79 - Eminem

At number 79 is Eminem. Eminem is the first, but most definitely not the last, rapper on the countdown.

Wiki - Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), better known by his stage name Eminem (Stylized EMINƎM), or Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Eminem quickly gained popularity in 1999 with his major-label debut album The Slim Shady LP, which won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. The following album, The Marshall Mathers LP, became the fastest-selling solo album in history. It brought Eminem increased popularity, including his own record label, Shady Records, and brought his group project D12 to mainstream recognition.

The Marshall Mathers LP and his third album, The Eminem Show also won Grammy Awards, making Eminem the first artist to win Best Rap Album for three consecutive LP's. He then won the award again in 2010 for his album Relapse, giving him a total of 11 Grammys in his career. In 2002, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Lose Yourself" from the film 8 Mile, in which he also played the lead. "Lose Yourself" would go on to become the longest running #1 hip-hop single. Eminem then went on hiatus after touring in 2005. He released his first album since 2004's Encore, titled Relapse, on May 15, 2009. Eminem is the best-selling artist of the decade, and has sold more than 80 million albums worldwide to date, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world. Eminem was ranked 82nd on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All-Time.

He was also named the Best Rapper Ever by Vibe magazine. Including his work with D12, Eminem has achieved eight #1 albums on the Billboard Top 200 and 12 number one singles worldwide. In December, 2009 Eminem was named the Artist of the Decade by Billboard Magazine. His albums The Eminem Show, The Marshall Mathers LP, and Encore (in order) ranked as the 3rd, 7th, and 40th best album of the 2000-2009 decade by Billboard Magazine. According to Billboard, Eminem has two of his albums among the top five highest selling albums of the 2000s.

Discography -

The Slim Shady LP
The Marshall Mathers LP
The Eminem Show
Encore
Relapse

(note: leaving The MMLP and the Eminem Show on the same list as Relapse is slightly mortifying for me)

Best Songs -

Just Don't Give a Fuck
My Name Is
Guilty Conscience
The Real Slim Shady
The Way I Am
Stan
Without Me
Lose Yourself
Sing for the Moment
Like Toy Soldiers

All of these songs are off of albums other than 2009's Relapse, which suffered from the current state that hiphop is in. I thought that Eminem had lost it, but the verse he drops on the song "Forever" (the one with Kanye, Lil Wayne and Drake) knocks all three of theirs combined.

Eminem does two different things, and does these two things very well. One, he makes songs that are ridiculously fun, that have hilarious videos that go with them (My Name Is, Real Slim Shady, Without Me). The other thing he does is make songs that intense/deep/real (Stan, Cleaning Out My Closet, Like Toy Soldiers) that are written so well lyrically. He is truely one of the most talented rappers of all time and I have all the respect in the world for him to be able to last as long as he has in the fickle world of hip-hop.

Because i couldn't choose which way i wanted to go with the music selection, i picked one of each his styles. Here's LIKE TOY SOLDIERS and THE REAL SLIM SHADY.




next up: a band that has one of the most beautiful songs of all time