And now for a detour: Avery Tooley basically reprises my entire 9th grade year of high school by resurrecting the greatest debate of our time--Rakim or Big Daddy Kane. Non-hip-hop heads, leave while you can. This discussion is headed into the realm of a black nerd, whose ghetto pass hinged on his ability to offer a flawless rendition of The Symphony.
Those were the days, no? I always thought Kool G Rap killed that joint, and then I started really started listening hard to Kane. He was a master of MCing in its purest form--braggadocio, humor, timing and rhythm. I've heard very few MCs who sound more natural. I love Jay, but Kane was Jay in his time, but so much smoother--"I can let lyrics blast like a bullet\My mouth is a gun, on suckers I pull it\The trigger, you figure, my pockets getting bigger\Cause when it comes to money, yo Grant's my nigger."
That said, for my money, Rakim was the first dude I heard who took the simple and egotistical claim at hip-hop's core ("I'm badder than you.") and raised it to literature. To the day I die I will maintain that the greatest statement of the power of African-American identity and culture is contained in this simple couplet:
I can take a phrase that's rarely heard
Flip it, now it's a daily word.
Of course, Rakim was specifically talking about his own MC abilities, but this is what I mean about his greatness as an MC. At his best, he managed to make the standard claims of the usual braggarts, but he always manged to say more. When I was writing my book, all I wanted to know was to be able to write like Rakim (and his progeny Nas, Black Thought etc.) wrote. I love Kane, but Rakim was just nasty. Anyway, a bit of nostalgia below.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
Hey I don't know if you took my request seriously or if this is a coincidence, but either way, thanks for the music!
Yeah I need more music talk on here. I wish I could listen like I used to. Any suggestions?
I'll take seven MCs put em in a line
and add seven more brothas who think they can rhyme
and it'll take seven more before I go for mine
now that's 21 MCs ate up at the same time
Case closed.
hip hop music? suggestions?
off the top o' the ipod:
-Blu & Exile "Beneath The Heavens"
-Kokayi "Mass Instructions"
-Little Brother "Get Back"
-The Roots "Game Theory"
also, the TS interview was nice- be well, bruh
I find myself saying phrases like, "back in my day" a little too frequently for my tastes as it makes me feel old, but the very thought that there exists people in the same world as me who are too young to have an "I remember when" moment with almost any Rakim track is very painful to me.
And then I drop in a little "Eric B is President" and suddenly life has new meaning.
Braggadocio will never, ever get better than Rakim.
For any entertainer, I got a torture chamber;
One on one, and I'm the remainder.
So close your eyes, and hold your breath,
And I'm a hit you with the blow of def.
Before you go, you'll remember you seen,
The fiend of a microphone, I'm the microphone fiend.
Agreed DJ Moonbat. In fact, the best thing about Rakim is that right out of the gate he's bragging like he has nothing else to live for. I maintain that "I Ain't No Joke" is one of the best braggadocio tracks in hip-hop (LL Cool J's "Jack the Ripper" takes a close second).
One thing I love about Rakim, which nobody to this day does better (though I do think a few are equals or close), is the intricacy of his lyrics. Not only is what he's spitting absolute fire meaning-wise, it's also outrageous when you break down his syllables and note the degree of internal rhyme going on. This is why when I tutor kids in literature/writing/poetry I have to bust out quality hip hop like this. I can't think of another genre of music that is as effective a teaching tool in this context. Seriously if you break it down by some common literary devices you got:
Kane, BIG, Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes,etc. -- flow aka metre (beats the hell out of Robert Frost IMHO)
Slick Rick -- Allegory
Damned-near everybody -- Hyperbole
Lil' Wayne -- Simile (obscenely so. It's really the only thing he uses)
And then this excludes tone, symbolism, motif, mood, imagery, etc. which good rappers are masters of.
I guess what I'm trying to say Ta-Nehisi is that you should definitely do some more music-related posts.
