I deny that it's skill that is necessary to write the lyrics. Anyone who can speak quickly enough, or forcefully enough, and clearly, with a good vocabulary, can do it. But they have to fit the image or they won't get a record deal.

I'm sure he does something differently. I'm sure there's something special about him. Otherwise he wouldn't have made it to the top of that commercial pile of bull.

And as for saying all of rap sucks, I'm not. It's just not my thing. Every rapper who was named in this thread by people as one that doesn't suck, except Eminem himself, is a name I've never heard of.

I am really just very sick of a lot of the mainstream commercial pop music. And yes, I consider rap a very alternative form of pop. People will forever be naming mainstream bands and artists that I have never heard of because I no longer go near MTV, VH1, or play-what-they're-paid-to radio.

You call it skill. I call it a physical gift with a good vocabulary. The fact remains that anyone with a similar lung capacity and vocabulary can do exactly the same thing. Whether or not they get a deal depends on how well they would fit into mainstream. And if they have a new gimick, and rise to the top because of it, then good for them.

I no longer wish to argue about his "skills" or anything else he may possess that made him famous. The fact remains that he is on top of a chart I would never listen to, a situation similar to Blink-182 and all of their copycat bands. I don't like any of that, either.