Can we stop acting like Talib Kweli isn't the Silk the Shocker of the East coast

[CashmereThoughts]

if you cant hear the beauty of the lyrcism and message in this verse you dont understand Hip Hop.


Breathin' in deep city breaths, sittin' on shytty steps
We stoop to new lows, Hell froze the night the city slept
The Beast crept through concrete jungles
Communicating with one another
And ghetto birds where waters fall
From the hydrants to the gutters
The Beast walk the beats, but the beats we be makin'
You on the wrong side of the track, looking visibly shaken
Taken them plungers
Plunging to death that's painted by the numbers
With Krylon applied pressure; cats is playing God
By having children by a lesser baby mother, but fukk it
We played against each other like puppets
Swearing you got pull
When the only pull you got is the wool over your eyes
Getting knowledge in jail like a blessing in disguise
Look in the skies for God, what you see besides the smog
Is broken dreams flying away on the wings of the obscene
Thoughts that people put in the air
Places where you could get murdered over a glare
But everything is fair; it's a paradox we call reality
So keepin' it real will make you casualty of abnormal normality
Killers Born Naturally, like Mickey and Mallory
Not knowing the ways'll get you capped, like an NBA salary
Some cats be emceein' to illustrate what we be seein'
Hard to be a spiritual being
When shyt is shaking what you believe in
For trees to grow in Brooklyn, seeds need to be planted
I'm asking if y'all feel me and the crowd left me stranded
My blood pressure boiled and rose
‘Cause New York nikkas acting spoiled at shows
To the winners, the spoils go
I take the L, transfer to the 2, head to the gates
New York life type trife, the Roman Empire state

 

[Cryptocurrency Scarface]

there is purposefully rapping on the offbeat and then there is being completely out of rhythm

 

[BlackDroog]

I can definitely see the comparison (cramming too many words into the bar and frequently going off beat) but Talib is light years above Silkk. I agree that he's overrated as a rapper but I enjoy his lyricism. The truth is, if he had never made music with Mos Def, Dilla and HiTek, he would be another sub par, semi-conscious, NY rapper that would have been forgotten and overlooked early into his career.

You can't sleep on dude's writing tho. It is top notch.

 

[DaveyDave]

same can be said for E-40..

nah 40 is on beat it's just a different flow he's not on SIlkk or Talib levels

 

[Zero]

Truth is, his career has been more about timing than talent.

He was able to pop up at the right time in the mid to late 90's when underground MC's were flourishing and getting deals more than any other time. It was fashionable to be an underdog back then, and he was able to jump in right when that was poppin'.

But he's always been kind of a mushmouth, to me. Like someone already said, it seems like he tries to fit too many words in bars. Just no type of control to his flow at all, so the verses have always sounded kinda sloppy to me. But if you stand him next to a Mos Def, Common or Hi-Tek, he inherits credibility from the company he keeps. And that's what's kept him around. Without sounding too harsh, without the associations, I don't think Kweli gets past the Lyricist Lounge era.

Facts!

 

[Ronnie Lott]

A lot of youngstaz on this board haven't event listened to a full Nas or Ice Cube album...


But somehow can give an opinion on the skill of 90s underground mc that never sold much.


Something is telling me half of y'all that's "hating" is fishing for daps from youngstaz on here that never really listened to none of is music in the first place.

Man what are you talkin about

You brought up everything but the point of this thread

 

[Still Benefited]

same can be said for E-40..

Fact. imagine u link a bytch for the first time n pick her up playing e40


bytch gon thro herself out the whip on some gucci shyt

Nah i cant and wont let yall say this about 40


40 goes into periods during songs where he's not rapping but is instead teaching/lecturing....Its not him being off beat,its him taking a rap intermission.

He can clearly get back on beat whenever he wants to,over any type of beat

 

[Ironman]

For a supposed Hip hop section I've seen some insane shyt said on here my lord

I'm not even going to entertain this shyt but you're trolling if you think Silk the shocker and Kweli are anywhere near the same level.

 

[Cadillac]

I like the Respiration verse overall but it's like if I was shooting hoops with Kobe and Wade. Yea I can make a few but imma look out of place next to hem dudes. Mos and Common have CLASSIC verses/hooks on there. Then you hear this dude talking about NBA salaries...


I'll never forget when I met this dude back when I was on my militant shyt. Kweli, Mos, Common, Badu, etc were gods to me. Me and a couple friends planned to drive from Michigan to Chicago to see a Kweli show at some club. During the ride my friends, who were dating, started fighting over some bullshyt as I was driving. The chick was sitting behind me and kicked my chair, that shyt almost made me crash. I pulled off the freeway and parked at a Burger King, told them ayo y'all can fight but I'm gonna leave you and go see brother Kweli kick some conscious raps

These fools get a hotel room and jump in bed. He's apologizing, she's caressing his dreadlocks, I'm sitting in a chair with my Walkman listening to D'Angelo before I decide I'm providing sex music for these nikkas so I turn on The Roots and bounce.