I love Kane. Kane is an incredible MC. His verse on The Symphony is bananas. But you were right originally when you thought G Rap killed that joint. His verse was just ... can't find proper adjective to describe how good his verse was:
take a deep breath because you don't have another left
coming back like i'm revenging my brothers death
making veterans run for medicine
cause I put out more lights in a fight than con edison
I will say that the fact that Kane can follow up that verse and still represent is the best evidence of Kane's greatest as an MC.
IMagoDei is totally right about the internal rhyme. If you want kids to understand Gerard Manley Hopkins, start with a rapper like Rakim, who makes the technique sound cool.
Rakim was a lyrical technician the likes of which had never been heard before he stepped on stage. One of the first (and best) uses of alliteration in rap. DJ ID is on point about the internal rhyme scheme. We take the move from inter-line to intra-line rhymes for granted, but on the real it was a move that didn't necessarily HAVE to be made.
And as far as imagery there are still only a few lyrics that get with:
What can you say as the earth gets further and further away
Planets as small as balls of clay
Soaring through the milky way
Worlds outta sight
Far as the eye can see not even a satellite
Then stop and turn around and look
As you stare in the darkness your knowlewdge took
Keep staring soon suddenly you see a star
You betta follow it cause it's the R
Chills just thinking about it. Ave's my man. One of the best bloggers of his kind. But in Detroit? We took for granted that Rakim was the best.
"Lil' Wayne -- Simile (obscenely so. It's really the only thing he uses)"
DJ ImagoDei,
Haha, kind of true. But damn they're so ridiculous sometimes you can't help but just smile and chuckle at the dude's like chutzpah. (Is that the first time Yiddish has been used to describe Weezy?)
Think you're selling him a bit short. Two huge parts of Wayne's genius are his cadence and the quality of his voice. He alters his pitch constantly, moves up and down, slow and fast, and it keeps you on your times the whole time.
Also, my favorite thing Wayne does is altering the pronunciation of words so they fit the rhyme. Like changing "abortion" to "abartian" so it can rhyme with "Martian." Or changing "orphan" to "arphan" so it can rhyme with "dolphin"...(Er, sort of).
Anyway, I think Wayne is creative in a lot of ways beyond simile, though you're very right that its a constant presence.
wow,Riise, that is the first time I've read a positive and constructive critique of Lil Wayne. I must give you credit, cause you're more open minded than me.
Without a doubt my top ten with honorable mentions to Common, Black Thought, Ice Cube, MC Lyte,
1.Rakim
2.Big Daddy Kane
3.KRS - One
4.Kool Moe Dee
5.Nas
6.Kelvin Mercer aka Posdnous, Plug 1
7.Kool G Rap
8.Slick Rick
9.Andre 3000
10.Snoop Dog
DJ ImagoDei,
I am heartened to hear that you use hip hop to teach literature/poetry to the students you tutor. It is a shame that hip-hop so often gets dismissed as an art, when it really is the modern equivalent of centuries-old genres of poetry. Ever read any medieval poetry, particularly troubadour poetry? Take Shlomo ibn Gabirol, a medieval, Hebrew court poet, for example:
"These people--their fathers I would despise to have as dogs for my sheep.
Their faces never blush, unless they paint them scarlet.
They are like giants in their own eyes, but like grasshoppers in mine.
When I speak my wisdom, they rebuke me as they would a Greek:
"Speak our language so we may understand, for this is gibberish."
Now I shall stomp on them like dirt, for my tongue will be my pitchfork.
If your ear is uncircumcized, what good will my harmonies do?
Your necks are not fit to bear the gold of my jewels.
If these fools were only to open their mouths to my raincloud,
my fragrance would drip upon them, my cinnamon fragrance fill them.
Woe unto wisdom and woe unto me, for among such fools, I'm forced to be!"
Sound familiar in tone and theme? Yeah, but for some reason one is academically credible and the other not...
