Hip Hop Tournament: Championship
Well, I finally got around to finishing the hip hop tournament. The final is a classic matchup between Nas and Eminem. Lets get to it:
I will be the first to say that I did not think that Nas could regain his form and become a top notch MC again. Boy was I wrong! "Stillmatic" came out swinging and dealt a blow to the previous king of NY, Jay Z. Nas is simply the best MC when he is in a zone. A gifted lyricist, street poet and introspective preacher, Nas does not make songs, he creates sound landscapes. His weakness his himself. When he starts to rap about the "Bling Bling" and the mafioso style he starts to lose focus and his lyrics suffer. He seems to have corrected this problem and his new album is almost 2X platinum. The king has  regained his throne in the East. (Since I have been running this tournament, Nas has signed on with Murder Inc and he has 2 LPs dropping with "The Lost Tapes" and "Gods Son".
He made his solo debut in 1996 with the independent release Infinite, soon followed by the Slim Shady EP; both records made a huge splash in the hip-hop underground, earning notice not only for Eminem's exaggerated, nasal-voiced rapping style but also for his skin color, with many quarters dubbing him the music's next "great white hope." According to legend, Dr. Dre discovered his demo tape on the floor of Interscope label chief Jimmy Iovine's garage, although it was not until Eminem took second place in the freestyle category at 1997's Rap Olympics MC battle in Los Angeles that Dre agreed to sign him. The best-selling Slim Shady LP followed in early 1999, scoring a massive hit with the single and video "My Name Is," plus a popular follow-up in "Guilty Conscience"; over the next year, the album went triple platinum. With such wide exposure, controversy ensued over the album's content, with some harshly criticizing its cartoonish, graphic violence; others praised its edginess and surreal humor, as well as Eminem's own undeniable lyrical skills and Dre's inventive production. In between albums, Eminem appeared on Dre's Dr. Dre 2001, with his contributions providing some of the record's liveliest moments. The Marshall Mathers LP appeared in the summer of 2000, moving close to two million copies in its first week of release on its way to becoming the fastest-selling rap album of all time. His 3rd album, "The Eminem Show" is now 5 times platinum and it has given him the respect and praise he deserves.
Results: This is a classic battle between 2 MC's in their prime. Nas the storyteller versus Eminem the rhyme slayer. On paper this is pretty much a draw, with both master story tellers and lyricists. But I do not like the musical direction Nas may take with Murder Inc. In a move that many see will help Nas get more radio airplay, the first song done with the label is a song that jacks a 2pac song! Nas needs to keep it like he did on his last album. Eminem has been unstoppable as of late and he has been slaying mc's left and right so I choose him has the winner of the tournament for 2002. Stay tuned for our next tournament in a few months and I promise it won't take as long as this one.