Who Has the Most Sophisticated and the Simplest Vocabulary in Hip Hop History?

[Walt]

Someone on said Birdman has a vocabulary of about 100 words. I believe it. I wonder where/how he would rank

The funny thing is it's well known Birdman earned a college scholarship by scoring 1380 on the SAT. Apparently dude had a 3.7 GPA before he dropped out in the middle of his sophomore year.

 

[Walt]

The point of the children's book/Autobiography comparison is that there is a relationship between vocab and expressivity- not an absolute correlation where more words = more expressivity, because, like you say with the Hemingway example, that is always, even often not the case, but more a relationship of sufficiency, such that a general lack of vocab generally restricts expression, and below a certain point, there's very little you can do with it. The same principle applies to the Laffy Taffy vs Dead Presidents comparison. It's not an indication of the overall quality of the music, or even the quality of the lyricism, which is why I don't understand why people keep bringing up what trumps vocab and what is ultimately more valuable- it's just an indication of the breadth of the lyrics.

I should take an L for not clarifying that in the first post, though. I didn't mean to come off like Drake's complexity (which I would also argue is nonexistent, for different reasons) is disproved by having a small vocab. Only the grand pretentions about his literacy are.

Okay, understood. And for the record, nothing about Drake strikes me as complex either.

 

[Jhoon]

He didn't say that on It's Dark...

he has a history of bsing real remedial

 

[The Real]

Okay, understood. And for the record, nothing about Drake strikes me as complex either.

I think it was the "complex" thing that got me the most backlash, honestly. I should have brought it up separately. The irony is I was specifically targeting the white critic circle who constantly praises Drake for this alleged literacy in comparison to the old rappers, who are stereotyped as simple (my point was to defend them) and I got called an ignorant "cac" and an Aesop Rock (who I've never listened to) fan for doing so.


Complexity is hard to describe, but it's worth trying, in my opinion. I would say that several albums with rappers that are seen as "simpler" are more complex than any Drake album, whether any of the Gang Starr classics or what have you.

 

[Harry B]

None of the comments regarding Drake makes sense, he's not the dude to rhyme
Intellectual superlative melancholic expressions traveling synthetically smoother than electromagnetic radiation through vacuum speakers shyt.

He talks that real talk but I still think they got him wrong or perhaps it's his lack of slang.
He drops the correct synonym for the context, a lot of rappers seem to be working through synonym books and just dropping flat out wrong words to make shyt rhyme.

 

[dirty_yo]

I honestly think drake is so low on the list because he's basically a crooner with some raps thrown in here and there. If we were just counting his raps, im sure he'd be higher up - easily - I mean come on drake and percy miller

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

The funny thing is it's well known Birdman earned a college scholarship by scoring 1380 on the SAT. Apparently dude had a 3.7 GPA before he dropped out in the middle of his sophomore year.

 

[Harry B]

I honestly think drake is so low on the list because he's basically a crooner with some raps thrown in here and there. If we were just counting his raps, im sure he'd be higher up - easily - I mean come on drake and percy miller

Large vocabulary and using different words in your raps is not the same thing.
Using the correct word for the correct sentence/context is.

However, slang is a big thing.
People are laughing at birdman not knowing that all the different ways dude knows how to say different drugs, guns, 'various ballin activities' and money will probably result in like 200 words alone.

 

[Mikael Blowpiff]

The funny thing is it's well known Birdman earned a college scholarship by scoring 1380 on the SAT. Apparently dude had a 3.7 GPA before he dropped out in the middle of his sophomore year.

its not how many words you use but how you use them plehboh.

 

[Walt]

Nah, I just made that shyt up.

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

The funny thing is it's well known Birdman earned a college scholarship by scoring 1380 on the SAT. Apparently dude had a 3.7 GPA before he dropped out in the middle of his sophomore year.

He gets into big meetings and sounds like Plies when 40 Gloccccc was lookin for him

 

[yo moms]

where is earl sweatshirt?

he can really spit

 

[Mikael Blowpiff]

i want to smack half these people and @Rohiggidy hasn't even posted there yet

Who has the most diverse lyrics in hip hop? | The Verge

 

[MilesTeg]

LOL @ all the wild conclusions in this thread.

It's just a chart showing which rapper's vocabs are bigger than others. It doesn't mean so-and-so is better than so-and-so, or that they're more "lyrical," or a better artist...it just means they have more variety in their vocab, and that shyt's pretty interesting.

Trying to turn it into a race war is an especially stupid and baffling reaction.

 

[DoomzdayzV]

Aesop Rock might be the 2nd worst rapper of all time after Sage Francis. Give Company Flow his spot for all I care....at least they made good music. Speaking of which....I would certainly expect El-p to be here somewhere.