Is Eminem the 2000's Best? Pt. One of Two

There hasn't been too much juicy hip-hop news lately, but there was something that stuck out to me yesterday. Marshall Mathers (Eminem, Slim Shady) received the Soundscan "Artist of the Decade" Award on Wednesday. The award was given to Eminem for his incredible sales from 2000-2009, as he outsold artists such as N'Sync, Brittany Spears, and Christina Aguilera.

Now remember, this wasn't an "Artist of the Decade" for just hip-hop, this was for music in general. It's hard to argue the award going to anyone other than Slim when you look at these numbers:

- Both The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show sold over 10 million units a piece and were certified diamond

- Encore (Eminem's weakest album to date) sold over eleven million copies and was certified diamond as well

- Slim Shady's Curtain Call, a greates hits album, nearly went double platinum, as it almost sold seven million copies

- His most recent album, Relapse, was able to achieve platinum status before the new decade commenced

- Eminem sold a grand total of 80 million albums worldwide (32 million domestically) over the span of 2000-2009, making him the top selling artist of the decade

- He also became the highest selling rap artist ever after his release of Relapse last year

Those are pretty impressive numbers, and I'm pretty sure that they settle the debate on who was the most successful artist of the decade. But do Eminem's ridiculous sales tell us that he was the best rapper in general?

I decided to look for the answer to this question by using a set of criteria that would show who was the best rapper in quality, rather than sales. Here's how it works, to be eligible, a rapper must:

- Have at least three albums released from 2000-2009
- Have released at least one album between 2000-2004,and one between 2005-2009

This formula is a way to be fair to who was the best rapper for an ENTIRE decade. That means these MC's get eliminated right off the bat: Lupe Fiasco, Raekwon, Drake, Wale, Kid CuDi, and Wiz Khalifa. Each of those MC's listed have made their mark in hip-hop already, but only over the past few years. The only artist that I had trouble putting on that list was Lupe, but he only released two albums in the 2000's, and they both came after 2005, so it wouldn't be fair to say that Lupe was the best for a ten year span.

That leaves us with the finalists for the top MC of the decade. Now, there were still a lot of rappers that fit the previous criteria, so I had to make another formula to cut it down to only five MCs. I looked at commercial success, consistency, at least one album that could be considered a "classic", and that artists impact on hip-hop in general. I didn't devise points for this because it would get too complicated, so I made my own judgments on who who made the cut and who didn't. After looking at some of the decade's top artists, here's who I came up with:

- Eminem
- Jay-Z
- Nas
- Lil Wayne
- Kanye West

These are all household names that dominated households in the past decade. It wasn't easy eliminating some artists, so here are the honorable mentions. . .
HONORABLE MENTION

Mos Def - The New Danger (2004), True Magic (2006), The Ecstatic (2009)
Also known as "Pretty Flacco", Dante Smith-Bey had a solid decade. He had two albums chart in the top ten of the Billboard 200 (The New Danger and The Ecstatic) and was prevalent in popular culture as he starred in numerous movies during that period. He also had a critically acclaimed album in The Ecstatic, which was his best album since his debut, Black on Both Sides. What hurt Def was his album, True Magic, only reached #77 on the charts and his only strong album of the decade was The Ecstatic. Mos Def has a lot of momentum heading into this decade, but his previous one was just good, not great.

Game - The Documentary (2004), Doctor's Advocate (2006), LAX (2008)

This was a very tough decision for me, being that Game was very instrumental in helping bring back the west coast in the 2000's. Each of his albums was met with favorable reviews, including The Documentary, which was tremendous. He was also incredibly successful when it came to sales. Both The Documentary and Doctor's Advocate went #1 on the Billboard 200, and LAX peaked at #2. So what hurt Game? His albums, stacked up against the other five finalists, came up short, but just barely (I explain why when I discuss the finalists). Game certainly was one of the decade's best, but as for the top five, he only had "Dreams".

50 Cent - Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2003), The Massacre (2004), Curtis (2007), Before I Self Destruct (2009)
I know people will disagree with me on this one, and I can see their point to some degree. Eminem may have sold the most albums, but 50 Cent was one of the faces of hip-hop after he released Get Rich or Die Tryin'. His background has become general knowledge and we all remember bumpin' to at least three or four 50 Cent songs in the past 10 years. He had two #1 albums, Get Rich and The Massacre, and his other two albums charted in the top five. Here however, is where 50 struggled compared to the other five, consistency and quality. Yes, Get Rich was very well received by critics and many have referred to it as a classic, but 50 never matched the quality of his first album. In fact, his albums deteriorated with each one he released. 50 also is one of the artists responsible for giving hip-hop such a negative image in the past 10 years. Many of his songs were about sex, guns, murder, money, and drugs. N.W.A. started this stereotype, but 50 emphasized it. He may be the richest MC in hip-hop, but he's not the decade's best.

Common - Like Water for Chocolate (2000), Electric Circus (2002), Be (2005), Finding Forever (2007), Universal Mind Control (2009)
Common probably would've been a finalist, had it not been for one major misstep. Common began the decade with what would be one of the 2000's bests, Like Water for Chocolate. The album saw a return to the former Common that was so good on Resurrection. He released another great album in Be, and Finding Forever was also well received. Universal Mind Control was where Common lost his sense, and although it was commercially very successful, it was aimed too mainstream and the rapper lost credibility as one of hip-hop's best with it. He still was one of the best from the 2000's, but one very bad album and one with mixed reviews (Electric Circus) hurt Common's consistency factor, leaving him looking in from the outside.