yes, eminem penetrated demographics outside of "hip-hop" fans, which is how and why he is still successful today.

but in that first year of his mainstream career, he wasn't nearly as successful as he would become from the release of marshall mathers lp to say d12 - devil's night.

there was a culture of fandom in which eminem was born out of that loved and lauded lyricism.

i would say this, as a priority to the acts making it and the fans who graded rappers based on their lyricism abilities peaked in 2000.

i mean canibus sold 500k records in 1998, and then sold another 350k in 2000.

acts like big pun, ras-kass, xzibit, pharoahe monch, dead prez all had careers in rap music... a few short years later they would be distant memories and the idea of them releasing something on a major label would be inconceivable.