Jay-Z, Eminem & Nas...The 3 Kings of Hip Hop

I think people can argue all day about who is the best, who was the best, or who is the greatest, but I can confidently say that Nas, Jay-Z and Eminem are the 3 kings of hip hop right now...they are like the holy trinity of the rap game. Remember that there is a difference between a King and a Knight...note that.



 Please, bring your argument on right now, I am in that mode. I have been listening to rap music religiously since 1995, and those 17 years, I watched trends come and go; i have watched rappers sell millions that are nolonger remembered today. But these 3? No other rappers have done what they have done...there are no other rappers like them in the game right now.




I love Big and Pac, and unlike the millions of people that just talk ignorantly about these two, I listened to their music while they were alive. I didn't start listenning to them after their deaths. They were great, and i give them the honour, but we can't be stuck in the past forever. I really don't like when people say Biggie is still the best rapper ever...come on! Jay-Z and Nas were around then, and they are still around now. And even then, they were peers, it is not like Nas and Jay were bowing to Pac and Biggie...they were peers.




I've tried to make my point with the above issue...i said i tried, because a lot of people would still disagree with me, but I just wanted to state a point. Okay, let's go on. These 3- Nas, Jay-Z and Eminem are the greatest as far as i am concerned. And I am not putting anyone above the other; I used to do that, but I now know that it is meaningless...they are very different.  I am not going to use sales alone to stress their greatness; if we were using that, Nas would be off the list fast, and Eminem would difinitely be in a higher league than the two, but they have been able to make great music, and prove time and time again why they should be respected.




As much as people say Jay-Z is "too" commercial or what not, you have to note that he came in the game with the aim of being the greatest... making great songs and still retaining his skills. I missed out on a lot of Jay-Z songs from the late 90s and early 00s cos I was a die-hard Nas fan, and they were going through their beef thing then, so i didn't listen to his music. But i did listen to The Blueprint, and i can say that album is one of the best rap albums ever made. You have to separate rappers that can rap all day all night, from those that also got those mad skills, and top it up with making great songs; Jay-Z is at the top of the list of rappers in the latter.




Which other rapper you know in rap history that never jumps on any trends, and still makes commercially successful tracks, and has the longevity that Jay-Z has? Think about it...none. You and I know he is a great rapper...behind all the success, he is still a great rapper. This is the reason Nas and Jay -Z clashed in the first place. And it is the reason why, 11 years after the beef, people still continue to argue on who is better. Do you think the beef would have divided the whole hip hop listening world to two halves if they weren't the greatest at the time?




Now, nas on the other hand, is rappers rapper. I haven't seen so many rappers say they think another rapper is the best like they have with Nas. Busta Rhymes said he thinks Nas is the best rapper in the world back in 2009, Common said something similar last year...these are meant to be his peers, and it must mean something for them to say that. They say that because, as hard to accept as it might seem, Nas is is one of, if not the most rounded rapper in the game. He is a great story teller, a teacher, he got that flow, he has the dope delivery, and he makes great songs, without bending his art form to sound commercial. He is not the one with the best delivery, or the best flow, but he enbodies all that in his style.




Eminem on the other hand...em! Hmm! I don't know where to start. He would outshine any rapper on a song with his delivery alone. I think the only rapper that has been able to match him on that level is Royce Da 5'9. But Eminem is much more than that. I heard a lot of people saying Eminem would have been this great if he was black. I agree that he might not have sold as much, but that doesn't take anything away from him skill-wise. He has crazy wordplay, his flow is sick, his delivery is ridiculous, his story telling abilities are up there with Slick Rick and Nas. All these have nothing to do with the fact that he is white, people need to accept this.


This decade and the last, this three rappers have been consistent, and showed time and time, album after after album that they are the greatest. I don't think there is one G.O.A.T (Greatest Of All Time), I think there are a couple of G.O.A.Ts, and these three are the ones that I recognise for now as the 3 kings of Hip Hop...and G.O.A.Ts in their rights.