A RatedR View on Eminem vs. Nick Cannon
During the period that The Rap Clash takes at the end of the calendar year to list the best of what the game has to offer, news still happens. Things exist outside of the bubble. The biggest buzz during the end of 2019 was the renewed beef between Nick Cannon and Eminem. The 'Gigolo with a lot of dough' versus Slim Shady, part 2? It was something that most people thought would die quickly, however that wasn't the case.
To understand the beginning of the beef, you have to be born before the turn of the century. Why? Because this beef is more than a decade old. Eminem supposedly had a relationship with Mariah Carey - which she denies to this day - and this angered her then husband, Nick Cannon. In his 2009 project, Relapse, Eminem would release 'Bagpipes from Baghdad'. Cannon would retaliate on tumblr of all places. Carey would release the hit single, 'Obsessed' in response.
Why are we talking about it today?
Mainly because Eminem took slight cheap shots on his astounding verse from Fat Joe's 'Family Ties'. Nick Cannon responded with a plethora of tracks, being named 'The Invitation', 'Pray for Him', 'Canceled: Invitation' and 'Used to Look Up to You'. Eminem has failed to respond to any of these tracks.
And I know why. These songs are bad.
My honest opinion on this 'beef' is that it is dead in the water. Not due to the fact that The Rap Clash is late to report on it, but mainly because Eminem himself hasn't responded. A beef isn't beef if only one person responds. A beef isn't beef if the one person talking can't rap on beat; that the people that feature on the tracks have better verses than the one who is in the problem. A beef isn't a beef if the songs are publicity stunts to get an artist on your show. See, Nick Cannon is a great businessman and a great comedian on MTV's Wild N' Out, but he was not made to rap. He cannot do this. He is going against one of the best rappers to ever pick up a mic; if Eminem wanted to, it would be the end of everything.
The difference between Nick Cannon and MGK is the fact that MGK came with actual talent. There's substance in what Machine Gun Kelly said in 'Rap Devil' that none of these pseudo-diss tracks have. Kelly wasn't grudging up old racist comments or telling us that Eminem isn't a part of the culture: he was talking about new things and stuff that the world didn't forcefully know. However, it fell flat due to the fact that Eminem obliterated him, like Yugi Moto releasing Slifer the Sky Dragon on some poor soul.
The problem with Hip-Hop is that there are tiers to the entire affair. Fight within your lane. I don't want to see any random child go after a guy like Eminem, Jay Z or Nas. You better be a well equipped adult with ammo to spare four armies and enough bars to make London drown to even fathom the idea. If you're to go up to them, you're facing hardened veterans with little time to lose on you, so make your mark and make it fast. Do not be a failure such as Nick Cannon has become in this debacle of a rap beef.