What Separates Eminem From His Peers?

[VINTAGƎ]

I've thought about this constantly. Sure, he's lyrical, but so are a lot of underground dudes. His beat selection is hit or miss compared to guys who are well known for selecting hot beats, so it's not that. Maybe it's his ability to connect to the listener with relatable material. He's not claiming to be a gangster or a drug dealer, etc.

I think above all else, it's his versatility. I thought that line on Rap God "throw on Lose Yourself and make em lose it," was a sharp line. If you look at it the way I do (which may be a reach), but he can get all serious and motivational (Lose Yourself) and then get silly (Just Lose It) and his credibility is in tact.

When he's angry, we believe him. We take him seriously. When he makes videos dressed in drag, we laugh.

Other emcees have boxed themselves in, in my opinion. They get too caught up in their image and it limits their creativity. They decide, I'm gonna be a hard rapper, or a club rapper, or whatever it is they choose to be, and that's it. Anytime they break away from that, it comes off as try hard, or weird. They're stuck being one note artists and eventually their material gets stale.

I think Eminem's versatility is the reason he's outlasted many other emcees. The reason he's been this popular for this long.

What do you think sets him apart from his peers?

[yoda you can call me]

definitely his versatility as helped with the longevity, he has tremendous dedication and a fighting spirit that never dissipates over time, Rakim recognized ems dedication and praised him for it..

[RSoares]

In a nutshell, it's versatility like you said. That's what is more obvious. I listen to a 2Pac or Nas album and you barely listen different flows from one song to another. Em can do it.. in the same song!

The other two are really good, lyrically and stuff. But Em has that touch of a real emcee who can do everything he wants on a mic. He can spit the most fucking stupid shit and be great at it. Relapse it's him raping and killing women and it's absolutely amazing. If it was another rapper recording that album wouldn't be near the great album Em made with it.

And what really makes the difference is that he's in the game for almost 20 years and he still can do something different than he ever done and surprise everybody.

[Kill You]

Em honestly resonates with a lot of people. He's a rapper truly dedicated to his craft. Mainly like others have said, his versatility is a big one. He also has a very unique voice, and it's actually a good voice for hip hop too. The way he crafts his lyrics is different from any other artist imo, Eminem just uses (usually) the perfect words for his rhymes. He uses and rhymes words like it's nothing. Listen to Rap God. That's what separates him from his peers in a nutshell.

No other rapper has ever made a song as masterful, inspiring, and brilliant as Lose Yourself. And I don't believe anyone ever will. Even Eminem said he'll never write another song like it. He made the greatest hip hop song of all time. He defined a generation, many people were raised on his music.

[EminemBase]

His charisma and the energy, dramatic nature and precision of his deliveries.

As well as - self-deprecating humour (almost everybody else in rap is so so concerned with being a man, and being cool, they take themselves very seriously), his ability to write introspectively in a truly meaningful way that connects (many do it, but few connect or feel authentic or affecting), the intensity of his ideas and the layers of parable and self-reference; all good rappers do this to some degree, but the way Em does it, building himself as this fictional villain... which actually HAS caused real world outrage (which makes it sound all the more real) - the layers of self-analysis.

Also, when he's at his best - I don't think anybody has his way with words. Apart from all those things I've just mentioned - the way he chooses to phrase things vs. how they could be phrased (again, when on-point) is always different and unique to how others would and do phrase them, and he also writes in more legible and longform full sentences... he uses less slang and shortcuts which is why his thoughts don't really 'age' or sound dated, because they're very literal and conversationally-flowing thoughts, he doesn't necessarily break things up in to neat rap chunks, he speaks to the listener. And his ability to cram so many dense rhymes and ideas in to a verse.

Plenty of people rhyme well, phrase nicely, speak to the listener etc. but I've yet to hear anybody who does it close to as well as Em @ the effectiveness of communication, irony, storytelling. And some of the underground guys who some on here endlessly praise and who quote as great lyricists... their lyrics are embarrassingly weak, and cringingly bad, and things I would write at 15. and it's cringing how some here think they're profound or they've 'grown out of Eminem', showing they in fact did not get Em properly to begin with and are happier with a much weaker product which is more point-blank, and pretentious, and psuedo-intellectual, but to them feels more adult. Lol.

[yoda you can call me]

also his dimples.
spot on eminembase

[Snakebeast]

He's white.

[Iris2]

He's a complete natural. Most of the time, what he's doing is just 'Hip-Hop' or he thinks so. But, he's a very intuitive musician. He has subconsciously figured out the characters, moods and the melodies inherent in words. For example, in Headlights, how everything starts getting intense when he goes 'I guess I had to get this off my chest....', he's already following the rhyme scheme of Debbie Mathers/Every Address but he tries to project a deeper emotion along the same lines when he thought of a chance death and resentment. It's as if he was going to die with his mother flashing before his eyes.

Then, in Legacy, the symbolism of the rain and we also get to hear him trying to lit up a match and little maniacal laughs here and there. Employing effects like this along with the rhythm and the rhymes of the lyrics, he projects a full emotion that you expect to feel as a person. He doesn't try to exaggerate emotions to great heights and with his fear of pretentious superficiality in his lyrics, it's as if he's instilling 'Eminem' inside you. With his emotions disjointed as his stream of consciousness and perfectly stringed along, you get attached to him as he shows you the world all through himself. No one has ever done this. His music has just the right character and the right amount of emotions not to mention his diction, his humour and various poetic devices. So, you get why his fans are so emotionally involved in everything he does. In celebration and disappointment with his work, his fans always come back.

He's a special artist.

[Shuttle Destroyer]

The fact that nobody is better than him

[VINTAGƎ]

Great responses so far guys

@Embase -- great point about his self deprecating humor.

Maybe there are others out there who do it, but commercially, I can't think of any.

He pokes fun of himself. He's comfortable enough to do so. Some guys are so image obsessed it becomes comical. People like Jay-Z who make it a point to never have an uncool moment when they know a camera is on them. It's sad. I mean I understand they're trying to build a brand, but artistically, you limit yourself.

When he can say "surely you don't wanna talk about how I nutted early cause I ejaculated prematurely," and it hits harder against his target than it does him, that's insane.

His sense of self awareness is also incredible. He's just very honest as an artist. Honest with himself, honest to his fans. No bullshit.

I think another reason why he's lasted this long is because people like him as a person. He just seems very down to Earth. Like the rap Aaron Paul. People are always gonna support humble celebrities with no ego.

[The Asshole]

At least for me there are a couple of reasons I am drawn to Em

First his ability to just make raw emotional songs that resonate with me that make me feel he has gone through some similar issues or feelings I have. Also his versatility to adapt to many different styles and flows compared to many other artists is a by refreshing. Of course the lyracism is a big draw. He also has a tremendous sense of humor that few other rappers can match. The self awareness and ability to be self depreciating compared to man artists who want to like the baddest ass ever (except for Nas and maybe one or two other guys.) along with being extremely humble and the way I kind f see as just happy to be able to do what he does attitude.

also those blue eyes dimples that he looks like me an that he's produced by Dre

[CrashBand]

if you scream you don't give a fuck, only he means it.

[CrashBand]

oh, and he has a small penis

[unmissingpiece]

His skin colour.
Partially.

[VINTAGƎ]

His skin colour.
Partially.

A very small part. Asher Roth, Mackelmore, Mac Miller, Action Bronson, Necro etc don't have the career Em has had. Nor do most rap artists no matter their color. Fuck. Nor do most musicians period.