Beautiful.
This is the sort of view I take on Hip Hop lyricism.
Too many cats are obsessed with word play and punch lines
and forget overarching connecting themes, the use of metaphor etc.
Emceeing and Writing is without a doubt the combination of written
word and performance and takes a present mind to pull off whether it's
freestyle or written.
Though the typical approach to writing in Hip hop is primarily about rhyming, something
Slam poets can get away with (ie not rhyming ) which just simply wouldn't work in a song writing context unless maybe it's sung.
I think it's great that he used Kendrick, I just think they should explore the lyricism
in other Hip Hop artists then after that maybe we can move onto the musicality
in the records (at least ones that aren't simple chops and loops...)
If this interests you, you should check out 9th wonders work @Havard as a Hip Hop
historian and teacher.