Are Biggie and Tupac considered the greatest rappers of all-time because they died in the height of their careers? Would they still be considered the best if they were still alive today? These are questions that have been brought up time and time again and really make me wonder what hip-hop music would be like today with the presence of these two legends.
A lot of rappers, rap legends even, start off their careers with some of the best music they will ever put out, and their careers slowly tail off after that. The Notorious BIG, or Biggie Smalls, is considered by many to be the greatest rapper of all-time. MTV2 ranks him the number two rapper of all-time behind Tupac himself. http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/interviews/id.236/title.mtv-2-list-of-22-greatest-mcs
When Biggie was alive he only released one album. That’s crazy. To be considered the greatest at what you do and to only have released one album when you are alive. About.com ranks this album as the 5th greatest hip-hop album of all-time. http://rap.about.com/od/toppicks/ss/Top100RapAlbums_10.htm
But what about the other four rap albums ranked ahead of Biggie’s Ready to Die? Nas’s album, Illmatic, is ranked on this same list as the greatest hip-hop album ever released. This was the first album he ever released and it actually came out when he was nineteen years old. My age, that’s insane. So what if Nas died right after Illmatic’s release? Would he then be considered the greatest of all-time? Who knows?
Nas is still alive though, and he has continued to release material, most of which is incredible, but it is not on the same level that Illmatic was on, nothing ever will be. This has happened with many other artists like Dr. Dre whose first solo studio album The Chronic is ranked by about.com as the 10th greatest album of all time, but he is sometimes excluded out of the list of the top 5 rappers of all-time, like on MTV2’s list. So seriously think about it. Who would be the greatest rapper of all-time if Biggie and Tupac were still alive? It has been said that Eminem would be considered the best of all-time if he died after his third studio release, The Marshall Mathers LP. Maybe it still would be them, who knows? This can only leave us guessing until a new greatest is decleared.
P.S. For personal records I think Eminem is BY FAR the greatest rapper of all-time by I wrote this blog from the general consensus.
The passing of an artist in their prime leaves behind a sea of “What if”s favorable towards the direction of the individual. Tupac, for example, will probably be heralded as one of the best for the future of hip hop just because there is such a respect for his work and the direction he was heading.
Fame and popularity were exponentially raised because of their deaths and I agree. But to have so many notably jams from one album, that takes talent. The “best rapper that could have been” is probably a better title for Biggie and Pac.
I think this is a really interesting perspective, and I think you’re right. Maybe if they had lived longer, they would not be considered the “best.” But you have to look at it in perspective: Biggie only produced one album, and I’ve only heard some of it, but it was amazing. The proportion of years active to quality produced is so high, and he never really had a chance to flop. Artists who are around longer, who produce more, can sell out or burn out. But he never had the chance. Excellent post; I really enjoyed it.