(My rough translation, of course, fails to capture the impressive rhyme, meter, and wordplay of the Hebrew.)
Dude, that impressive--the Hebrew poetry. Speak more on it please: Orgins? Context? Reasons for the attitude? I especially love:
If your ear is uncircumcized, what good will my harmonies do?
Your necks are not fit to bear the gold of my jewels
Sounds like some Mobb Deep, no?
This is the post I've been waiting for. I've gotta go with Rakim, hands down. Kane was a dope mc for sure, but Rakim was on another level with his. Growing up, you wanted to be like Kane, but Rakim was unapproachable. Plus, Rakim never made any wack love songs.
1. Rakim
2. KRS-One
3. Kane
4. G. Rap
5. Ice Cube
6. Andre 3000
7. Slick Rick
8. Black Thought
9. Mos Def
10. BIG
i wasn't even thinkin about the wack love songs. definitely a minus.
shit, as long as people are throwing up lists, here's mine
1. Rakim
2. KRS
3. Slick Rick
4. Kane
5. Ice Cube
6. Boots (The Coup)
7. G Rap
8. Scarface
9. Pharoahe Monch
10. Doom
"What can you say as the earth gets further and further away
Planets as small as balls of clay
Soaring through the milky way
Worlds outta sight
Far as the eye can see not even a satellite
Then stop and turn around and look
As you stare in the darkness your knowlewdge took
Keep staring soon suddenly you see a star
You betta follow it cause it's the R"
I can't agree enough. That passage there remains, twenty years later, the greatest piece of hip-hop lyricism I've ever heard. Other cats could tell you that they were badass, but this dude would take you into the depths of space and appear as the only light visible.
And who could forget "I Ain't No Joke":
"So when you see me come up, freeze
Or you'll be one of those 7 MC's
They think that I'm a new jack but only if they knew that
They who think wrong are they who can't do that
Style that I'm doing, they might ruin
Patterns and paragraphs based on you and
Your offbeat DJ, if anything he play
Sound familiar, I'll wait til E say
Play 'em, so I'ma have to diss and bro
You could get a smack for this, I ain't no joke!"
A more recent lyric of Rakim's (but still 11 years old) from "The 18th Letter (Always and Forever)":
"Since the first days you know of, till the last days is over
I was always the flow-er, I made waves for noah
From a compound, to the anatomy, to the breakdown of a atom
Some of my rap patterns, still surround saturn"
My only wish for Rakim would be to hear him rap about more than just the fact the he can rap better than any other MC. A few of his songs have been topical, but he mostly tells us, in 1,000 brilliant ways, how much MC ass he kicks.
If I had to do an entire list, it would go something like:
1. Rakim
2. Big Daddy Kane
3. KRS-One
4. Chuck D
5. Q-Tip
6. Jay Z
7 Snoop Dogg
8. Biggie Smalls
9. Eminem (mostly because of his freestyle battle skills)
10. Phife
I don't know Nas' stuff, so I can't rank him. I'm not dissin' him, I just don't have a basis to say one way or the other.
Damn, what a bunch of fogeys. Everyone has to have Kane, Rakim and KRS-One in the top 3?! Damn, I wasn't even born when they were rhyming.
Where's the Lil Wayne? The David Banner? Fuck, give me some Young Jeezy. At least one threw me some Andre 3000. What about Kweli? And dare I say...uh oh...oh shit...what am I doing?!...KANYE?!??!
Obie Trice? Saigon? Papoose? Royce da 5'9"? Method Man?
Anyone...?
riise,
wayne, though? i assume you've heard mr. carter. jay crushes the young'n.
old foginess notwithstanding, i think that what so-called golden age cats listen for is substantially different than what the newer cats are offering. now of the post-98 crop of emcees, i'd hafta rank ludacris up there. and of course 3 stacks is the truth, but i don't know that they're top 10.
