chopstickchakra
Active member
Seems my last thread got a few people into a heated debate, mostly about Eminem go figure right. Now best is purely subjective so we can never declare a unified "best" but we can look at a lot of stats and compare them that way; speed, clarity of voice, rhyme scheme, use of multi's etc. etc. One of the predominant criteria for me specifically in finding a rapper(or any musician) is vocabulary and the ability to string together complicated speech patterns.
Here is a list of the most diverse vocabulary using rappers in reference to their first 35,000 lyrics recorded.
Now this is only a small percentage of what makes a musician great, another key factor is a combination of flow and pronunciation. Pronunciation is why rappers like Brother Ali and Em have been able to do something very few humans have done, rhyme the word orange. Ali "Better yet, let's have an in store performance Make it oranges to oranges, me dwarfing your endurance" On paper that may not sound as clean as it does when he says it which shows words simply aren't enough, it's the way you use them and make them your own that makes a great wordsmith.
PS I know what this will lead to by saying this but, I think Ali did a better job with orange then Em, for those who don't know this is Em's "orange, four-inch, door hinge in storage" and can be found on a 60 minutes interview. Older fans may also think this sounds familiar if they remember Brain Damage off the Slim Shady LP, he uses hinges and orange juice and 4 inch in that song so it's not shocking if he seems to come up with it off the "top of his head" in the interview.
Here is a list of the most diverse vocabulary using rappers in reference to their first 35,000 lyrics recorded.
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Now this is only a small percentage of what makes a musician great, another key factor is a combination of flow and pronunciation. Pronunciation is why rappers like Brother Ali and Em have been able to do something very few humans have done, rhyme the word orange. Ali "Better yet, let's have an in store performance Make it oranges to oranges, me dwarfing your endurance" On paper that may not sound as clean as it does when he says it which shows words simply aren't enough, it's the way you use them and make them your own that makes a great wordsmith.
PS I know what this will lead to by saying this but, I think Ali did a better job with orange then Em, for those who don't know this is Em's "orange, four-inch, door hinge in storage" and can be found on a 60 minutes interview. Older fans may also think this sounds familiar if they remember Brain Damage off the Slim Shady LP, he uses hinges and orange juice and 4 inch in that song so it's not shocking if he seems to come up with it off the "top of his head" in the interview.
