Intellectual Rap

[cinna_man]

A lot of these recommendations are either
A) very well-known guys with average lyrics that only stand out as smart because the rest of the rappers absolutely blow... in other words, a guy with two legs playing basketball in a wheelchair league
B) lesser known guys that use bigger words, maybe longer lines, and try to copy the 'gangsta flow' of more famous rappers... in other words, posers

I don't give a fukk about swag, what clothes the rapper wears, what is flow is, how cool he is, how many bytches he gets, or how good he thinks he is. Can you imagine a poet making these claims? Would you want to read his poetry? Wait, don't answer that.

 

[H.I.M.]

You're the only one really getting me. Who else should I check out?

Honestly man... I mostly listen to ignant shyt. I get my filling of "concious" rap entirely from K-Rino. His discog is large and quality enough where i don't need to listen to anybody else. And i haven't heard anybody come close to matching him as an MC so I feel like i'm wasting my time by listening to the other clowns in this sub-genre touch on "concious" or "intellectual topics... and this is a sub-genre that is oversaturated with backpacking hipster fakkits, nerds, squares and all-around cornballs... i just can't stomach most of these concious-rap fukk nikkas.

K is all you need if you ask me

 

[cinna_man]

Honestly man... I mostly listen to ignant shyt. I get my filling of "concious" rap entirely from K-Rino. His discog is large and quality enough where i don't need to listen to anybody else. And i haven't heard anybody come close to matching him as an MC so I feel like i'm wasting my time by listening to the other clowns in this sub-genre touch on "concious" or "intellectual topics... and this is a sub-genre that is oversaturated with backpacking hipster fakkits, nerds, squares and all-around cornballs... i just can't stomach most of these concious-rap fukk nikkas.

K is all you need if you ask me

I gotcha. I don't "listen" to this stuff either, in the sense of putting something on and turning my brain off, exercising, dancing, fukking, etc. It's a whole different activity, and I expected people to not see me coming sideways at them.

I'd rather "listen" (like most of you do with hip hop) to something like this... this is way harder in my opinion....

Before the techno kicks in, this:





Ok not hard, but soothing:

 

[southpawstyle]

Make a thread asking for recommendations then be purposefully contrarian when people give advice. Stick to Childish Gambino, clown shoes.

 

[The Ruler 09]

I liked Chino XL a bit. Wise Intelligent and Cormega were pretty good. Not a fan of the others.

Cool, just posting my opinion. If you want an intellectual rapper though, Chino XL is in M.E.N.S.A and is apparently defined as a genius lol. Everything is preference, but everyone I posted has intellect within their work. Why don't you like the others out of curiosity?

 

[The Ruler 09]

Not really feeling that list, man.

That's cool, it's all preference, why though? Last Emperor for instance has a lot of intelligent, conceptual and creative work. So sounds like would be fitting for the thread lol.

 

[The Dust King]

Ya...I've heard the old argument that flow and beat production is important. If you talk about these things, this thread is not for you. fukk the musical side of rap for a minute. You want some 'hard' music? All the rappers I've ever listened to have some sort of weakness. It took me a while to realize that the hardest music is just tribal music, mostly drums but sometimes with wind instruments, chanting, or song. Native Africa and America have the best tribes I've heard, but it's worldwide.

See, I hate reading books. I like nonfiction because I'm getting facts in a pure form. Fiction is so shytty... they expect you to spend 8-10 hours tracking a flowerly, repetitive, eye-straining text just to get a simple fukking moral out of it? Pass. Poetry > prose, for it's pointedness and laconic wit.

