You're somehow still missing the point. Lyricist is not used as a synonym for song writer in hip hop.
I get the point...everybody and their mama has their own definition of "lyricist", or lyricism based on what brand or style of lyricism they like.
The problem is, there is a great deal of subjectivity when you start breaking down rhyme schemes, multis, metas and all kinds of other devices that all lead back to the one true purpose, writing a fukking song or piece. I mean who's a better song writer is already going to be a debate with plenty of grey area, no need to list of 20 some odd specialist skills to put together a criteria who can be a "lyricist" in the "hip hop" definition of the term, because that will change from person to person. We can all agree that lyricists write songs, structured or not, that is usually the form in which MC's present their work.
All of those specialist skills add up to how well you translate your message. I don't think you would go about comparing painters on some "he uses sponges better than this cat", whatever tools he's applying to his craft, the end result is a work of art.
I appreciate the effort, and specialist skill applied by canibus for something like "poet laureate infinity", but as a work of art, as a written piece it's not going to rank up there with something like "mastermind" from nas IMO.
Song writing ability - is one of those terms that doesn't really mean anything to me. What does it mean to you? Like the ability to do something off the beaten path? I Gave You Power? One Mic? Rewind?
Or does it mean the ability to craft a catchy song that will get radio play?
To me song writing ability is really just being able to take your ideas and format them in a clear, concise way. There are no real prerequisites for being catchy, complex or even terribly "original". You just need to be able to connect with the listener.
In pac's case, his ability to do the catchy/party shyt and then be able to swing back and forth between social commentary, street shyt..the fact that he had HITS in all of these categories is a testament to his diversity. ....in fact, one of the BIGGEST draws for pac as an artist is his connection with WOMEN.
This is something that is under appreciated/underrated especially when compared to his contemporaries.
Coming up i was a huge LL fan, and he was really on the leading edge of that "for the ladies" but there's a huge difference between "i need love" and "can you get away", both songs are some mack shyt but the empathy shown...unmatched by most nikkas to ever pick up a pen, to be able to relate to the one demographic that buys the records but has little voice in actual culture, i always thought that was important.
And that's not even to get into songs like dear mama, keep your head up, brenda, mamas just a little girl ect....that's something nas has never really been able to do, not effectively, on a chill/party/sexual level or socially.
when compared to the work of any REAL songwriter .
