Nas better than Em?

[CanadaPure]

I haven't actually listened to the official released Encore in...maybe five years.

I put in my stereo while I was driving today.

Instantly regretted it.

[UofLCard]

I'll just go by who has more tracks on my iTunes playlist. That's Eminem.
However......Nas's "Undying Love" (random example) pretty much shits, from a huge height, on whatever Eminem came out with after Relapse.

The Relapse circle jerk is getting a little ridiculous.

I haven't actually listened to the official released Encore in...maybe five years.

Going by only replay value, I think it's actually better than Recovery.

[EminemInsider]

I say we ramp Nas up to 25+ pills per day and see how he raps.

[EminemBase]

It ends up getting so arbitrary trying to objectively decide who is better, lol.

Hmm, not if you define the terms...

aka - Can Nas rhyme better than Eminem?

Can Nas voice-act as well as / better than Eminem?

Can Nas create characters, scenery or detail within stories as well as Eminem?

Is Nas more witty than Eminem?

Can Nas analyze himself or introspect as well as Eminem?

Does Nas have as many flows or creative deliveries?

These are all pretty answerable questions, I think. And I don't think Nas wins a single category.

[EminemBase]

imo, tmmlp is a top 5/10 hip hop album but illmatic is easily #1, flawless from the beginning to the end

nas best albums > Em best albums
Em worst albums > Nas worst albums

homie you got it backwards you're dipping your soup inside your crackers

"Easily"?

What is more creative or brilliant about Illmatic than MMLP?

Smooth, fluid street rhymes over jazzy beats vs. dramatic, theatrical, provocational, witty-as-fuck, daring, thrilling, inventive powerhouse subversion over thumping funk.

Can you name a single song on Illmatic that tops... "The Way I Am", "Stan", "Kim"... "Criminal"... like, seriously - the best Illmatic tracks are (I think) - "NY State of Mind" and half-time; the execution is brilliant but the content and themes are fairly everyday / nothing special...

Where as fucking "Criminal"? it's like a carnival of hilarious psychosis rap.

No Nas album comes close to it.

[Trimss]

Nas has better and more original concepts than Eminem.

[EminemBase]

Nas has better and more original concepts than Eminem.

Lol.

Em's trio of conceptual masterpieces (97 Bonnie and Clyde, Kim, Stan) ether anything Nas has ever or will ever make. There's more creativity in the execution of a few lines of Bonnie and Clyde than entire concepts from Nas. Nas approaches concepts and stories very traditionally.

He's a traditionally great rapper. Not a creative genius.

Making a song expressing the love for your daughter and hatred for your wife at the same time, whilst being hilarious AND sick throughout is genius and Nas has never been as multi-dimensional as that nor does he ever execute things in such conflicted ways.

[Trimss]

Man.. Have you heard I gave you power? Foetus? Rewind? And the dozens or other amazing conceptual tracks Nas made?

Telling a story backwards while having a great flow and good rhyming too isn't impressive enough?

[Trimss]

Yo I'll come back on this thread and explain my point of view in a better way when I'm home.

[EminemBase]

Man.. Have you heard I gave you power? Foetus? Rewind? And the dozens or other amazing conceptual tracks Nas made?

Telling a story backwards while having a great flow and good rhyming too isn't impressive enough?

Yeah I've heard Nas' shit fam... Nas wastes great concepts though. Just because the concept is great doesn't mean the execution is - yes he executes them with detail, fluid and smooth flows and descriptions... but he still approaches stories like every other rapper does.

Eminem actually write dialogue and raps 1st person as characters, which even Slick Rick did but doing it to the degree Em's done on "Stan" is other wordly.

It's all about execution for me. You could have an average concept and make it mind blowing or a mind blowing concept and make it average. Nas' approach is very average, he's not capable of being thrilling; only descriptive and smoothly rhythmic. He's not creatively thrilling...

To me it's the difference between... Tarantino (Em) and... hmmm... I dunno, think of a mildly boring director who still makes good-great movies... Tarantino, like Em, whilst sometimes having brilliant and original concepts... mostly just make average things extraordinary. Take Reservoir Dogs for example; who would have thought a heist movie where you don't see the heist and in fact just hear/see the after-discussions could be so engaging. His dialogue snaps and crackles even if he's talking about utter nonsense, pop culture debates or whether it's something deeper...

Where as there are some writers who drain the life out of the most potentially thrilling ideas. Nas is impressive but never genius, I never think / feel "wow... that is just unreal", I'm never amazed, I'm just quietly impressed, I enjoy it, but it doesn't engage me in ways most other things can't.

Nas is fairly typical.

Eminem is completely extraordinary.

[JAGODA]

I've never liked Nas, tbh.

And I think he has ghostwriters for some of his songs. For example, when you check the writers list for his last album: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Is_Good_(Nas_album), you can see that sometimes is his name written like the last one in the list.

[CrashBand]

It ends up getting so arbitrary trying to objectively decide who is better, lol.

Hmm, not if you define the terms...

I don't actually listen to enough Nas to argue his case, but just when it comes to other rappers who are GOAT candidates it gets pretty arbitrary deciding who's the best overall.

Using your categories, Slug wins some, Eminem wins some, Eyedea wins some.

You defend Encore Em, so I don't expect you to think otherwise, but whatever.

[EminemBase]

It ends up getting so arbitrary trying to objectively decide who is better, lol.

Hmm, not if you define the terms...

I don't actually listen to enough Nas to argue his case, but just when it comes to other rappers who are GOAT candidates it gets pretty arbitrary deciding who's the best overall.

Using your categories, Slug wins some, Eminem wins some, Eyedea wins some.

You defend Encore Em, so I don't expect you to think otherwise, but whatever.

How and when do I defend Encore Em

[Trimss]

I've never liked Nas, tbh.

And I think he has ghostwriters for some of his songs. For example, when you check the writers list for his last album: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Is_Good_(Nas_album), you can see that sometimes is his name written like the last one in the list.

Dude.. They're sorted by alphabetical order of their last name. That's it.. lol Nas doesn't have ghostwriters. He might get some ideas from some people, but he writes his own shit.

Nas is a top 5 dead or alive.

[CrashBand]

How and when do I defend Encore Em

Sorry, bit out of the blue and uncalled for, but you do, lol.

You looooove that shit. Dat flow on Mosh bruv >*

Anyways, neither here nor there. Sorry I brought it up. My point being, it's ultimately arbitrary in deciding who's the greatest overall, what categories do you give more weighting to. Of course you can bring up that Eminem is more witty than X, or Eyedea is more introspective and insightful than X, Slug can create scenery and detail better than X, Nas has better concepts than X, Dead Prez is better at social commentary than X etc etc, you get the picture.