Letīs Be Honest, 99% Of West Coast Rappers Ainīt Shit Lyrically

[Nutty]

Hip-Hop music is much more than spitting the whole thesaurus.

Story telling doesnt need that Rakim, G Rap, Crook level of lyrics.


It just has to sound good. 

Amen.

Go read a book or something, lol.

[LAC/EASTSIDE]

WTF??? This is stupid. 99% is waaaaay off. Who do you listen to?? There's shitty rappers in West, South and East. It just depends waht you consider to be shit. You really think Slick Rick was a lyrical genius?? I wonder why he's still considered a legend..

[LAC/EASTSIDE]

Hip-Hop music is much more than spitting the whole thesaurus.

Story telling doesnt need that Rakim, G Rap, Crook level of lyrics.


It just has to sound good.  

Plenty of dudes spit the whole thesaurus but aren't saying shit haha.

[BIGWORM]

"You know how we do it" was and is a banger BOTTOMLINE.

Rap/Hip Hop doesn't have to be lyrical to sound good. For instance the fellow in your avatar made great music and everyone knows he wasn't lyrical at all beside a hand full of songs on matw album.

What made the west coast was that they put the music into rap not lyrics over break beats like what they was doing in the east.

On another side note 2-Pac's favorite rapper was Ice Cube when he was a kid.

[Sikotic™]

This is true, but how many lyrical cats u hear that got no mic presence?

Cube ain't the most lyrical, but when you hear him on a track, you pay attention. Not to mention his lyrics in his prime had more substance than most "lyrical" rappers out.

You can be a Canibus clone all day and say a bunch of big words and rap about the stars and moon n shit, but who really cares except for backpackers and nerdy white kids?

[Recognize]

When it comes to gangsta rap, I don't think "lrycism" is one of the more important attributes. I think the ability to tell a story is way up there. If you look at rappers like Cube and Eazy, that was something the both really excelled at. Could either of those guys win freestyle contests? No, definitely not. But they were both great story tellers which is a very important attribute to a good gangsta rap song.

[Triple OG Rapsodie]

ice cube was lyrically a beast....people mistake lyricism for rhyming big words with complex rhyme patterns. you can lyrically convey a message in its simplest form, and if that message has meaning and strength, ur lyrically beastin if ur able 2 paint a picture and grab the listeners mind with it.. simple or complex.

I know we don't always see eye to eye but I definitely agree with you on this. A lot of rappers think they have to come off as "super-lyrical" with everything they do and in truth, I think it fucks up a lot of potentially great music because they aren't confident enough to just spit from the heart and go with the vibe of the song. Crooked I, in particular, has had some bangers, that he really could have rode but would take me completely out of because he tried to show-off with a metaphor or something. An infectetous flow can actually make some basic lyrics sound phenemonal. On the other end if you have all these complex lyrics but the way your flow is meh.. then it's kind of tiring.

I agree with these two posts. Punchlines aren't lyricism imo. Punchlines don't even exist in other music genres like they do in rap. Think about that fact for a moment: the greatest non-rap songs ever made don't even have punchlines. People are bringing up Crooked I but Crooked I's most lyrical songs are the ones where he doesn't use complex rhymes or punchlines. As far as metaphors, coming up with a metaphor simile in one line is child's play. What I'm really impressed by is rappers who can extend metaphors and concepts to entire songs. I Used to Love H.E.R., I Gave You Power, Me and my Girlfriend, etc. Or songs that tell a story or convey a feeling. Until a rapper can tell a story as vivid as A Bird in the Hand, how the hell can they consider themselves more lyrical than Ice Cube?

[Mr. O]

man..fuck that.  west coast ain't about just LYRICS...it's the ATTITUDE that drives this shit into listeners' ears

[3331]

always acknowledged that but never stopped me from enjoying the west and listening to it more then the east. theres a few rappers that are nice from a technical perspective but its mostly about the beats and the personalities.

[kolaboy]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/2ucV1-N0aI0?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/2ucV1-N0aI0?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

[CHUCK KNOXXX]

hieroglyphics
pharcyde
freestyle fellwoship and associated good life mc's (too many to name)
blu
sick jacken
blackolicious
dilated peoples
visionaries
self scientific
living legends (grouch, eligh, luckyiam)
murs
bambu
fashawn
ras kass
likwit crew
planet asia & rascoe (cali agents)
pretty much the whole stones throw roster
....just to name a few off top

the only people who agree with op statement aren't checking for anything on the west coast outside of gangster themed music...you'd be surprised, if you actually lived out here you'd find that theres a whole other scene and genre that is for more popular than gangster rap, seriously....the undergound scene in LA may not be as big as it once was but its still large and doesn't really involve any type of gangsta styled music.
 

[Black Excellence]

i believe that there no bounderies on where a lyricist can come from. there are lyricists in every region and the west coast definitely has their share of niggas that are lyrically on point. the west coast was built off of gangsta rap and no one did it as great as they done it and the range of artists that are from the west like: eazy, rass kass, strong arm steady, cube, xzibit, rbx, ren, snoop, kurupt,e40, too short,etc. all those artists i've named they've packed a punch lyrically.

[Sccit]

lol...ur usually on point, but i gotta disagree with u about too short packin a lyrical punch.

[Black Excellence]

lol...ur usually on point, but i gotta disagree with u about too short packin a lyrical punch.

nah i was just making light of the variety of west coast artists. i listed those as an example. LOL

[Black Excellence]

ps. cube's you know how we do it  joint is the shit. i was just bumpin' the o.g. and the qdlll remix the other day