One song.

The epitome of your definition of lyrical.

It can be some super complex wordplay...a simple beautifully written song...whatever

Can be one MC on the track or more...doesn't matter.

What is the ONE song that defines what lyricism is to YOU?

GO!



And please explain your choice...peace

1st thought

>1st thought

That's actually a good one...one of LL's rawest displays of high vocabulary usage, especially considering that it was recorded in 1985.

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One MC, one verse, a simple yet worthy beat...wordplay, introspection, poetry, flow, delivery, voice inflection...great opening, great closing....everything just came together lyrically on this one for Comm. I've often said that if someone asked me what MCing was, this is the song I'd show them. So many lyrical gems in this track. He really covered a lot of ground on it.

Black Thought's work on Web comes to mind, too. There's likely a bunch of others but this is always the one that comes to mind first.

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"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

Agree w/ Web. Not sure it is my GOAT but daaaaaamn. BT brings it over such sparse production. Best track on the album for sure IMO.

I used to like it more than I do now but that's mostly due to the beat. I used to love the beat but today it doesn't sound as good.

Com does go all the way in though.

With your two choices (Hungry and Web) seems like you lean towards the one verse show-n-prove style.

I always liked it because it was the kind of beat that allows Comm to just exercise. It's not great by any means, I prefer a beat like Web in a general sense, but it works for the purpose it's there to serve, if that makes sense.
But many times over the years, I've played that song for people, and they've said something to the effect of "damn, Comm spazzed on that...but what's up with the beat?" so I def think it could've been more polished... but nonetheless it served the same "give Comm all the room he needs," purpose like Web did for BT.
So yea - your criticism is common, and I agree with it.

And yes - typically I think of "lyrical onslaughts" as one MC, one verse tracks with no hook. There are a million exceptions, but that's just my general preference. But for example, Thought @ Work and Doggz Day Afternoon (BT and Kurupt, respectively) are classic lyrical onslaughts, IMO, where there are multiple verses and bridges/hooks. So it can go in any number of directions. But I tend to prefer the Web/Hungry/Be Intro/etc. type tracks where the MC just goes in for however long he feels for one long verse and the song just ends there. I feel like that does the best job of showcasing NOTHING but the MC and his/her talent.

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"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

wouldn't you agree that a perfectly written song with a concept is also "lyricism"?

How would you compare a song like Scarface's "Seen a Man Die" to a song like "Hungry" is the sense of lyricism?

>wouldn't you agree that a perfectly written song with a
>concept is also "lyricism"?

All I was saying was that I just prefer the one verse lyrical onslaughts when it comes to the question of "GOAT lyrical performance".


>How would you compare a song like Scarface's "Seen a Man Die"
>to a song like "Hungry" is the sense of lyricism?

I think they are both displays of MCing and lyricism, no question. But they are also different in that one is of the storytelling variety while the other is just a rapping exercise, for lack of a better way to put it.

But both are emceeing. No question about it.

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"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

IMO -- That Beat is what makes the song as dope as it is. We're saying the same thing, but that beat is banannas...so melodic, yet minimalistic and hard hitting all at the same time...

obviously too, comm killed it, but i feel that beat needs to have some shine too

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I, personally, love the beat and agree wholeheartedly with everything you're saying. I just can see why people wouldn't like it and understand it's not for everyone.

But, personally, I think it's fine as is, but again recognize why it's not everyone's style.

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"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

but in 2014...it doesn't quite hold up.

Like Brew said, I wish it were more polished, and not polished in a shiny production way, but just more well put together.

I'm sure some people think that it's low budget sound adds to the track and fits what they were going for but I wish it just hit better.

I've never been a fan of NoID's drums though. They always seem a little light in the ass. Hungry would've benefitted from ?uest putting some of those Web/75 Bars drums over the sample.

That's one of the few songs I never get tired of. I can listen to it looped up for hours. Everything about that song is perfect.

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Haven't decided on mine yet and I love It Ain't Hard To Tell but if I'm talking straight lyrical performance from Illmatic I think I would have to go Memory Lane or Life's A Bitch.

Like I said though, hard to argue any joint on Illmatic. Good choice!

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Yeah I had to break that back out over the weekend. Nas put on a lyrical clinic. Not sure why more than a few people don't dig this LP.

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The lyricism displayed on that album, imo, has and probably never will be duplicated.

