I was in the 'Rappers who forgot to rap' post and thought about the opposite. A rapper that suddenly 'got it'.

I personally can't think of any. I guess the closest thing might be Kendrick from Section.80 to Good Kid, m.A.A.d City, but he was already really good on the first album.

Maybe Andre3K from the SPCM to ATLiens?

Any others?

>Maybe Andre3K from the SPCM to ATLiens?

But his skills seemed to get even better from the first album to the second.

I wouldn’t apply that to 3000 or many MCs in this thread.

The lyrics were always there, but at first his flow sounded half-assed.

But he's definitely more skilled now than when he began.

On 36 Chambers, he was above U-God and that's about it.

Then he completely turned things around on "Brooklyn Zoo 2" on ODB's album and only got better from there.

His solo albums are miles better than his verses on 36 Chambers and the quality on those solo albums seemed to improve from album to album.

>On 36 Chambers, he was above U-God and that's about it.
>
>Then he completely turned things around on "Brooklyn Zoo 2" on
>ODB's album and only got better from there.

he had talent. My assumption was that he was around for other reasons. On 36 Chambers he didn't across like someone who saw rap as an art.

Once he said he "gunned down 80 Frenchmen" I knew he was ready haha

His style definitely solidified as he got older and more experienced. I'm not into his work enough to notice how his style changed but for him to have the success he did and grow in number of fans from his beginning onto Tha Carter III shows he had to have grown.

he kept saying

"I will be the best..."

we kept saying

"Yeah, ok player"

he kept saying

"I will be the best..."

we kept saying

"Yeah, ok player"

he kept saying

"I will be the best..."

we kept saying

"Yeah, ok player"

he kept saying

"I will be the best..."

we kept saying

"Yeah, ok player"









eventually he was on top

Pras got better from the first Fugees album to the 2nd one.

T3 got better each time throughout the first several SV albums.

I feel like Asher Roth got better over time.. or maybe his artistic direction just got better while his skills were always there? idunno

I thought he sounded borderline (?) retarded on his debut but pretty solid on "Jealous ones envy". Of course, I know about the Big Pun ghostwriting rumours but whatever, the rapping got better...

When his first album dropped his lyrics were basic but when the second album came out everyone knew something drastic changed about his lyricism, he improved so much people thought that with KRS doing the intro that might have something to do with it but over time we knew it was Big Pun was the reason behind his improvement.

Years after that he was pretty good writing on his own too, I feel Lil Wayne was the same way, he had ghostwriters from the beginning and after Juvenile, Gillie The Kid, & Drake stop writing for him, he wasn't as great but he improved on his own writings.

Same way with Pete Rock, before he had Grand Puba & C.L. writing for him when he was with C.L. but then after he formed his INI group with his brother Pete started writing his own lyrics and improved as time went on.

In his book he admits he was wack in the early days because he was in jail/out of practice.

He's not the GREATEST now, although he got better in using his voice as an instrument.

I think the same can be said for him as well.
He slowed down Triumph for me even though his
"the dumb are mostly intrigued by the drum" line stands out.

He improved from 36 to No Said Date which I enjoyed
but havent kept up with his output since. He's also
admitted to just starting up when the clan was entering
prominence too.

if we're talking about growth from where he was to where he is now.

if you're talking this person can't couldn't rap to he can rap now, I got nothing.

These are examples of rappers IMPROVING. Which is pretty standard. But both Kendrick and 3k were already really damn good or even great on those albums.

Lil' Wayne would be my submission.


>I personally can't think of any. I guess the closest thing
>might be Kendrick from Section.80 to Good Kid, m.A.A.d City,
>but he was already really good on the first album.
>
>Maybe Andre3K from the SPCM to ATLiens?

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

Definitely Phife Dawg

Maybe you're talking before that.

dude was kicking off verses like "weeby weeby wobble gobble gobble.. do the turkey!!" ..then he dropped "Resurrection"

"The B**** In Yoo," he started putting out some of his best work of his life, and finally achieving mainstream recognition.

>dude was kicking off verses like "weeby weeby wobble gobble
>gobble.. do the turkey!!"

This cracked me the eff up. It's true.

I'd argue he could still rap well, he was just doing an annoying shtick subsequently. But this isn't a bad submission.

Since I posted this in my reply to Fat Joe, I'll post it here...

Pete Rock was another kat who improved over the years, when he first came out he was dope but only cause he had Grand Puba writing most of his rhymes when he was with C.L. Smooth but when he formed INI with his brother Grap Luva, he started to do it on his own, rhymes wasn't as good as he was on "Creator" and etc. but by time he put out "Soul Survivor" he improved quite a bit as a rapper, some might disagree but to me he was way better than most decent/weak rappers in the game at the time.

But he definitely wasn't on Erick Sermon, Diamond D., or Large Professor's level of rhyming though as far as producers who rhyme goes.

One of my favorite rappers, actually.

His production never clicked with me though.

Phife's improvement on TLET was a shock too

>Phife's improvement on TLET was a shock too

The second album is just a collection of his creative outbursts, I'm not sure how many of those verses were even written.

He stepped his game tremendously from his debut to Doctor's Advocate (which is actually a better album).