One question that never goes away, for me, is whether there’s a better lyricist than Eminem? Would love to hear who you think is on that level because I can’t find anyone better.
its a solid question and depends how you define lyricism and what makes it good.
I can define good lyricism in a few ways:
Ability to connect with the intended listener in creative ways, leaving them thinking 'why couldn't I write something like that?'
Creative rhyme schemes, far beyond 'cat in the hat', that both sound interesting and non-repeating ways
speed of the flow is important but also thats more of a physical ability thing, lots of boring fast flows out there. But the ability to match words back to back that aid in the sharp sounding flows is hard to do like em does
punch lines. context. etc
I can think of lots of great contenders but its always gonna be subjective to the listener. theres soo much amazing stuff out there lyrically