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Is one nominee

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i was 11 and my dad bought me the cd single for hypnotize and got a story to tell was the other track included..this is maybe one of my fav big songs!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4qYox-Gb70

what a fucking amazing song

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Krs-One Love's Gonna Get'cha. An amazing song. Its like an essay describing the psyche of many who begin to sell drugs. It describe in vivid detail the circumstances that lead up to someone having to make the decision of selling drugs to survive. There was no glorification of slanging in that song whatsoever, it only shed light on the "why" many find themselves caught up in that life.

2pac-Dear Mama 2pac is the only rapper that I think that could pull off a song like this where it wouldnt sound hokey and contrived. Even tho the lyrics are simple, the message is powerful. I personally think the greatest rap song of all time. Btw, not a huge 2pac fan so there's not Stanning, its just a beautiful record.

Nas- I gave you power.. That second verse is literally the most mind-phucking blowing display of lyricism i've ever heard in my life.

A newspaper burns in the sand, and the headlines say �Man destroys Man!�
Extra! Extra! Read all the bad news on the war for peace that everybody would lose
The rise and fall, the last great empire, the sound of the whole world caught on fire
The ruthless struggle, the desperate gamble
The game that left the whole world in shambles
The cheats, the lies, the alibis
And the foolish attempt to conquer the skies
Lost in space, and what is it worth, huh?
The president just forgot about Earth
Spending multi billions, and maybe even trillions
The cost of weapons ran into zillions
There�s gold in the street, and diamonds under feet
And the children in Africa don�t even eat
Flies on their faces, they�re living like mice
And the houses even make the ghetto look nice, Huh!
The water tastes funny, it�s forever too sunny
And they work all month and don�t make no money
A fight for power, a nuclear shower
And people shout out in the darkest hour
Of sights unseen and voices unheard
And finally the bomb gets the last word
Christians killed Muslims, and Germans killed Jews
And everybody�s bodies are used and abused, Huh!
Minds are poisoned and souls are polluted
Superiority complex is deep rooted
Leeches and lice�s, and people got prices
Egomaniacs control the self-righteous
Nothing is sacred and nothing is pure
So the revelation of death is our cure
Hitler and Caesar, Custer and Reagan
Napoleon, Castro, Mussolini and Begin
Ghengis Khan and the Shah of Iran
Men spill the blood of the weaker man
The peoples in terror, the leaders made the error
And now they can�t even look in the mirror
�Cause we gotta suffer while things get rougher
And that�s the reason why we got to get tougher
To learn from the past and work for the future
And don�t be a slave to no computer
�Cause the Children of Man inherits the land
And the future of the world is in your hands
So just throw your hands in the air
And wave �em like you just don�t care
And if you believe that you�re the future
Scream it out and say �Oh yeah!� (�Oh yeah!�)
�Oh yeah!� (�Oh yeah!�)
Raah!

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KRS-1 is flawless on this song. It has everything. Flow, precision, concept and he makes it sound effortless while still having a sense of urgency.

Obscure choice, but it's beautiful. Still gives me chills every time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amOGnQpYWmM

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In the glow of the moon, over the melancholy metro
My poetry is set like a U.F.O
The maestro, the lyricist concerto
My physical play the role of a vessel
The level of my lyrics law manifesto
My thoughts wrestle and attack with the killer instincts
Of a gorilla stronger than Samson
Without vanilla my soliloquoy profess my ability to just
Stimulate you like the best sensimilla
The halflife the Illadel-L-P-O-phila proceed
Hither is my death flower blow your tower to smithe-
-reens to fiends catch another rhyme gripper
Deeper than the meditations of a Hindu worshiper
Unorthodox, hip-hop, minister
Than a Serengeti cheetah my thoughts swifter
You lose your balance when the sound hits ya
So check for the, Fifth Militia
A poet's under pressure stressin that you get the picture
Even if it means you gotta hang over the banister
I pull a microphone on any pistol brandisher
And take advantage of ya because you amateur
Styles gunning down your sound man and manager
What?? This how we do it in the year for nine-six
With this deliberate attack on pointless rap shit
Breakin MC's down to fractions, tell your squadron
It's time to go to war, Respond/React


The implorer, the universe explorer
Treat MC's like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
Leavin these niggas open like a box of Pandora
With styles that's newer than the world order
Approximately three quarters of y'all are water
I straight deport ya
Then orchestrate your torture with roots of culture
The pil-grimage to the line of scrimmage up against your image
Where life is a heist, and the strong get a percentage
It's ill as a war and within it I'm the Lieutenant
That surrounds you like a peninsula to snatch the pennant
You fold like Japan's futons and fans
While I design a plan to make a rapper step like a pedestrian
I crush a mountain into grains of sand
Your pain stains the hand that held the mic inserted to the stand
The desperado, that refuse to follow
The Fifth afficianado, break you up into parts like vibrato
I deep like the dark of the night
Niggas is sweet and sound silly when they talk on the mic
They use the simple back and forth the same
Old rhythm that's plain
I'd rather UltraMagnetize your brain
It's the hip-hop purist, that leave you lost like a tourist
Inside the chorus, niggas is bringin nothin for us
As we breakin em down to fractions, tell your squadron
It's time to go to war, Respond/React

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If you can't understand it without an explanation

you can't understand it with an explanation

And Thought on Section and No Alibi gives that joint a run for its money as well.