I look at rap (good rap) as poetry. Rap represents a very traditional form of storytelling. I think for about 200,000 years, you had people sitting around fires and telling stories that explained life and morals or maybe just made a few bros/chicks laugh. They added rhyming and music to it so it would be easier to remember, kind of like Homer's Illiad and Odyssey, classic novels that rhyme all the way through. Nowadays, you're finally starting to see rappers who match the poetic and thoughtful level of a Robert Frost or Langston Hughes too. Here's who I like:

-Aesop Rock
-Illogic
-Sage Francis
-Childish Gambino
-Eyedea and Abilities
-K-Rino
-Cecil Otter
-Busdriver
-Mac Lethal
-Mr Complex
-Chino XL
-Wise Intelligent
-Cormega

Tell me who I can add to my list. Who should I check out?

your obviously young and if you arent white then whatever native music your ethnicity nurtured was ignored by you.

when people start saying "i dont care about flow" then they arent a hiphop head.

for every off beat RZA or MF Doom verse they consciously provide the opposite.

rap is poetry and they are synonmous but poetry is acapella.

hip-hop is not acapella unless you are reciting a verse aloud.

if you are rapping over a beat then you need to be in sync with that rhythm to grace it the title of hip-hop.

anything that is not harmonious is a disruptive frequency.

we are already listening to 440hz instead of the proper frequency, so a dual layer of unsymmetricality is just unecessary bombardment on the brain.

rapping and flow are synonymous and this is not up for debate.

I don't really give a fukk about flow. Rap is not hard music, no matter now much gangster rap wants it to be. Writing is what I'm interested in... Rapping is like audible writing for me.

actually Rap is the "hardest" form of music to ever come into exsistence.

hard
härd/
adjective
adjective: hard; comparative adjective: harder; superlative adjective: hardest
1.
solid, firm, and resistant to pressure; not easily broken, bent, or pierced.

hip-hop mightve been mismanaged from its monetary inception, but as long as we have artists like nas on the top and artists like k-rino at the bottom then we are not easily broken.

the problem you have is you are compartmentalizing the genre when all that is doing is confusing your fragile mind.

"gangster rap" is a media-driven mentality. an artist like ice cube cannot be boxed with such terminology as we already know dr. dre is not really a gangster.

there is hip-hop and there is rap. thats it.

some people call nas gangster rap and he is categorized with snoop dogg. any avid listener can easily differentiate a snoop dogg album from a nas album based on content.

is nas content "gangster"? yes some elements are but that title does not define the social commentary.

you also need to listen to Amerikkkas Most Wanted and Death Certificate.

Yep. This clown is trolling. He edited his list to look like some underground bottom 3 and he said "phaggy time rappers".

breh i think these guys are legit.

The fukk exactly is "intellectual" about GZA's music?

Don't get me wrong, he's a solid lyricist... but intellectual?

Unless your idea of intellectual rap is putting random big words together.

Where exactly are his songs touching on thought provoking and meaningful topics or songs with conceptually unique content?

I musta missed those.... somebody care to post em?

GZA is the Genius of Wu-Tang Clan and his first album "Words from the Genius" (1990) layed the blueprint for whatever artists your imagining.

GZA has never just rapped for the sake of it and you really need to do some research in the form of listening.

Did you just say immortal techniques flow is trash

when immortal first came on the scene in my world (2000) i was taken aback by the fact he had such excellent commentary and song structure but absolutely no flow.

he is the definition of improvement.

Add Last Emperor, Lowkey, Nas, Common, 2 Pac, Big Pun, Rakim, Biggie (creative which is part of writing), AZ, Slick Rick, Guru, Kool G Rap, Bizzy Bone, Tragedy Khadafi, Chris Rivers, Lauryn Hill, Shyne, Fashawn.

excellent list though i think Shyne and Fashawn can clearly be replaced as they are the bottom of the barrel in this department.

I liked Chino XL a bit. Wise Intelligent and Cormega were pretty good. Not a fan of the others.

no list is complete without KRS and Rakim. these are facts.

Not really feeling that list, man.

You promise you gonna shut up?

Scroll down to GZAs verse. Yea, and that's just probably a throwaway verse from his upcoming album about the universe.

http://rapgenius.com/Wu-tang-clan-keep-watch-lyrics

that verse blew me away and i did think "damn he is in dark matter mode"

perfect example to silence that ignorance especially since its current or actually brand fukkin new.

