Got into this discussion at the barber shop about what are the attributes of a dope MC? So we're talking about lyrics, storytelling, flow, voice, emotion, performances, freestyling, punchlines, diction, personality, social commentary, content, wittiness, vocabulary, monotone, wordplay, animated, versatility, etc. So my question for ya'll is what are the top 5 attributes of a dope MC and what MC embodies each of them? Mine are:

Voice: BIG
Originality: Freeway
Lyrics: Nas
Storytelling: Joe Budden
Flow: Royce

Plus peep my podcast where we're breaking down all of ours plus we chop it up about why Black Thought doesn't crack my top 10 MC list, why me & my man think Joe Budden is hip hop's dopest storyteller, did Em really KILL Jay on "Renegade", is Em really the best lyricist ever, why Royce is SO slept on and why BIG has every single attribute that we name!

http://www.willmakebeatsforfood.com/2016/12/the-corner-radio-hosted-by-kil_26.html

The Corner Radio Podcast Hosted by Kil
@Kil889
www.willmakebeatsforfood.com
www.soundcloud.com/kil889

ambiguity, mystery, and nuance. Enough to make you say "please come back"

For me, hearing a technical feat like "rap god" amounts to a brief "wow" moment which fades quick and never lingers. Its like a stunt.

I'm more interested in flavor and interesting juxtaposition of words or ideas, dope imagery, artful combinations of syllables beyond just making everything rhyme with everything just to achieve some "difficulty" score.

I want to be taken somewhere interesting or imaginative with a verse, not just impressed by how hard that must have been...because honestly, none of this is THAT hard if you're obsessive enough.

But when every emcee is trying to get high scores in the same sets of "measurable" metrics, it robs us all of the potential variety possible in this art.

Skills are important, but mostly because they allow an artist to do more things. The skills aren't themselves the point of a true artform. A director doesn't direct a film in such a way to highlight how hard it must be to direct a movie that way. He's trying to take you somewhere. His skills are in service to his imagination, not the other way around. Same should be with rap.