Your Favorite White Boy

After posting about Eminem’s selection as the greatest rapper alive, it got me thinking about how we as hip-hop heads decide such things. Obviously, the debate is raging as we speak about whether Marshall deserved such a title. Some would say 900,000 votes can’t be wrong. I’m not so sure about that.

I get that VIBE was doing this little match up to engage its readership and get that competitive spirit hustle & flow. But in the greater picture, I wonder what, if anything, this does to advance the cause of hip-hop as a legitimate movement beyond being a popular musical art form. Let me break it down.

When other musical genres or sports choose who is “the best”, they have rules. Inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame are chosen each year, its is done through a special voting process. Members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BWAA) vote on who should go into the Hall of Fame each year. You need to be a writer for over 10 years to be eligible.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has a nominating committee which decideds on who is worthy. Those choices then go to 500 rock experts (critics, writers, musicians, etc) who then vote on who they think should be inducted. For each of those, there are certain criteria: has to have been in the game for 25 years, som any championship seasons, etc. Again – rules.

Now, VIBE did an online selection starting with random (and in some case totally unfair) early matchups. Snoop Dogg vs Bow Wow? Guess who won. Jay-Z vs Diddy? Lil Wayne vs Trina? C’mon. That’s called “engineering an outcome.” Em himself went against Soulja Boy in Round 1, Young Buck in Round 2 and Ghostface in Round 3. Not exactly a competition. Only in the las round did he face an actual heavyweight when he was pitted against Na$.

However, the biggest problem is that multiple voting was allowed (one per day). Now, I know enough tricks to get around restrictions on an online poll by hiding my IP addy. I personally could have voted 900,000 times if I wanted to. I don’t put a lot of stock in the result: Em got 900,000 votes; he wasn’t voted “Best Rapper” by 900,000 people.

Yeah, I know. Who cares, right? And there’s something to be said about hustling for that title, interacting with fans, all in good fun. And I agree. But if rap will ever truly reflect the multi billion dollar industry it has become, it is incumbent on us – those who love this rap thing – to police how an what we consider “the best.” Such a title is only worth as much as those who chose to bestow it. Pardon me if I discount the online votes of a couple thousand STANS who buy more Fall Out Boy than Mos Def.

Tags: Eminem, VIBE magazine