech]

word up 7.

well, the way i look at it...

A person doesnt have to be an ill lyricist to be poetic. To me Pac was poetic, but not an ill lyricist. And then at the same time u got artist that are just dope lyricist, that I wouldnt consider poetic (ie Pun or L) Then when he's speaking on rhymes, I think he's talking about a person's rhyme scheme. An emcee can have a dope flow, dope lyrics, but he might just a have a repetitive rhyme scheme. for example:

"I aint a killa but dont PUSH ME
Revenge is the sweetest joy next to gettin PUSSY
Picture paragraph UNLOADED
wise words being QUOTED..."-Pac (as u can see this verse has a very simple rhyme scheme

"I hate when it RAINS, cause in PUDDLES I encounter this GUY
Unable to give a REBUTTAL, but swift as the PAIN floods his EYES"-Illogic (thats a more complex rhyme scheme for you)

.. at the end of the day the point is; when measuring skills u can break it down into so many different categories, most of which are subjective depending on personal taste, so crowning somebody 'the best' accurately is damn near impossible. And to me, from outta the things 7 outlined, Wayne, wouldnt be my top pick from either of them. so to me crowning wayne the best is just ridiculous. But to some he might be.. I really dont care.

When assessing an emcee I'd also add shit like

Creativity=
abilty to story tell=
ability to freestyle=
etc.

 

[realBOSTON]

Wayne is hot right now, maybe the biggest right now, but if this article was written 18 months ago, or 18 months from now, i garuntee XXL would not have run the same article. Seriously do people know if this is acurate? XXL isn't this incompetent.

 

[GhettoStar]

Aesop? No way. Wayne? No way. I enjoy Wayne but he spits just as many corny punchlines as he does "damn" ones. My list:

Jay
Nas
Rakim
TI
Ludacris
Ghost
Juelz

in terms of verstility in lyricism. Wayne is cool but really though...if he better then the above list then that speaks on rap music. He makes 1 debatable classic and 1 good CD and people want to annoit him. Its not hating on my part Wayne and me both LA dudes but I think Wayne gets more praise 4 bein a South nigga who does get East Coast on ya.

 

[roaches]

when i saw rap with the control plus b action, i'm referring to this horribly-defined musical thing where the rapper i'm praising has this higher level of consciousness from brain to lungs allowing them to make all sorts of beautiful noise, while completely failing to take into account things like lyrical content and such (not to say i'm implying anything about the substance of the words of any of the folks i mentioned).

oh, let the record show i praised lil wayne before i heard his attempt at a jamaican accent.

 

[DeeezNuuuts83]

I read that article yesterday. Mirroring what most people have already said, he's got a nice style that works, but he's far from being the illest in any measurable way.

 

[linx]

I guess all this hottest rapper in the game shit has to be expected since dude is on every other song you hear now a days. He's still garbage to me regardless. I can't stand the way he sounds, I can't stand the corny lines he says and.. well I just cannot stand him in general I guess. And that's not even me hating on him. I'll give props to someone if I think they deserve it. Props to him for being everywhere and doing his thing, but that doesn't mean he's anything special. He will be to the average radio listener, but that's about it. There's hundreds of rappers better than Wayne.

 

[Ras Masta]

Great April Fools Joke