Rakim
KRS

yes

aceyalone , j -live, sage francis , homeboy sandman, boots riley (the coup), onemanarmy, the grouch

all great mc's with intellectual , thoughtful, and positive uplifting music

dumb rappers/music have their place too though. i was listening to some migos earlier

i meant all this time to give you props on your name. lol @ i go ham.

 

[The Ruler 09]

your obviously young and if you arent white then whatever native music your ethnicity nurtured was ignored by you.

when people start saying "i dont care about flow" then they arent a hiphop head.

for every off beat RZA or MF Doom verse they consciously provide the opposite.

rap is poetry and they are synonmous but poetry is acapella.

hip-hop is not acapella unless you are reciting a verse aloud.

if you are rapping over a beat then you need to be in sync with that rhythm to grace it the title of hip-hop.

anything that is not harmonious is a disruptive frequency.

we are already listening to 440hz instead of the proper frequency, so a dual layer of unsymmetricality is just unecessary bombardment on the brain.

rapping and flow are synonymous and this is not up for debate.




actually Rap is the "hardest" form of music to ever come into exsistence.

hard
härd/
adjective
adjective: hard; comparative adjective: harder; superlative adjective: hardest
1.
solid, firm, and resistant to pressure; not easily broken, bent, or pierced.

hip-hop mightve been mismanaged from its monetary inception, but as long as we have artists like nas on the top and artists like k-rino at the bottom then we are not easily broken.

the problem you have is you are compartmentalizing the genre when all that is doing is confusing your fragile mind.

"gangster rap" is a media-driven mentality. an artist like ice cube cannot be boxed with such terminology as we already know dr. dre is not really a gangster.

there is hip-hop and there is rap. thats it.

some people call nas gangster rap and he is categorized with snoop dogg. any avid listener can easily differentiate a snoop dogg album from a nas album based on content.

is nas content "gangster"? yes some elements are but that title does not define the social commentary.

you also need to listen to Amerikkkas Most Wanted and Death Certificate.





breh i think these guys are legit.


GZA is the Genius of Wu-Tang Clan and his first album "Words from the Genius" (1990) layed the blueprint for whatever artists your imagining.

GZA has never just rapped for the sake of it and you really need to do some research in the form of listening.



when immortal first came on the scene in my world (2000) i was taken aback by the fact he had such excellent commentary and song structure but absolutely no flow.

he is the definition of improvement.


excellent list though i think Shyne and Fashawn can clearly be replaced as they are the bottom of the barrel in this department.



no list is complete without KRS and Rakim. these are facts.



that verse blew me away and i did think "damn he is in dark matter mode"

perfect example to silence that ignorance especially since its current or actually brand fukkin new.


yes


i meant all this time to give you props on your name. lol @ i go ham.

I know what your saying, just adding some form of diversity as obviously different forms of intellect. Shyne more for his later work as he's had some political/spiritual/intelligent ish recently, when I was listening to one of his mixtape it was intellectually stimulating. Not saying it's Canibus or nothing lol but like I said different forms. Fashawn was more for emotional intelligence, as he had some really good ish on that first album. There's various different forms of intellect so good to have some diversity, as different people will feel different styles of shyt. So was putting a few people off the top with a degree of intelligence in their work, rather than the all out ignorant NO substance or anything of merit in their work bullshyt artists, cause unfortunately that's all some people know.

 

[cinna_man]

That's cool, it's all preference, why though? Last Emperor for instance has a lot of intelligent, conceptual and creative work. So sounds like would be fitting for the thread lol.

I'll just use one Last Emperor song as an example...

"Now my style kills more kids then Roe versus Wade"

"Your biodegradable rhymes to my lethal toxins
Rhyming is a gift and not an option
I gave birth to more styles then half you emcees got through adoption
Be careful of the lyrics and the rhymes that you be dropping
Cause while we meditate the whole universe is watching!"

