The Best MC Ever, Ever.

As a musical art form Hip-Hop is now over 30yrs old, which means that it is very much an adult. Using words that rhyme and or sound alike over a beat and melodic tunes, while delivering it with a flow or cadence or harmony is a skill that not many are able to do well...especially those of a child-like mentality. For those who have become professional at showcasing the craft with integrity the rewards have been great. Money, cars, women and or men (or both for some) for the better than average artist...and for the superstars of the genre a career of which families are fed, tax brackets raised sevenfold and extreme attitudes permanently adjusted for the better.
Many arguments have been made as to who is the best MC or rapper. The term ' Top 5 Dead or Alive' has become daily discussion around the world among those who follow Hip-Hop. If you have ever passed by one of these animated discussions I'm sure you thought that you were listening to Senate committee debates on gun control or defense spending. Everyone has their favorite rapper, and reasons as to why that rapper is better than any other person's favorite.
In order for an artist to warrant this type of notoriety he must have proved himself time and time again as one of the leaders of the pack by displaying a superb verbal performance. All of the corporate tools of the trade can not fool the true connoisseurs of the culture, marketing campaigns and promotional hype mean nothing, manufactured super stories of supreme criminality and street prowess by a publicist are laughed at by us who know better. We want style, we want originality, we want honesty, we want lyrics, we want an MC.
On the heels of his 11th number one selling studio album Shawn Jay-Z Carter has cemented the top spot as a rapper, an MC, an artist or entertainer, for now and for ever. Not only has he made a great run in the industry as a rapper, but as a man he has matured and given the world a standard by which all MC's should be artistically judged.
For most people Hip-Hop began in 1979 and had its renaissance in 1986, in that year lyrical expression of the Hip-Hop culture took on a matchless complexity using intelligent messages, witty flows and unpredictable word-play. Since that year many have come into the our witness and many more have gone. Today only two artist of that era remain worth mentioning, LL Cool J and KRS-1 aka The Teacher. With an audience as fickle as the Hip-Hop community props has to be given to anyone good enough to have lasted more than five years on the stage, the two have 25 and 24 years on the Mic respectively. Both are excellent showmen and have catalogues of 10 albums or more, both are articulate and esteemed representatives of the culture but both have fallen off.
After the renaissance of 1986 there have been years in which MC's have further pushed the envelope setting elevated measures of development in the art form, in 88-89 we got Posdanous (De La Soul) and in 1990 we received Busta Rhymes, Trech, Scarface and of course Redman. In 1993 we can argue that a second evolution of the culture came on and it blessed us with Nas, Biggie, and The Wu. With every rhyme came an intensely new vision, new narcissism and new claim of Rap dominance.
When Shawn Carter entered the record industry as an artist he was at a clear disadvantage, the Rap world was filled with Backpack MC's, Rap crews, conscious rappers and West Coast supremacy of the Billboard charts. He had no "image" and his style was his own...a Brooklyn, NY narcotics peddler draped with the streets and knowledge of the hustle. His rhymes were specialized and could only be truly understood by those who either lived that lifestyle or knew of the people who did. His audience was made almost entirely of women and men who finally had someone telling their story, the quiet people in the back of the clubs with expensive bottles at their side...the loud cars outside of the venue belonged to them, women with costly shoes and large butts with larger amounts of cash in their designer bags knew his lingo well. This lingo and sub-society wasn't new to those in Hip-Hop because most rappers and DJ's were in their circles, and knew that these people were earning more than them by 10 X's, but it was not exposed to the masses yet.
Jay-Z came through and song after song enticed that element of the community to show face, giving them a reason to be proud of their 'status', as well as a possible way out of the hustle. While the many others in Hip-Hop were racing to get the crowds to dance or to drop science on them, Mr. Carter began to paint a picture. Using what was assessable to him at the time he embarked on a journey that has blessed us with arguably the most prolific lyrics ever. Line after line, verse after verse and song after song he has won over fan after fan and encouraged them with a steady order to be better than you were yesterday, to have pride in their ability to overcome, and to remain upright in the face of all odds. He did not have a movement of tongues that effectively led hundreds of thousands to colleges, nor did he pump a nation towards nationalistic pride but he has during the course of his time let millions peek into his world...showing that our world is not so much different, all the while destroying any challengers to that title, the best MC ever!