Let's touch on a subject that rarely gets discussed: creativity

[Anti-Anime]

How important is it to you that a rapper makes it a point not to make formula replicating, cookie cutter music irrespective of lyricism?

For me it's huge, I can't stand generic rapping rap rappers that never do anything interesting with their music. To me this is what separates the Nas's, krs one's, Lupe's, and doom's from the torae's, skyzoo's, wale's and j Cole's.


It goes the other way around too with nikkas that aren't up to par with the above lyrically, as trash as I think weezy is, his creativity instantly makes him better than TI or Ross.

 

[A.V.]

good thread idea bro

 

[SirBiatch]

define: 'creativity' and provide comparisons of those who are/aren't creative with receipts

 

[LeflaurLeflahEshkoshka]

Long answer - It's important to me but wouldn't stop me from checking out that rapper's music.

Example: Lloyd Banks is one of my fav rappers - lyrically amazing and kills almost every song. I always check for his music but most of his tracks are:

1. Verse, hook, verse, hook, verse, hook
2. 1:30min song - one long verse
3. Verse, hook, verse, hook

His songs are very structured, almost rigid, you could say. He rarely veers from that formula. Would like to see him take more risks with beats and the way he sets songs up, but he's still really dope to me.

Jadakiss is same way, his last album was so cookie cutter and formulaic it might as well been released in 2005.

Also I think Wale is pretty creative compared to most artists out

 

[Anti-Anime]

define: 'creativity' and provide comparisons of those who are/aren't creative with receipts

EDIT: I'm on it when I'm free later today

 

[Anti-Anime]

good thread idea bro

I try not to disappoint

 

[H. Selassie]

Raekwon, Eightball & MJG, Nas, Scarface, Redman Just to name a few examples of legendary emcees who have pretty much held the same musical identity their entire careers and it hasn't hurt anything. Some guys manage to make dope music without being overly-experimental. Everybody's style isn't tailored to multiple musical lanes.

It's more important to me that an artist caters to their strong suits than sound wack doing something that's out of their element. The only thing I expect from ALL rap artists to maintain an intriguing delivery and sharp ear for beats. It's possible for artists to find fresh and creative ways to make music without copying the youth/mainstream verbatim or neglecting their original identity. Raekwon did that with OB4CL 2, Nas did that with Life is Good, Scarface did that with Deeply Rooted. A guy like Curren$y continues to do that without drastically changing his main ingredients. The problem with guys like say.... Jadakiss and Lloyd Banks is that they never change anything at all, flow included. Every song or project is interchangeable no matter when it was released.


You have to balance giving people what made them love you against being repetitive. Worst case scenario is when artists go TOO left to the point where the fans can't even recognize your core sound that drew them in the first place (YEEZUS, Blueprint 3, Universal Mind Control).

 

[It is a mystery]

I'm not sure how Wale isn't creative or isn't doing anything different when he made a mixtape series where he raps about subjects from a sitcom

 

[Pop123]

Lupe ain't creative

if this was tongue in cheek it was poorly executed. lupe is probably one of the few genuinely creative rappers ever, and he does it just with the pen, not with the corny pseudo-creative gimmick of forced weirdness or formulaic bratty rebelling or thinking you can drop pure garbage as long as it's "artsy", lol. best wordplay maybe ever, great subject matter, bars top notch always, etc... just being an excellent mc period is creative when everybody else is pretty much terrible.

 

[The Ruler 09]

I like creativity, it is actually quite important to me, some artists I'd consider creative are K-Rino, KRS-One, Biggie, Nas, Last Emperor, Bizzy Bone, I think it makes an artist more interesting to listen to.

There's different ways of being creative, it can be conceptually creative or technically creative. Bizzy Bone is very technically and melodically creative with the flows and flavour while a Nas or K-Rino has displayed creative concepts and someone like KRS-One has been really creative with the flows.

It's broad but I find it important to keep me interested, I don't wanna hear about the same shyt with the same flows all the time. Needs to be some creativity there, I think that elevates an MC's stature too because it proves something, it shows they aren't just rapping and have some more creativity. Also 1 of the reasons Hip Hop is my favourite genre because the creativity within Hip Hop has been immense.

 

[Anti-Anime]

if this was tongue in cheek it was poorly executed. lupe is probably one of the few genuinely creative rappers ever, and he does it just with the pen, not with the corny pseudo-creative gimmick of forced weirdness or formulaic bratty rebelling or thinking you can drop pure garbage as long as it's "artsy", lol. best wordplay maybe ever, great subject matter, bars top notch always, etc... just being an excellent mc period is creative when everybody else is pretty much terrible.

Nah I'm a huge believer in lupe's creativity , I think I misread his post and posted like that

 

[Funcrusher]

How important is it to you that a rapper makes it a point not to make formula replicating, cookie cutter music irrespective of lyricism?

For me it's huge, I can't stand generic rapping rap rappers that never do anything interesting with their music. To me this is what separates the Nas's, krs one's, Lupe's, and doom's from the torae's, skyzoo's, wale's and j Cole's.


It goes the other way around too with nikkas that aren't up to par with the above lyrically, as trash as I think weezy is, his creativity instantly makes him better than TI or Ross.

It might be the most important thing for me, but it can show in so many aspects of music. From subject matter to flow to production. So depends what I'm looking for.

 

[H. Selassie]

the corny pseudo-creative gimmick of forced weirdness or formulaic bratty rebelling or thinking you can drop pure garbage as long as it's "artsy", lol.

Damn homie, you just gone shyt on Kanye like that?

 

[Anti-Anime]

Raekwon, Eightball & MJG, Nas, Scarface, Redman Just to name a few examples of legendary emcees who have pretty much held the same musical identity their entire careers and it hasn't hurt anything. Some guys manage to make dope music without being overly-experimental. Everybody's style isn't tailored to multiple musical lanes.

It's more important to me that an artist caters to their strong suits than sound wack doing something that's out of their element. The only thing I expect from ALL rap artists to maintain an intriguing delivery and sharp ear for beats. It's possible for artists to find fresh and creative ways to make music without copying the youth/mainstream verbatim or neglecting their original identity. Raekwon did that with OB4CL 2, Nas did that with Life is Good, Scarface did that with Deeply Rooted. A guy like Curren$y continues to do that without drastically changing his main ingredients. The problem with guys like say.... Jadakiss and Lloyd Banks is that they never change anything at all, flow included. Every song or project is interchangeable no matter when it was released.


You have to balance giving people what made them love you against being repetitive. Worst case scenario is when artists go TOO left to the point where the fans can't even recognize your core sound that drew them in the first place (YEEZUS, Blueprint 3, Universal Mind Control).

Good point about abandoning your core base

 

[Anti-Anime]

I like creativity, it is actually quite important to me, some artists I'd consider creative are K-Rino, KRS-One, Biggie, Nas, Last Emperor, Bizzy Bone, I think it makes an artist more interesting to listen to.

There's different ways of being creative, it can be conceptually creative or technically creative. Bizzy Bone is very technically and melodically creative with the flows and flavour while a Nas or K-Rino has displayed creative concepts and someone like KRS-One has been really creative with the flows.

It's broad but I find it important to keep me interested, I don't wanna hear about the same shyt with the same flows all the time. Needs to be some creativity there, I think that elevates an MC's stature too because it proves something, it shows they aren't just rapping and have some more creativity. Also 1 of the reasons Hip Hop is my favourite genre because the creativity within Hip Hop has been immense.

I think my bias favors the conceptual artists and songs but yeah technical creativity is something to note too