Very surface level. Go read some good poetry. No one talks about how good their own poetry is.

 

[Prae]

your obviously young and if you arent white then whatever native music your ethnicity nurtured was ignored by you.

I'd be pretty surprised if he wasn't white based on his music choices. Doesn't seem like non-white dudes care for guys like Aesop Rock or the other white rappers he mentioned. Their flow/voice isn't very easy to get into.

 

[Insensitive]

Ya...I've heard the old argument that flow and beat production is important. If you talk about these things, this thread is not for you. fukk the musical side of rap for a minute. You want some 'hard' music? All the rappers I've ever listened to have some sort of weakness. It took me a while to realize that the hardest music is just tribal music, mostly drums but sometimes with wind instruments, chanting, or song. Native Africa and America have the best tribes I've heard, but it's worldwide.

See, I hate reading books. I like nonfiction because I'm getting facts in a pure form. Fiction is so shytty... they expect you to spend 8-10 hours tracking a flowerly, repetitive, eye-straining text just to get a simple fukking moral out of it? Pass. Poetry > prose, for it's pointedness and laconic wit.

I look at rap (good rap) as poetry. Rap represents a very traditional form of storytelling. I think for about 200,000 years, you had people sitting around fires and telling stories that explained life and morals or maybe just made a few bros/chicks laugh. They added rhyming and music to it so it would be easier to remember, kind of like Homer's Illiad and Odyssey, classic novels that rhyme all the way through. Nowadays, you're finally starting to see rappers who match the poetic and thoughtful level of a Robert Frost or Langston Hughes too. Here's who I like:

-Aesop Rock
-Illogic
-Sage Francis
-Childish Gambino
-Eyedea and Abilities
-K-Rino
-Cecil Otter
-Busdriver
-Mac Lethal
-Mr Complex
-Chino XL
-Wise Intelligent
-Cormega

Tell me who I can add to my list. Who should I check out?

Well okay
1. You don't like "fiction" but you like rap/poetry ? what ?
Are you unaware that's a contradictory stance in the first place ?

2. I'd argue that the musical side of rapping is just as intellectual.
On top of that which aspect of rapping are we talking about ? Rap is a PACKAGE.
It's both delivery AND the written aspect.
In that sense it's like spoken word more than written/printed poetry you'd read in your free time and decipher.

3. I REJECT your idea of "intellectual rap" being entirely based on verses.
"intellectual rap" to me is all encompassing, it doesn't stop at the verses.
Some of THE best rappers of all time establish mood with the instrumental.
Inject emotion into their delivery AND still write the lyrics to match.
THAT'S what gives Rap it's uniqueness which is far more than just a string
of literary devices for the sake of it.

4. @ dissing one of the generals from the Wu and having Gambino
in your list a rapper who spent most of his career copying one of the "Gangster Rappers"
you seem to have a low opinion of.

I don't really give a fukk about flow. Rap is not hard music, no matter now much gangster rap wants it to be. Writing is what I'm interested in... Rapping is like audible writing for me.

You don't give a fukk about flow because you have no fukking idea what flowing or the act of RAPPING is.

Or how my boy El-P put it


I know white rappers who claim they're more artistic
and advanced than the inner city tune is
Now you're fukked up and can't move units
Cause you know nothing in a culture that created hip-hop music
Stuck in an authenticity contest with a bunch
of cats that grew up in the exact same way that you did (Now where do you fit?)



El-P Constellation Funk

I'll just use one Last Emperor song as an example...

"Now my style kills more kids then Roe versus Wade"

"Your biodegradable rhymes to my lethal toxins
Rhyming is a gift and not an option
I gave birth to more styles then half you emcees got through adoption
Be careful of the lyrics and the rhymes that you be dropping
Cause while we meditate the whole universe is watching!"

Very surface level. Go read some good poetry. No one talks about how good their own poetry is.

