Eminem. 99-03 was my high school years so the novelty at the time was cooler, but to be fair as well i did not and today still do not mess with any Jay Z songs other than his singles. Was just not a NYC rapper i could fukk with like that. 

This.EmWas never a jigga fan like that
Jay is the LeBron of rap
- Maybe not the absolute GOAT by consensus,
- But damn near always in the convo,
- Played the long game,
- Built an empire,
- Has “rings” (classics),
- And outlasted most of his peers.
Also got the highest paid PR team in the game that will come after any artist or media figure that say anything slightly critical about him.
You sound 15 ngl. This is just a strange roundabout way to say that you weren’t a Jay fan, which is fine. But you’re trying to qualify it with all these other things. And if you weren’t up on Jay then how would you know he was “#2” to anybody?Because Eminem "renegaded" him on that very album.
At that time I wasn't paying attention to things the coli does....like record sales...and all these other metrics.....
Slim shadey LP was out prior and so did Marshall Mathers LP. he was lyrically off the meat rack.
I just wasn't going crazy anticipating HOVA verses at the time.
Like I said; I only remembered Jay as being a #2 and stated the artists.
I wasn't old enough to remember reasonable doubt in real time; but I would assume Biggie was still #1 when that shyt dropped.
Eminem was never the top dawg in hip hop. He was the best selling and arguably the best rapper from 2000 to 2002 (he’s in the convo), but at no point did urban America believe he was the face of rap.When the Blueprint was released in 2001, do you feel Eminem was ahead of Jay-z?
I would argue Eminem didn't become the top dog in Hip Hop until Lose Yourself in 2002, even though he was the bigger pop star.