Most improved rappers of all-time

[DJ Mart-Kos]

2pac by far

 

[DJ Mart-Kos]

Common when he shortened his name from Common Sense to Common.
Joe Budden of course

 

[DJ Mart-Kos]

2pac went from not mentioned by all to mentioned by all

 

[SireSiah#KWU]

Resurrection is nice and I like it but One Day is just so personnal (it seems to him) and it connects with me because we experienced the similiar situations in life at that time at so it connects with me on a personal level... Our daughters are a few months about and the song with Lauryn Hill for one is personal

Masta Ace improved. I would say he's a perfect combination of updating his old flow to the "new" but still keeping it old (if you understand what i mean)
I would say Erick Sermon improved alot.. Every album he got just a little bit better with each release.
Fat Joe after Pun
Sean Price

Exactly breh. O.D.I.A.M.S.
Catching a lot of shade on this thread.

The O.G. brought it on this one.

 

[Da King]

Rick Ross


Dude on his first album to now is night and day

 

[h2o_proof]

bun, was right on the curve, to being a technical marvel at the right exact time.


Art Barr

Yeah a technical cat he was, but its no secret, nikkas that know how to rhyme over the hat are more technically sound by nature, thats Rap 101. He could always rhyme over the hat and he was always a bully, but learning how to be both a bully and clever at the same time allowed him to easily transition with the new era of cats that were coming out.

 

[Art Barr]

I semi agree on Erick Sermon ... He improved from Strickly to No Pressure ... that was his peak.. and I guess he had alot to prove..
AS for common .. I said there are personal connections which is why I rank One Day higher.. And Common is my favorite rapper BTW...

I used to easily be common'a number one fan.
EMPHASIS ON USED TO,....

Art Barr

 

[CashmereThoughts]

Gunplay

 

[Art Barr]

Yeah a technical cat he was, but its no secret, nikkas that know how to rhyme over the hat are more technically sound by nature, thats Rap 101. He could always rhyme over the hat and he was always a bully, but learning how to be both a bully and clever at the same time allowed him to easily transition with the new era of cats that were coming out.

what'chu mean rhyme over the hats.
you don't rhyme over hats.
you rhyme to the snare and the break.
the verbiage you are using doesn't make sense from an emcee standpoint at all skillwise. What are you talembout,...



Art Barr

 

[feelosofer]

Whew this is kind of a tough to think about.

I would say Del has returned to form because he came out the gate real nice but got kinda stale after Deltron 3030 but his recent stuff is back up to snuff.

I would say Inspectah Deck would be the most improved rapper for me. He kinda started out as more of a hypeman than a rapper, but his work in the past 3 or 4 years has been fire.

I would also say Roc Marciano. When he replaced Lord Have Mercy on the Flipmode squad, I thought he was by far one of the weakest rappers I have heard, in the decade since I think he's one of the most underrated MCs out. Some dudes just need time to mature.

I would also make a case for Keith Murray. After Rapmurrphobia he has been spitting hot fire, I'm waiting for that sequel with Him and Canibus. He actually outrapped Canibus in some verses and this is from a Canibus stan.



Honorable Mentions

Rick Ross
CL Smooth
Lil Mama
Memphis Bleek
Freeway

 

[TrebleMan]

only rappers more charismatic than common starting out are:

chip fu
Redman

common was a top styles based era emcee.
outside of tonite's the nite remix,..
no one was more charismatic than common breaker one nine remix to can I bust.

It's all subjective really. To me there was too much of a monotone to Common at the beginning of his career. Dude definitely improved in that regard as his career progressed.

 

[feelosofer]

Every time this topic comes up, the answer for me remains the same...Bun B
Around Supertight Bun really started getting comfortable with his flow and Ridin' Dirty contains some of the best displays of lyricism of all time, and its like it came out of the blue. As much love as Bun gets, he was a mediocre rapper on Too Hard to Swallow, but its still a dope album. Bun on Pocket Full Of Stones (1992) and Bun on Murda' (1996) is probably the biggest leap in Hip-Hop history from a lyrical standpoint.

This crossed my mind as well, him and Pimp C were like Gogeta on that shyt, Super Saiyan southern raps on Supertight. I guess it's just Bun been nice for so long I forgot how so-so he was on THTS but he was what 18 or so back then?

 

[h2o_proof]

what'chu mean rhyme over the hats.
you don't rhyme over hats.
you rhyme to the snare and the break.
the verbiage you are using doesn't make sense from an emcee standpoint at all skillwise. What are you talembout,...



Art Barr

Some of the most comprehensive verses, in my opinion are created when one is either rapping with the cadence of the hi-hat or bouncing off the hi-hat. Its the jazz/scat element that helps to create the flow. Maybe we're talking about two different things, but either way, here are some examples:
-Digital Underground - Same Song (feat. 2pac)
-DJ Quik - Born And Raised in Compton
-Pun - Super Lyrical
-Biggie & Method Man - The What
-AZ & Nas - Life's A bytch

I don't fully disagree with you that the formula has always been rhyming to the snare and break, but as we have evolved you can see that rappers have found a way to capture the groove elements that are partially based on bass and partially based on the vocal relationship with the hi hat. Like Chuck D, Rakim and many others were hard core snare/break rappers, who refused to sacrifice clarity for the sake of rhythm. Tribe pretty much the same way but they found other ways to incorporate groove through the style of beats and the types of hooks they used. Wu bridged the gap because Meth would use everything, he'd groove to the hat but then accentuate his words on the snare, Mos Def has that same style as Meth on a lot of his recordings

 

[Asicz]

Lil Wayne late 90s improved to 07'-09 era.

 

[Phillyrider807]

Wayne
Ross
Big Sean