Too often in music, and in hip-hop especially, the artist must die for their work to be remembered as fondly as he or she deserves.

Since Kendrick Lamar’s “DAMN.” has officially scored the largest debut of the year, beating out Drake’s “More Life” in surprising fashion, what better time to appreciate Lamar’s greatness than right now?

Unlike many of Lamar’s peers, he has built a level of trust between himself and his fans that hasn’t been exceeded by any other rapper in history. Dating back to “Overly Dedicated,” the worst of the six Lamar projects is still well above average.

When comparing Lamar to the best hip-hop has to offer, it’ll be consistency that will push him ahead of those who many hip-hop fans deem immortal.

Nobody would look at you side-eyed if you said Eminem was a top ten rapper, top five rapper, or even the greatest rapper of all time However, Eminem’s albums range from laughably bad to creative genius.

For all of Eminem’s greatness he hasn’t been able to release an album even slightly better than “meh” in the last 15 years. While his lyricism remains technically proficient, Eminem has failed to put out a top-to-bottom awesome album since “The Eminem Show” in 2002.

I’m not necessarily suggesting Lamar is a better rapper than Eminem, but he’s undoubtedly better at making music.

Whether Lamar is in your top ten or top five – if you’re being honest with yourself, then the Compton rapper already ranks right next to Detroit’s own, Eminem.