Eminem Is the Hottest MC in the Game for 2010

2010 is officially the year of Eminem. After not even being included on MTV’s MC list in 2009, the rapper is back with a vengeance – and a story so good to tell that it has just earned him the top spot on the Hottest MC in the Game list for 2010.

“Relapse” sold thousands of copies in the first week of release but it failed to strike a chord with fans and, most importantly, with critics.

Luckily, no one loves a good comeback story like Em does, so his “Recovery” really broke the mold by showing that, when it comes to having game, no one’s got it better than him.

As MTV also puts it, everything has been leading up to this, with Eminem first doing some highly anticipated and very warmly received collaboration, and then dropping “Not Afraid,” the first single off “Recovery.”

This wasn’t the same tired Slim Shady routine and neither was it the grim material approached on “Relapse.” It was something entirely new, the first clear sign that Em, as an artist, was reinventing himself all over again.

And he was doing so just in time.

“‘Not Afraid’ was a turn of form for Em that found him spitting motivational rhymes and encouraging people to face their fears, for better or worse. In a post-recession America, it felt like a message people really needed to hear: Don’t give up, because we’re all in this together,” MTV writes.

As such, the single went straight to number 1 on the Hot 100, pushing the album to 741,000 copies sold in its first week of release. The second single, “Love the Way You Lie,” was just as big of a hit.

“Something about Em this time around, you don’t feel like he’s following some type of formula,” MTV Jams’ Tuma Basa says.

“He didn’t come out with that corny Slim Shady record. This time, he came like, ‘I came to play.’ And the records have this motivational anthemic type [of feel] we haven’t seen in him. He’s stepping into a new space,” Basa adds.

As such, he’s also stepping up to accept yet another accolade for what must have certainly been a fantastic year: that of MTV’s Hottest MC in the Game.