I was about to say.

The thing with Eminem is that the timing seems off. I'd have pushed his dates back to 2000 until whenever, but he kind of came along the same time the whole "rise of the underground/napster" thing did. He was a battle rapper with great flow marketed to MTV, and it worked. But at the same time he came out there were a lot of things changing in hip-hop. Right around that time you get Internal Affairs, Mos and Talib, even acts like Atmosphere, the Living Legends, Jurassic 5, and Jedi Mind Tricks. And I'll say that the idea of "underground" rap is kind of gone now, but at that point in time it was running, it was strong, and as odd as it is to say it, Eminem was a product of all of that. He just had Dr. Dre, great flow, and TRL behind him.

And I'd say that if we shifted into the next stage, Kanye is the obvious forerunner. Although I don't think he's the best rapper around, his influence is as undeniable as it is widespread. I mean where the fuck would Drake be without Kanye to head out before him? Would we have listened to Kid Cudi? How well was Lupe's career going before Ye put him on? Not saying he's responsible for their success, but he certainly primed the environment for their brand of rap.