The Best Rapper Alive Is...

by: Jozen Cummings

When VIBE decided to let the people decide The Best Rapper Alive, we just wanted to have a little fun. But with a final tally exceeding 920,000 votes, it’s safe to say we touched a nerve. Since the competition began on July 21, the NCAA tournament – style bracket sparked bedlam. T.I.? Nas? Joe Budden? Rick Ross? Decisions had to be – and were – made.

In the early rounds there were few upsets, as most of the higher-seeded competitors triumphed. Until the final eight MCs remained, it looked as though all four No. 1 seeds – Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Eminem, and Andre 3000 – would land in the final four. But then, the bark of underdogs could be heard in the distance.

The lesser of the two upsets took place in the Big Punisher bracket. Andre was defeated by No. 3 seed The Game, just as his album, LAX (Geffen), was impacting nationwide. In the Pimp C bracket, Lil Wayne, the man who many thought would take home the title, lost to Ludacris, also a No. 3 seed. Unfortunately for The Game and Luda die-hards, Cinderella would not be anyone’s date to the big dance. Jay-Z and Eminem easily beat out Ludacris and Game respectively, setting up a titanic final matchup. In the end, Eminem prevailed in a surprising landslide victory. Despite no proper album releases, since 2004’s, Encore (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope), 69 percent of the votes went to Detroit’s native son easily outpacing office favorite Jay-Z’s 31 percent.

"It’s obviously an honor to have won the fans' support by being voted the Best Rapper Alive,” Eminem said in response to his victory. “I don't think that there is any one rapper that is simply the best though. Everyone who was in consideration and many others are the best at certain things, and at what they do. But since VIBE's offering the distinction, hell yeah I'll accept!"

But no matter the victor, one thing was clear: The debate about who The Best Rapper Alive is (or is not) lives on. We just might have to do it again next year.

For a complete breakdown of all the matches, go to VIBE.com/bestrapper.

By Roman Wolfe

Rapper Eminem will host an exclusive release party in New York on October 21 in celebration of his second book, The Way I Am.

The Way I Am is a collection of Eminem’s personal stories, photographs, artwork, never before seen lyrics and reflections.

The book, which also comes with a DVD featuring unreleased interviews and personal footage of Eminem, lands in the stores the same days is the rapper’s event, which is being held at a secret location.

Fans will be able to listen in to the event via Eminem’s Shade 45 Sirius satellite radio station, which will broadcast from the venue with hosts Angela Yee, Drama King DJ Kay Slay, while producer The Alchemist will man the turntables.

According to Eminem’s longtime friend and manager Paul Rosenberg, the book has several unique features that will be attractive to the rapper’s fan base.

"A couple of my favorite things about the book are the cover and the detachable lyric sheets," Rosenberg said. "The cover is a red acetate film that slides over the traditional book print. The red jacket masks the collage of Em's handwritten lyrics on top of the underlying photo... you kind of have to see it to really get the effect. Also inside the book in the back are several perforated pages which one can pull out of the book. On these pages are reproductions of Em's actual lyric sheets for songs like 'Stan' and 'Lose Yourself.'"

According to Rosenberg, despite Eminem’s superstar status and proven sales record, seeing the rapper’s vision through was not an easy feat.

"I fought hard for the book to have the pages detachable because there is something special about being able to hold the actual page in your hand and turn it around and around to decipher what Em's semi-legible writing is saying," Rosenberg continued. "You have to really see the lyric sheets to fully understand what I'm describing."

Eminem’s 208-page book The Way I Am hits stores October 21 on Dutton Adult, a division of The Penguin Group.