did you happen to read the lyrics for: Dear Mama Brenda's got a Baby Can you get away changes life goes on keep ya head up its not all quite so "classless"...
Nas does have one the best flows around BTW... he's sort of a purist like those old school guys. Also, no one I mentioned was about the bling bling rollin' on twenties... That stuff is purely southern... the originals of course were all east coast. Now ICE CUBE is probably the greatest west coast lyricist, if it weren't for the constant filth... but ya' know Too Short in my signature wasn't Mr. Clean either. Scarface is the best Houston flow man... If you like gumbo rap and suth'n steez then Ludacris has a definite uniqueness about him... Glad no one (hardly) mentioned P-Diddy or Jay Z... I agree about outkast though... tough lyricists. Thanks for the responses!!
You may not like the music I enjoy, but I have a valid criticism of people like Tupac Shakur. He should villified, not immortalized. All you need to do is look at the murder rates in the black community during the late '80s and '90s to see that glorifying guns and gangs was beneath contempt. The popularity of the "gangster life" seems to be fading away, and black on black murder is down 50% in the last 5 years. I know that nobody can show any solid relationship between violence and music, but given the aforementioned circumstances, Tupac certainly did not help the situation.
We're really addressing who handled the lyrics the best, not the one who spoke of the best possible peaceful utopia while delivering them. As I originally said, and can probably say on behalf of most, we don't always Moving right along, keeping it light... "We are the world, we are the children..."
Michael Franti was the rapper for the Disposable Heroes of HipHoprisy... man I loved the song Television (The Drug Of The Nation). He now has a live band called Spearhead ( http://www.spearheadvibrations.com ) I've definitely got a lot of time for anything he does.
Nas definitely belongs up here. He's gettin back into it too. One Mic was classic. All I need is one blunt, one page, and one pen One prayer - tell God forgive for one sin Matter fact maybe more than one, look back at all the hatred against me, **** alla them Jesus died at age 33, there's thirty-three shots from twin glocks there's sixteen apiece, that's thirty-two Which means, one of my guns was holdin 17 Twenty-seven hit your crew, six went into you You gotta like Ludacris' off the wall brand of lyrics too I got people scared as **** like when condoms break Or how your heart deals with eatin' eighty pounds of steak So put your belly on a plate and watch your weight You frostin' like a flake and Ludacris feels grrreat! And there's a reason why Will smith is called "candy" I know the deal, I talked to Mary Jane and she said Your ex-boyfriends Mike and Ike are both Lemonheads I ain't tryin ta player hate girl I know That you go with Bazooka Joe Now you know he don't love you like that He tryin ta get a Reeses piece of the Kit-Kat Really hun, what he need is a jawbreaker Cause I'm the one that'll love you baby Now and Later Be my Peppermint Paddy with a Hundred wishes An I'll be your Hershey daddy with a hundred kisses Get the Twins M&M's, they booked us outta flight today Me an you can Starburst to the Milky Way I don't care what it cost, girl a Hundred Grand We could snicker all night at my Jolly Ranch Just me and you, or call your friends up too Cause I could get my boys Babe Ruth and Charlston Chew
Go Listen to Growing Pains by Lucacris and Fate Wilson. Great Lyrics. I do think Cris has some pretty sweet lyrics. Even though he takes the whole superiorty complex to a new level.
Tupac without a doubt. Biggie was good. I actually liked Mace too....didn't he go into the Church as a preacher and quit the rapper lifestyle? I heard that somewhere.
yes! I loved Mase too, his slow style was awesome... and yes he did become a preacher... he was on BET's "106 & Park" a few months ago and has done a complete 180!!! He denounces every action he ever did as "Mase" and cringes to even talk about his rap career. Everytime the hosts tried to talk about the old Mase, he would get noticeably upset and change the topic... He now goes by his real name, Mason Betha. He even wore a suit to the show, gotta be a first on "106 & Park"! It was kinda sad to see my favorite rapper basically say he hates everything about "Mase" and that "Mase" is dead to him... he's so holier than thou now that its kinda sickening!
Ludacris crude, ignorant, ridiculous, ......and funny! WORDWIDE hus-suh-las make that dough Work that tip Get rid of evidence Move that Brick Keep a D-Eagle with an extra clip Say it ain't so, sucka yeeeeah Act like I just do rap How you gonna act like I just ain't strapped? How you gonna act like I don't push lax? Black El Dorado FIFTH WHEEL ON BAAAAACK
Ooops, I misspelled.....it's Mase. Anyway, thanks for the info. I'd love to see that interview. I wonder if all this is sincere with him. Probably is..... But guys like Deion Sanders are harder to believe.
I don't think you could really place a "greatest" label on any of the lyricist. There's so many out there that bring so many different things to the table. Time periods come to play as well. Some I like are: Common, Talib, Mos Def, Eminem, Nas, KRS, Redman, Method Man, Guru, Rakim, Canibus (straight battle head), Dialated Peoples, Tribe Called Quest, Scarface, Ludacris, Company Flow, J5, Busta, Pharoh Monch, etc.... How about a branch off of this topic, instead of starting a new one. Which MC rivalries stand out the most to you? I remember the Canibus vs LL Cool J one. That was pretty sick, even though I think LL would get murdered in a freestyle against Can, it was still good. KRS has had some good ones, most notably his one with Nelly now. I think he ripped Nelly a new one in his new song.
LL vs Cannibus was pretty good. 2nd round KO and Return of the Ripper are classic battling beats. LL showed he had a few battlin' skills with that one. Although, I agree with you, Cannibus would absolutely tear LL up in a freestyle battle. Nas vs. Jay-Z started out okay, but eventually Jay-Z got blasted and went out wimpering like a little punk. But the best battle going right now is definitely Dre, Eminem, Timbaland, and Xzibit vs. Jermaine Dupri. Dre started it all really. I mean, they all had beef before, but Dre was the first to put it into lyrics. I guess his spit was okay. But then JD came back, ripped Dre and Timbaland, and called out Eminem. Then Dre gave Xzibit the greelight to come hard with a hilarious and pretty tight rip on JD. Its just starting to get good too. I hope some more So-So-Def guys get in on it. I'd love to see Bow-Wow get clowned like a little b****.