Anyway we get back on the road and they're still arguing. Must have stopped 5 more times at various restaurants.

Finally we get to Chicago but we're an hour late. By this time my friend is driving and he's lost. This was before GPS brehs. Now we're two hours late. He's saying we can still make it since Kweli prob went on late. We get there and the concert is over, people are leaving.

So my friend's gf decides to chill at a restaurant while I drag my breh to a bar. We get into the bar and see Kweli surrounded by 2 of the ugliest white women I've ever seen, whispering in their ears. At first I thought my black brother was being assaulted or something by these spawn of Yakub but then I realized he was groping and kissing on these linebacker ass looking bytches


I couldn't even order a drink brehs. I left utterly disgusted at seeing my hero touching these cac wilder beasts.


I swear on god one of them had on a FUBU bucket hat


I was done with conscious shyt for years after that...

you wearing a FUBU hat to makes this even funnier considering theres this

 

[Cadillac]

I'm about to get hyped with this, shed some light to this
So called black righteousness
Even though ya'll nikkas might not cuss like me
End of the night ya'll just trying to fukk like me
So what's the reason for the hating, nikkas with dreads
Calling they self gods with white girls named Caitlin

shyt like what Piff said is one of the reasons why I dont care for conscious music/rappers much anymore.

nikkas be frauds out here. that and really some concious records just aint that good but get benefit of the doubt simply becasue they have substance.

Now you got all these nikkas now out here trying to jump on this concious bandwagon wonder how long this gon last

 

[Zero]

shyt like what Piff said is one of the reasons why I dont care for conscious music/rappers much anymore.

nikkas be frauds out here. that and really some concious records just aint that good but get benefit of the doubt simply becasue they have substance.

Now you got all these nikkas now out here trying to jump on this concious bandwagon wonder how long this gon last

It's why I got off that wave around the time I was a freshman in college. It's lot of hypocrisy, contradiction, pretentiousness, and bullshyt in conscious rap but it gets a pass because of a "message"

Like constantly rhyming about how dope you are (instead of actually showing it) isn't their version of flossing

Like constantly making fake threats towards and attacking "wack emcees" is any more productive than murder rap

They'll sprinkle a song or 2 in where they actually have something to say (just like the rappers they hate), but good luck if it's actually listenable outside of this initial -factor

shyt is lame. A conscious rapper is about the closest thing you'll get to an actual "hater" in hiphop

 

[Vinny Lupton]

Reflection Eternal album was dope but then he tried to go pop and fell off

 

[Redwing80]

Fact. imagine u link a bytch for the first time n pick her up playing e40

bytch gon thro herself out the whip on some gucci shyt

This thread is too much

 

[Ronnie Lott]

if you cant hear the beauty of the lyrcism and message in this verse you dont understand Hip Hop.


Breathin' in deep city breaths, sittin' on shytty steps
We stoop to new lows, Hell froze the night the city slept
The Beast crept through concrete jungles
Communicating with one another
And ghetto birds where waters fall
From the hydrants to the gutters
The Beast walk the beats, but the beats we be makin'
You on the wrong side of the track, looking visibly shaken
Taken them plungers
Plunging to death that's painted by the numbers
With Krylon applied pressure; cats is playing God
By having children by a lesser baby mother, but fukk it
We played against each other like puppets
Swearing you got pull
When the only pull you got is the wool over your eyes
Getting knowledge in jail like a blessing in disguise
Look in the skies for God, what you see besides the smog
Is broken dreams flying away on the wings of the obscene
Thoughts that people put in the air
Places where you could get murdered over a glare
But everything is fair; it's a paradox we call reality
So keepin' it real will make you casualty of abnormal normality
Killers Born Naturally, like Mickey and Mallory
Not knowing the ways'll get you capped, like an NBA salary
Some cats be emceein' to illustrate what we be seein'
Hard to be a spiritual being
When shyt is shaking what you believe in
For trees to grow in Brooklyn, seeds need to be planted
I'm asking if y'all feel me and the crowd left me stranded
My blood pressure boiled and rose
‘Cause New York nikkas acting spoiled at shows
To the winners, the spoils go
I take the L, transfer to the 2, head to the gates
New York life type trife, the Roman Empire state

It's not about WHAT HES SAYING, it's about HOW HE'S delivering it

Are you not familiar with cadence and flow

 

[ZEB WALTON]

Someone should tweet him this thread

Wed never hear the end of that shyt