>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.

Devils Night was MMLP lite and had some good shit on it
his image around that time with beef also contributed to sales


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

and can we just admit that is a part...but not the only part


>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.

graded as far as sales or critical acclaim?

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

again there are external factors contributing to that as well
the sole reason for those sales is not lyricism

>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.

dont really understand this section
most rappers after a few years are distant memories