|
It's hard to say. I don't listen to each of them enough.
Some things to consider:
1) Without Dre's beats, neither would be as successful. Both Tupac and Eminem had/have their own projects outside of Dre and from what I've heard of those projects, they don't compare to what they do when they're in the studio with Dre.
2) Eminem has better diction than Tupac. Each spoken word is clear and precise when he raps which makes his style noticeable and unique but the rhymes aren't necessarily better. Though from what I've listened to, Em has more interesting word play (mind you, he bends rhymes much more than most rappers that pre-dated him allowing words that don't actually rhyme well enough on their own to appear like they do, but his flow allows for that).
3) Eminem doesn't write all of his own raps, whereas I believe Tupac did. On Eminem's soundtrack, the song that became a hit (the title escapes me), I remember him winning a grammy for it. It was co-written. Not being the sole author of your rhymes really detracts from your music as a rapper IMO.
4) I've heard limited free styles of each. I've only heard Tupac's freestyle with Biggie. It was amazing. I've also heard a freestyle by Em, I couldn't tell if it was from his movie or not and I haven't seen his movie so I still don't know. But it was also incredible.
5) Breadth of topics in their music - I'd give this to Tupac. Also Tupac being one of the first to be introspective with his raps, providing a bit of a blueprint for Em's raps about his mother, wife, daughter etc.
6) Tupac's music is largely thug music whereas Em's music is closer to pop music. So in a way it's like comparing the Bee Gees to Zeppelin. Both sold millions but to different listeners in different arenas.
|