Big L ain't sell records like Banks though. X ain't say sh*t about Big L.
And if Styles P is your favorite rapper or someone you think is great, you should be able to recite 4 bars or even 2 bars from him.
Scoop was hyping Banks, yet couldn't quote anything memorable.
Which drove home X's point.
Big L was underground, was X's contemporary and probably the majority of Banks material to judge him on dropped after he stopped selling records. X isn't on datpiff looking through nikkas mixtapes, he has clashed with nikkas like Jay Z on their come up so I wouldn't expect him to know, or care that Banks been dropping music and improving on his craft on the underground for a good minute.
Styles P ain't my favorite rapper, but I would rank him highly as a lyricist and it wouldn't be because I'm wave riding all of a sudden. Same for black thought, that nikka don't spit no jingles, he's rapping on a level that might actually take some degree of study. That's not to say you HAVE to be complex to be a lyricist, I'm just saying...anybody, DMX included saying Banks isn't a lyricist probably never listened or hasn't listened Banks in a long time. Now is he a star? Does he have songs (and thus lines) that you can reference in a split second mid convo? The nikkas that DMX clashed with at the height of his career do.
It's really not though. DMX was putting Scoop on blast for doing what a lot of people do. And that's say what they think they should say, instead of what they really feel. If Banks is ranked as highly as Scoop feels, then you should be able to come up with 2 lines he's said in the course of a 20 year career. That's crazy. Don't just start listing people because you know the names people respect and expect you to say. And I think Banks is a good lyricist, really good. But if I was Banks, I'd be mad at Scoop too.
I mean I could blame it on the weed I suppose, but if you asked me for two Canibus bars at random I might fukk it up lol.
I have select verses that impressed/interested me enough to study and learn, but if that's the game show set up I'm not gonna make it very far
