Eminem has been voted the greatest rapper alive by fans and readers of VIBE Magazine and its website.

Although Em hasn't released a full solo album since 2004's Encore [click to read], his fan base has shown that it remains tremendously loyal.

Vibe broke the competition down tournament style, placing a slew of emcees into four brackets: the Notorious BIG bracket, the 2Pac bracket, the Pimp C bracket, and the Big Punisher bracket. The number one seeds in each bracket were, respectively, Jay-Z, Eminem, Lil Wayne and Andre 3000.

After voting each week from July 21 to August 4, the final were decided. Eminem and Jay-Z made it to the final four, as expected. Somewhat unexpected was Game's defeat of Andre 3000 in order to make it to the semifinals, and Ludacris' defeat of Lil Wayne in order to claim the same spot.

Eminem, who had beaten Nas by a slim margin to claim a final four spot, and Jay-Z made short work of Ludacris and Game, respectively. The two legends faced off in votes, and after over 920,000 votes, Em beat out Hov, retaining 61 percent of the votes to Hov's 39 percent.

"It’s obviously an honor to have won the fans' support by being voted the Best Rapper Alive,” said Eminem to the fans on Vibe.com. “I don't think that there is any one rapper that is simply the best though. Everyone who was in consideration and many others are the best at certain things, and at what they do. But since VIBE's offering the distinction, hell yeah I'll accept!"

OK, I actually did this tournment manually cuz they had it in the magazine that month. Me and my peeps made a game out of it as we were road trippin' from ATL to Orlando (go figure). I can't remember exactly, but our top 4 were Jay, Nas, Wayne/Em, and Snoop/Luda..something like that. Anyway, maybe my crew and I were a lil biased, but the top 2 were b/w Jay and Nas. Good for Em that he has a strong following, I like him too, but he's far from the holding the title of The Best Rapper Alive. I mean, c'mon people, Jay and Nas have been in the game for a long time and never lost the swagger; Snoop can freestyle for days, non-stop; Luda got punchlines for eons and hits neverending; Lets not talk about Rakim, CL Smooth or KRS One who are'nt really in the game anymore but still well noted and set the precedence for all the newcomers; Don't forget hot mix tape artists still waiting for their big break like Papoose, Wiz Khalifah (don't be discouraged by club anthem Say Yeah, check out mixtape Prince of the City), Jae Mills, or Joel Ortiz (whos debut album was HOT might I add). Then of course, there's Lil Wayne who's at the top of the game right now. Im sorry, but i refuse to give Em that title. He could be one of the best rappers alive, but he aint no. 1. No disrespect.

Damn, Sha-Sha I didn't know you knew your music the way you do. You are a true fan.

Eminem WAS up there back in his prime and maybe he'd be thought of IF he'd continue to rip the way he was, BUT he didn't so you can't disrespect the 2 that haven't stopped. Jay Z and Lil Wayne. I wouldn't argue either pick, because both are the best in the game. So sorry for all you Eminem fans, ACCESS DENIED!