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Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

That's like a top 5 all-time verse for me.

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Geto Boys, Poison Clan, UGK, Eightball & MJG, OutKast, Goodie Mob

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Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

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Falcons, Braves, Bulldogs and Hawks

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the first lyrical performance that comes to mind is Breez Evahflowin on the song "A Dream" from Rob Swift's War Games album

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5HeL90BhWI&sns=em

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whenever you did these things to the least of my brothers you did them to me

...also, can't sleep on Organized Konfusion's "Prisoners Of War".

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Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dc8I23sCeI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdVcL5soL5U

I have more to offer up, but I thought BIG spazzed out "excellence is my presence/ never tense/ never hesitant" ... his rhyme couplets were bananas

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"I'm That Guy", Mike G (J Beez)

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n/a

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td1bQOoolRg

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Everything's turning out perfectly

RZA and Ghost

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Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

█▆▇▅▇█▇▆▄▁▃
Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

I've seen them do this song live and it's mind blowing. Everyone goes off but I think Self Jup's verse is my favorite.

mind.

Gift of Gab in his zone was pretty untouchable, imo. One of the things I appreciate
most about Gab is that he could go crazy with rhyme structure and wordplay,
yet still make sense and tell a story WHILE riding the beat perfectly AND creating
a song structure. Basically a cat who could not only hold his own in a battle
but utterly destroy but could also write a song. This set him apart from a whole host of emcees.
I think this song is a nice, condensed version of some of that. It's not a story
like "In A Minute Doe", "Deception" or "Nowhere Fast"; not a social commentary like "Rat
Race" or "Powers" but it's just him showing how easy this rap shit is to him.

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Everything's turning out perfectly

He's so damn underrated. Great song pick as well.

I really loved his solo album from a couple years back. Gotta bring that back out again.

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"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

man, i'm going to be dusting off a bunch of records with some of these picks in this post!

Gab was a monster on those early projects, alphabet aerobics?!?!

i love that so many people have goat lyrical performances, and while i may disagree on GOAT, most all of these are absolutely magnificent choices!

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Alphabet Aerobics is wild. I saw him do that shit live in 2000. Unreal.

And yes - I love this post. So many differing opinions but so many amazing verses.

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"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

>I really loved his solo album from a couple years back. Gotta
>bring that back out again.

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Everything's turning out perfectly

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Geto Boys, Poison Clan, UGK, Eightball & MJG, OutKast, Goodie Mob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=2K7UEvtxaq4#t=362

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=2K7UEvtxaq4#t=362

“So back we go to these questions — friendship, character… ethics.”

Raw

My fav P verse

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i won't say it's the best ever, but it's gotta be up there.

“So back we go to these questions — friendship, character… ethics.”

I was gonna say a GZA song off Liquid Swords which also works but his verse on this was one of his dopest and every member came with the different styles while keeping it lyrical.

"Coltrane, 'Lyrical', and The Art of MCing"
http://avanturb.com/news/?p=2111

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Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

I think I agree for the most part although I think I would like to see more of Coltrane's definition included in judging if an MC is lyrical or not. The "make it more beautiful" part is what I really appreciate from his perspective and I think it can be reasonably applied to MC's. It's the reason I've always thought of Scarface as being lyrical but not Canibus. On "A Minute To Pray A Second To Die" that is pure poetry to me and it flows it's beautiful but most of Canibus's songs while demonstrating that he can master the art of "spitting" are very beautiful at all to me.

cant read anything on there

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whenever you did these things to the least of my brothers you did them to me

unfortunately don't have no time for that right now.

█▆▇▅▇█▇▆▄▁▃
Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_MCBR_e4ZI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj6fLaXQioc

post over

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prmQgSpV3fA

werd.

I think the second verse on that may be the best verse ever recorded.

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Everyone has fun on that track and showcase MANY STYLES, MANY STYLES!!!
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"To Each His Reach"

but.....

Fuck aliens.

Second verse is one of my favorite of all time

Hip hop lyrical perfection