The folks at VIBE never thought their “The Best Rapper Alive” online poll feature would receive such a huge response but when all was said and done over 920,000 votes were counted and Eminem rained supreme. The poll which included the likes of Kanye West, Rick Ross, Nas and T.I. was conducted in a March Madness bracket like format.  Starting in July, fans began voting on head-to-head knock out rounds single elimination style until the winner was announced yesterday.  Slim Shady won with 69 percent of the votes in the finals.

Now while I’d like to sit here and get into a debate about why Eminem is not deserving of the best rapper title, I won’t.  Instead I’ll just bask in the fact that the people have spoken, almost 1 Million of them and they finally realize that it’s not Lil Wayne (who finished out the final 2).

Naturally its virtually blasphemous for Hip Hop to not give the nod to Jay-Z given the contribution he’s made to the game and his body of work over 12 years strong.  I think given Jay’s resume he should have at least been given a bye to the finals or taken out the equation all together as a recognition of his prowess, leagues above all the other challengers.  But at the end of the day I honestly can’t be too mad about the results as Jay fell to the second slot behind a worthy challenger, Eminem.

It almost seems ironic that at a time when the country’s financial integrity is crumbling, Hip Hop has been more united than it ever has been behind one man, Barack Obama.  The man who would become so many first for this country not the least of which would be the first black president.  So at a time when Hip Hop is doing its black pride thing, they elect the white dude for top emcee honors.  No one will take anything away from Eminem’s skills but his skin color like Barack Obama has been a barrier that each has been facing their entire lives.  If that’s not enough Eminem will officially be declared in their November issue in which Barack Obama will grace the cover.  Its irony but so apropos

“It’s obviously an honor to have won the fans’ support by being voted the Best Rapper Alive,” Eminem said in response to his victory. “I don’t think that there is any one rapper that is simply the best though. Everyone who was in consideration and many others are the best at certain things, and at what they do. But since Vibe’s offering the distinction, hell yeah I’ll accept!”

My sentiments exactly