That's because this is Hip Hop, bragging is one of THE premier aspects of Emceeing.

 

[The Ruler 09]

I'll just use one Last Emperor song as an example...

"Now my style kills more kids then Roe versus Wade"

"Your biodegradable rhymes to my lethal toxins
Rhyming is a gift and not an option
I gave birth to more styles then half you emcees got through adoption
Be careful of the lyrics and the rhymes that you be dropping
Cause while we meditate the whole universe is watching!"

Very surface level. Go read some good poetry. No one talks about how good their own poetry is.

LMAO. Man. I don't know what to say lol. But you think you know a lot more than you do. I am a genuine professional expert in this field. Firstly there's different types of poetry and can be whatever is desired, there isn't limitations. Secondly your picking out a few bars...

 

[smARTmouf]

This thread made me realize I like "emotional" rappers more than anything...I would say Jay Electronica is probably the most intellectual rapper I like...

I don't think I could name other rappers you'd be in to...

 

[The Ruler 09]

Emp has mad shyt, few off the top....





By far one of the most intelligent MC's. Also one of the most conceptual.

 

[cinna_man]

your obviously young and if you arent white then whatever native music your ethnicity nurtured was ignored by you.

when people start saying "i dont care about flow" then they arent a hiphop head.

for every off beat RZA or MF Doom verse they consciously provide the opposite.

rap is poetry and they are synonmous but poetry is acapella.

hip-hop is not acapella unless you are reciting a verse aloud.

if you are rapping over a beat then you need to be in sync with that rhythm to grace it the title of hip-hop.

anything that is not harmonious is a disruptive frequency.

we are already listening to 440hz instead of the proper frequency, so a dual layer of unsymmetricality is just unecessary bombardment on the brain.

rapping and flow are synonymous and this is not up for debate.

Whatever... maybe it's my choice of words. All rap is poetry, but a lot of it sucks. I like poetry. It's cool when I can listen to it instead of have to read it. It's cool when it also has a beat behind it to make the whole song more complex. Is that hip hop? If it doesn't fit your narrow description of hip hop, fitting every syllable in tightly, then we'll just have to agree to disagree. Some people think they own these titles like 'hip hop' or 'rap', but it's always up for the taking. I'm not squabbling over terms anyways. This genre that I'm talking about, call it whatever you want. That's what I want.

actually Rap is the "hardest" form of music to ever come into exsistence.

hard
härd/
adjective
adjective: hard; comparative adjective: harder; superlative adjective: hardest
1.
solid, firm, and resistant to pressure; not easily broken, bent, or pierced.

hip-hop mightve been mismanaged from its monetary inception, but as long as we have artists like nas on the top and artists like k-rino at the bottom then we are not easily broken.

the problem you have is you are compartmentalizing the genre when all that is doing is confusing your fragile mind.

"gangster rap" is a media-driven mentality. an artist like ice cube cannot be boxed with such terminology as we already know dr. dre is not really a gangster.

there is hip-hop and there is rap. thats it.

some people call nas gangster rap and he is categorized with snoop dogg. any avid listener can easily differentiate a snoop dogg album from a nas album based on content.

is nas content "gangster"? yes some elements are but that title does not define the social commentary.

you also need to listen to Amerikkkas Most Wanted and Death Certificate.

I know what the word hard means...

No, rap is not that hard. These people live as artists, for one. Even the guys in the gangs don't have it as hard as someone living in a primitive tribe caught in a war. THAT music was forged by war, hardship, survival more than anything else. That's where the soul is. "Black music" just happens to have more of it that "white music" because blacks were very recently living in tribes.

Plus, when I'm really getting into it...fighting, fukking, moving... I don't want to hear any fukking lyrics. All I need are some musical tones. So in those instances, fukk rappers.

Rapping is for storytelling time around the fire, breh. Or for driving in your car. Or for taking a break from the day, cooking up some food, laying in the shade, and letting your mind wander. Anyone who says otherwise has taken it way too seriously.