Would Eminem have risen to prominence if Biggie and Pac were still alive?

[brad]

The rap game can be so fickle, so you never know.

Biggie and Pac seem to represent each area in which Eminem dominates the industry today....album sales and airplay, which is pretty much the catalyst for his alleged "greatness."

Pac, at his peak, was moving album units...no more or less than what Eminem did last decade and continues to do now. Same goes for Biggie.

Do you think they would have been able to co-exist, one with the other? Or do you think there would have been tension for only one (or two) rappers to dominate to that magnitude?

[Omar]

personally i dont feel like eminem wud have been as big as he is now... pac n biggie wud probably be ruling the game...i just wonder how pac wud feel about eminem... but anyways eminem wud not b so far back..i think he cud still do well but nowhere near the level that pac wud b by then

[Ray Finkle]

I think Eminem is fucking trash. I put him in the same catagorie as Insane Clown Faggots. I dislike them equally. Im not a fortune teller so whos to say if biggie and pac didnt die he wouldnt be as big. I just think that somewhere around 97 a generation of super wiggers formed and thats how he got his fans.

[Mike]

Eminem would still be huge. His demo would of still been heard by Dre. I would like to think Pac would of liked Em, hate the guy or not he was different than everyone else at the time. Em has said many times Pac is his favourite rapper, even quotes him in his The Way I Am book. the song Fame to be exact.

[Vinnie P]

How can you listen to Wacka Flacka and say Eminem is trash?? But who knows where he would be, where would pac be without Deathrow. I dont think it matters, 2pac and biggie were huge yes, but when Eminem came out, there was other rap heavyweights and that didnt stop him.

[DieselDank]

I look at it like this: Yes Dre would have still heard and tried to blow eminem up but you have to look at the bigger picture. Had Pac not died the rap game would have been totally different. With the Makaveli album he tore everybody in the industry up, let alone the probably dozens of other verses that were disses recorded that year. Had 2Pac been alive during these releases I feel that the careers of Puffy, Jay Z, and many others like Dre would have been drastically different and they would not be on the 100millionaire level. With Dre I think Pac would have literally taken him out of the game and he wouldn't have been able to get a person like eminem to blow up. Just my opinion though.

[Makaveli5458]

No Cause eminem makes shit rap songs his first was shit he shocking and 2Pac & Biggie Would Still Be Rulin The Rap Game If They Were Still Alive.

[GreenL420]

em put out some classics no hate here although his new stuff is not that great

[Havok]

Considering Eminem really didn't become a full blown mega star until 2000.... nothing would have changed. Had biggie lived everyone would have realized just how mediocre he was and he wouldn't be nearly as high praised as he is now. Pac would have recorded well into the early 2000's, though likely would have been more of an actor by that point then a rapper. (Think Ice T & Ice Cube). Eminem, Ja Rule, DMX Xzibit, etc would still have blown up in much the same fashion. The real question isn't whether Eminem would have been as huge, it's who else would have been huge as well. Assuming Pac lives means you have to assume Pac stays on Deathrow. Pac on Deathrow means Snoop probably never leaves. Snoop not leaving means Daz stays on the label along with Kurupt. Since the core is still there new artists would have continued to be signed. Deathrow records being an active label means the industry would have been drastically different. I still feel that Aftermath and Def Jam would have been just as big as they were, however artists like Jay-Z, Nas, and some of the other labels (Roc A Fella, Cash Money, No Limit) likely would never have had nearly the same amount of success.