conscious/backpacker/underground rap is terrible

[Peachmm]

for the record I think song lyrics tend to suck ass regardless of genre, but this is about rap.

so it recently occurred to how much time I wasted in the past decade looking for and listening to fucking conscious/backpacker/underground rap. guys who in most cases have average flow, weak beats, and seriously overrated lyrics. guys trying so hard to be deep and insightful but coming off as corny. boring shit. I'm talking about stuff like Blue Scholars, Kid Cudi, CunninLynguists, Qwel, Canibus, MURS, Immortal Technique, Mos Def, Common, Talib Kweli, MF Doom, Aesop Rock, Atmosphere, Jurassic 5, etc. fucking terrible.

that people (myself included) could ever consider the above rappers to be legitimately talented writers blows me away. these guys spit bars that are like 12th grade poetry. indulgent, pseudo-intellectual, poorly written trash. they are every bit as bad as the worst of the worst mainstream rappers, just in a different way.

anyway, I'm just now catching up on the more mainstream releases of the past 2-3 years. I have to say that I haven't been feeling rap this much since my young sheltered white ears first heard Tupac. there is so much good shit right now.


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[Threetrees]

Fuck you, MF Doom is the shit.

Kendrick Lamar is great, Schoolboy Q is suprisingly entertaining AS$P anything is good "in the car" type music. Earl Sweatshirt's new album is dope, but it takes a second listen to get into it

 

[soggyfist]

I will agree that flow is sacrificed when emcees try to be too lyrical but mainstream beats are damn near unlistenable to me.

 

[akutz1]

It took you 10 years to figure that out?

 

[drstrangelov]

If I'm listening to a rap song, it's gonna be about something real, like when everybody in the club getting tipsy.

 

[Peachmm]

Fuck you, MF Doom is the shit.

Kendrick Lamar is great, Schoolboy Q is suprisingly entertaining AS$P anything is good "in the car" type music. Earl Sweatshirt's new album is dope, but it takes a second listen to get into it

DOOM just bores the crap out of me. I've really grown to hate monotone rappers. I don't know. I like him better than most Rhymesayers rappers, I guess.

Odd Future is cool for sure but too abrasive. I've really tried to like them but I think I like their style more than their actual music. I have Death Grips in the same category.

 

[Peachmm]

It took you 10 years to figure that out?

sadly, yeah. I think deep down I always knew it but at the time I was just desperate for some fresh rap that wasn't G-Unit or Lil Wayne or snap music

 

[INeedARemedy]

Lol

A$AP Rocky is totally a legitimately talented writer. I mean listen to him tell you about how he's a pretty mothafucka. Mod Def's Mathematics has nothing on that

 

[INeedARemedy]

Anyways Mayberry rap threads are always fucking terrible, and this is no exception

edit: Lmfao you say all that shit in the OP and yet you've got a track with El-P on it. The king and one of the GOAT's of underground rap.

Fail

 

[wandecosho]

 

[FrontNakedChoke]

Thanks for you opinion. You're into rap, not hip hop.

 

[Peachmm]

Anyways Mayberry rap threads are always fucking terrible, and this is no exception

edit: Lmfao you say all that shit in the OP and yet you've got a track with El-P on it. The king and one of the GOAT's of underground rap.

Fail

I've always liked El P as a producer but he is a mediocre rapper. I can tolerate him on Run the Jewels because of Killer Mike and the amazing beats.

and I never claimed Rocky or anybody else I listed was a great lyricist. I just think they're much better at what they do. does that make sense?

for me right now, it's kind of like: flow and delivery > production/atmosphere > hook > wordplay and punchlines > lyrical content

and I guess you could argue that lyrical content does contribute to atmosphere to some degree.

I don't know. I just think rap is a shitty medium for what some guys are trying to do, and on top of that most of them are, again, untalented lyrically, at least as far as I'm concerned. you want good poetry? go read some Yeats. want a good narrative with real substance? pick up a book.

are you the kind of person who thinks the best part about Metal Gear Solid is the story?

Thanks for you opinion. You're into rap, not hip hop.

you're into weak spoken word poetry bruh

 

[Peachmm]

I'm pretty sure Rocky is a closeted homo though

 

[INeedARemedy]

So you listen to beats with words over them but you don't care what the words actually are

You should look into electronic music, it's mainly just beats with useless words. Right up your alley.

 

[Candide]

I really only listen to white-guy rap whenever it is I listen to rap, I don't give a single fuck about a rapper's "flow" if the track is interesting (see: Atmosphere, Astronautalis, Aesop Rock) and they're good lyricists or have stories worth telling (see: Atmosphere, Astronautalis, Aesop Rock). Having survived growing up in the suburbs and watching white kids get together at parties and try to be gangster and mimic almost insultingly black-guy rap styling, I have no interest in mainstream rap as a general rule. I just don't care about the traditional kind of rappers who have already made it rapping about getting paid/status (see: Jay-Z) or the guys who haven't/hadn't yet made it rapping about their modest upbringing/how they would rather be getting paid (see: Kendrick Lamar, Freddie Gibbs).

Backpack rap is good and you're massively guilty of pigeonholing.

 

[christhakingpin]

You're only cool if you like underground rap that no one has heard of

 

[christhakingpin]

If I'm listening to a rap song, it's gonna be about something real, like when everybody in the club getting tipsy.

*errrbody

 

[Flemmy Stardust]

i tried writing rap verses once upon a time. shit is hard tbh.

 

[Peachmm]

So you listen to beats with words over them but you don't care what the words actually are

You should look into electronic music, it's mainly just beats with useless words. Right up your alley.

I like how a rapper with good flow weaves in and out of a beat. if anything I just think of the voice like another instrument.

I really only listen to white-guy rap whenever it is I listen to rap, I don't give a single fuck about a rapper's "flow" if the track is interesting (see: Atmosphere, Astronautalis, Aesop Rock) and they're good lyricists or have stories worth telling (see: Atmosphere, Astronautalis, Aesop Rock). Having survived growing up in the suburbs and watching white kids get together at parties and try to be gangster and mimic almost insultingly black-guy rap styling, I have no interest in mainstream rap as a general rule. I just don't care about the traditional kind of rappers who have already made it rapping about getting paid/status (see: Jay-Z) or the guys who haven't/hadn't yet made it rapping about their modest upbringing/how they would rather be getting paid (see: Kendrick Lamar, Freddie Gibbs).

Backpack rap is good and you're massively guilty of pigeonholing.

Part of this does just ultimately come down to personal preference, but I genuinely feel that people overrate the lyrical skills of backpackers. "deep" lol. people calling these guys great writers need to read more.

and I'm no wigger if that's what you're getting at. total stoner. I like this music because it's basically the antithesis of my everyday life

 

[Diablo Ryu**]

I'm offended u put kid cudi in that list in the op...he sucks