The Best Rapper Alive: Lil Wayne’s claimed it. Jay-Z owns it. But what about Eminem or Andre 3000? Nas, T.I., or Game? Snoop, Lupe Fiasco, or…? You decide!

The Best Rapper Alive Tournament has ended. Thank you!

Everyone’s got a favorite rapper. Even your favorite rapper has a favorite rapper.

So we’re taking the debate to the people, to you – fans, Stans, and pros alike. Introducing VIBE Presents…The Best Rapper Alive, an interactive, NCAA-style tournament pitting the 64 top Mcs recording today against each other in a head-to-head competition: All this to determine who you believe to be the best in game.

The first round of voting begins July 21. Each round lasts one week – followed by our version of The Final Four. That’s when the tournament really heats up. Winners of each matchup will be determined by your vote at VIBE.com.

There are four brackets, represented by four of our fallen rap legends. Click on any one of them to begin voting. You can vote once a day for as many days as you like. At the end of five weeks, we’ll crown a king or queen, and the winner will be announced in our November issue.

But voting online is only one part of The Best Rapper Alive competition. Think you know rap like that? Prove it by downloading and printing out the bracket and fill in your predictions for each round, from the play-in game to the ultimate champion. Then mail it to:

The Best Rapper Alive
c/o VIBE
215 Lexington Ave., 6th Floor
New York, N.Y., 10016

» Download printable bracket

Pick a bracket to start voting in :

Notorious B.I.G. bracket Pimp C bracket 2Pac bracket Big Punisher bracket

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Comments

1.

psychosalama says:

ay yal neEd 2 chek out diz rappa named swade

myspace.com/swadetherapper

im not saying he da best rapper alive but he'll take out half da rappaz yal talk about

juz hear da trak killaflow i gotz $$$ on it

2.

itsprolyDEAD says:

em made 2 cds as far as most of are concerned.

hes good, but BEST? far, far from it

3.

itsprolyDEAD says:

Eminem, best rapper, HILARIOUS.

4.

amarzaman says:

Wher the fuk is DMX youve got all these other gay bastard rappers like soulja boy and you left out DMX wtf

5.

errfaaggot says:

hahaha hows bstephans naming all these old as rappers, and even putting slick rick in there, dude if you think slick rick is that deadly, why don't you download the song quitter by eminem, burning the f**k outta him.

6.

hip-hop4life says:

Well clearly not ..... As thousands and thousands voted 4 Eminem 2 win, wether or not its a vibe competition, he won! T.I didnt win, Eminem did. you think T.I is the best ever, but overall Eminem won the competition as the best rapper alive. See what im getting at here ? ..... Eminem won and T.I didn't.

And you'll hit me back with someting like, yeh well a bunch of chicken heads voted, well no, there must be a good few thousand that know what there talking about when it comes to best rapper alive, surely ?

7.

youngtrap says:

T.I is the Best raper alive what is wrong wit yall??..everybody in the Hood know T.I is the best raper alive

8.

etandmuzik says:

To everybody, vibe staff, people that are leaving comments, EVERYBODY!!!!! I cannot believe that Eminem is being voted as the best rapper, I saw the bracket and it wacked, WACKED BIG TIME!!!!! How do you compare real lyrics to rapping about nothing, how did the staff vote are you (the staff) having a mental lapse, how do you vote I will challenge anybody in mc comparison. I used to buy vibe but after this I will have to stop. Big up to having a black president but to have a eminen as the dopest rapper you gots to be kidding what a waste nuff respect to the real MC'S PEACE!!!!!

9.

myemail21239 says:

FINALLY EMINEM IS GETTIN THE RECOGNIZION HE DESERVES. AT LAST AT LAST

10.

hip-hop4life says:

About time, someone else is speaking sense. bpott is damn right. Kanye is good i hand it 2 him, but when comparing him 2 real rappers, he aint got nothing, how can u compare an auto tune 2 real rap ?

And lil waahhhhhh wayne is ..... haha (had 2 laugh) im just trying 2 find a sorry excuse 4 him and i cant, oh my god i cant even believe theres people out there saying hes the best, f**k this man, he should be demoted just 4 saying he's a damn martian

11.

bpottt says:

EMINEM IS THE BEST RAPPER ALIVE!!!
Sold 70Million + Album, 2nd next to Tupac
Jay-Z got owned in track "Renegade", even Nas agreed " Eminem murdered you on your own shit"
Tha Carter III & Paper Trail being one of the best selling albums in 08?? Once Em's bringing his new album Relapse, Lil Wayne & T.I. is nothing..
btw.. Kayne?? really?? the mofo's being producer/rapper now singer using f**king auto tune?? honestly wtf?? are you trying to be T-pain?

12.

hip-hop4life says:

I agree man, where is krayzie bone ? ..... and bizzy bone ?

And why the hell is Bstephens12 naming artists that havent rapped in 20 years ? why are you saying chuck D is better than eminem ? why you naming such artists like killer mike, AZ, joe buddens, lupe, kool G rap in the same league as eminem ?

O yeh joe budden, that guy that disappeared after pump it up.
AZ who cant seem to get out the way of the shadow of Naz!
That southern cat killer mike who hasnt come close to selling the amount of records eminem has, matter fact what has he contributed in rap ?
Ghostface killah, dawg please, u heard his last two albums, i got them both ..... whack!
Slick who ? that retired guy who featured on chamillionaires album, then sat back in his retirement chair.

Do u know rap these days ? it has CHANGED, the sooner you people realise then the sooner all this wont mean a thing. Honestly, eminem is still rapping, when did chuckd do anything ? kool g rap and most others on your list. why ?

13.

kray89903 says:

man...wussup wit krayzie bone...why isnt he on the list...he is the greatest rapper alive...hands down...cant nobody in the game see him...he got the lyrics and style...hes the most underrated rapper...people gotta open they eyes

14.

BStephens12 says:

Krs One
Rakim
Big Daddy Kane
Kool G
Slick Rick
LL
Scarface
Common
Cube
Chuck D
Snoop
Nas
AZ
Jay Z
Raekwon
Ghostface Killah
Andre Three Stacks
Method Man
Redman
Busta Rhymes
Redman
Twista ( Adredline Rush Era)
97 or Earlier
Lupe Fiasco
Beanie Siegal
Joe Buddens
Killer Mike
Kayne West

27 emcees that are better than Em, the 97 and above take all of Em's joints (five not in including the one before Dre that couldn't get him signed) and compare them to all of the emcees. You'll see were he got his style from and why he can't be the best alive he doesn't have stripes and I'm not talking about b/c he's white, he hasn't put the work in bottom line. Three he can't touch if they came out of retirement, Rakim "the master", KRS One "the teacher", Big Daddy, Kool G, and Slick Rick "the story teller". How can he be the best without a dope album in eight years? He can't touch Lupe with a 10 foot pole, do the math!!! He can touch Joe Buddens with a 10 fool pole. He was nice, but Twista was to in 97 and so are a 100 other ones over the last 20 years. Bust it, in the high standard era, he couldn't make it. If Big Pac, Pun, Big L were still here the game would be decreased by 90% at least. Em would have fallen by the way side, or may not even made it through the door. And media and others he's one of the better emcees, but quit being bias cause he's white, he has to pay dues like everybody else baby!!! This is Hip Hop, we don't give out s*** free. The media is the only one that does that. And Loner Hip Hop is critical of any emcee, the white card is mostly thrown out if you can spit and do your reasearch BRUH!!

Respect
Hip Hop 4 Life
Knowledge

15.

Frsk420 says:

I agree with a lot of the picks but Were is Mac Dre
C-bo the west coast didn't.
c-bo , mac dre smashes half of the rappers in the contest. (Puffy really you put him in this contest).
he don't even get a sympathy vote!!!!!!!

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