Show me any current emcee who can flow as quickly, with as much agility, as Rakim or Kane, and we'll talk. Show me someone from today's pack who can freestyle substantively like KRS-One can do (dude can spit a manifesto at you, straight off the dome) and we'll talk. I ain't sayin' that there aren't modern emcees who can meet those standards, but I haven't heard 'em yet.
Frankly, rap stopped being about emcee skills around about, hmmm, 1993. Whether you love gangsta or loathe it, you know that ish took over, and you know it's not about lyrical skills. It's about how much rock you can brag about moving, how many times you got shot, who you're gonna smoke, how badass you are, yadda yadda yadda. Yawn. It's a lifestyle, image thing now, not an emcee thing. Again, if that's the vibe that moves you, more power to you. Enjoy.
Put another way: how many of today's cats would have been able to step into a block party in Brooklyn or the Bronx, circa 1987-88 or so, and grab a mic without embarassing themselves? Back then, you couldn't hold a mic with some weak ish, you had to be able to spit it with authority. Off the top of my head, the only two who I know would've held there own are Jigga and Eminem.
Again, not claiming that there aren't talented cats out there. And not denying I'm old. If there's some ill new ish that I need to check out, on the lyrical tip, I'm all ears.
There are a few new cats that are representin on the lyrical tip: Joell Ortiz, Blu & Exile, Jay Electronica. You should check them out, One Drop.
"wayne, though? i assume you've heard mr. carter. jay crushes the young'n"
This may be somewhat true, though I think Wayne goes insane in the middle of his second verse and reaches heights Jay does not. But yeah if you take the song as a whole, you remember Hov more than Weezy.
"Put another way: how many of today's cats would have been able to step into a block party in Brooklyn or the Bronx, circa 1987-88 or so, and grab a mic without embarassing themselves?"
I'll put Papoose up there with anyone...But it's true that the most popular MCs might have trouble...
Firstly, glad to see my comment got so much traction, even more pleased to see Weezy bigged up in Yiddish and the most pleased to hear Hebrew medieval poetry compared to the Mobb.
This line really is sick though, and I'm sure it's even better sans translation.
"If your ear is uncircumcized, what good will my harmonies do?
Your necks are not fit to bear the gold of my jewels"
And since we're talking old school/new school and top 10 lists, I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents. I disagree with assertions that the hip hop that I've come up on (I'm 20, and Reasonable Doubt was the first hip hop album I ever memorized and my Holy Grail) is lacking in quality compared to Golden Age hip hop (and I'm kind of calling you out on this one One Drop, though its all love). The idea that hip hop now is "not about lyrical skills. It's about how much rock you can brag about moving, how many times you got shot, who you're gonna smoke, how badass you are..." is an unfair assessment and falsely puts forth the idea that Golden Age hip hop was somehow on a different plateau in relation to subject matter. What was most golden age hip hop about? Destroying sucker MCs, parties, scoring fly girls, etc (I know there were exceptions, but there are today as well). Kane's subject matter was not always earth-shattering, it’s the way he said it that was. And thusly, gangsta rappers, whether you like the subject matter or not can express themselves in a manner that showcases their talent. That said, my top 10 list follows - and this isn’t in order because I would agonize and never post:
Honourable mentions/up-and comers: NaS (sorry, too inconsistent for my tastes), Cube, Chuck D, Lauryn Hill (sigh, lack of material), Common / Pharoahe Monch, Phonte (From Little Brother), Qwel (From Typical Cats)
1. Jay-Z
2. Big Daddy Kane
3. KRS-One
4. 2Pac
5. Rakim
6. B.I.G.
7. Immortal Technique
8. Lil’ Wayne
9. Mos Def/Kweli (Blackstar can share a spot right?)
10. The Wu (see how weak I am? Lists are HARD!)
Riise, I think Papoose is a good MC, but I don't think you can put someone on the G.O.A.T. list before they even dropped an album. There are plenty of MCs who seemed great during their guest shots and mix-tape appearances, who couldn't bring it on the album level. Canibus, for example.