It's been said that if Eminem was born in another era he could have been Shakespeare.
He's on everyone's top ten list. In the running for Greatest of All Time. Eminem has a sense of rhythm and mastery of the English language unmatched by any rapper past and present. He is the best selling artist of the 2000s decade. Even among the most legendary rappers, Eminem stands out, as he's able to string ideas into words in ways nobody else can even think of. He's arguably the musical version Einstein or Newton, after all...geniuses are just humans who are able to make the mental connections that us mortals cannot.
Also, he won an Oscar.
What's your favorite verse by Eminem? I'll start...elfinke said:
No Love was the song from Recovery where you were like, he's back!! The whole song is only two verses and the chorus only sung twice (in the middle and at the end). Eminem's verse starts at 2:42 and is relentless til it ends a minute and a half later.
1) Eminem - No Love (ft Lil Wayne) - skip to 2:31
Em has this habit of basically destroying every other rapper on songs he's featured on, making them look like kindergarteners. For the host artist, it's pretty much guaranteed that he will be outshined by Eminem, but on the other hand chances are it'll probably be a really good song. Some examples:
2) Drake - Forever (ft Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Eminem) - skip to 4:46
It's important to listen to the entire song so you can see just how much Eminem outclasses his peers (all of whom are highly regarded, so this is saying a lot), that it's almost embarrassing. Every time I hear this verse, I have to yell the bolded part with him, it's just that awesome.
3) Jay-Z - Renegade (ft Eminem) - skip to 1:20
This song is the subject of Nas's line "...and Eminem murdered you on your own shit" from his infamous Jay-Z diss, Ether. He delivers a specific point coherently across two amazingly well crafted verses. It's a poem that works even in the absence of any music.
4) T.I. - That's All She Wrote (ft Eminem) - skip to 3:24
Listen closely and notice the following highlighted part, where he raps so fast (which is what he's rapping about) that you almost can't catch what he's saying (which he also notes). And the genius thing is he accelerates to and then decellerates from exactly twice the speed of the tempo (double time) that it works flawlessly with the beat.
According to the math on RapGenius, Em is saying he can spit 120 insults in the time it takes other rappers to spit 2.
5) Eminem & Royce da 5'9" - I'm On Everything - skip to 3:04
Royce and Em have a really creative series of exchanges in this track.
6) 50 Cent - My Life (ft Eminem, Adam Levine) - skip to 1:24
7) The Game - We Ain't (ft Eminem) - skip to 1:50
The multis are insane in this one! He somehow rhymes "Only Dre can" and "mistakes I'm making" through the entire verse.
8) Nicki Minaj - Roman's Revenge (ft Eminem) - skip to 1:22 - lyrics
9) B.O.B - Airplanes Pt 2 (ft Eminem, Hayley Williams) - skip to 3:06 - lyrics - Notice the change in tone of the whole verse at "Pretend he even had a friend to say was his friend"
This is his best freestyle ever in my opinion. He MURDERS it:
10) Eminem - Dispicable - lyrics
Eminem is also the king of multisyllabic rhymes, hidden rhymes, and he goes on sprints with multiple parts of several lines rhyming in different places. Here are some examples:
11) Eminem - The Way I Am
12) Eminem - Lose Yourself
13) Eminem - Till I Collapse
14) 50 Cent - Patiently Waiting (ft Eminem) - skip to 1:32
Here's 25 To Life off his latest album, Recovery. There's a mind blowing plot twist at the end.
15) Eminem - 25 To Life - lyrics
Here's Rabbit Run, from the 8 Mile soundtrack. The entire song is one verse, no chorus.
16) Eminem - Rabbit Run - lyrics
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Some additional tracks worth mentioning:
