GZA or Lupe...who's the better lyricist?

[spliz]

Son was posting trash so I just assumed what he posted was trash without looking. @Chip Skylark a bold dikkrider. I feel what you saying tho, Spliz. Just don't understand how anyone can fix their face and say Lupe is better in anyway than GZA. You're better than Lupe. Lupe is convoluted trash. But whatever.

Bro I get it. U don't fukk wit Lupe. shyt I can even understand why. But don't make a comparison thread if ur not gonna actually read the posts and argue in good faith. Lol. That's all I'm saying. Oh and I'm def not better than Lupe brodie. Lol

 

[Barney Rubble]

Love both and Liquid Swords is my fav album of all time, but Grandmasters is also a classic and shouldn't be ignored in the discussion. Whole album is heat.

 

[Cryptocurrency Scarface]

Apples Oranges


Lupe is sometimes too abstract

 

[Billy Ocean]

Bro I get it. U don't fukk wit Lupe. shyt I can even understand why. But don't make a comparison thread if ur not gonna actually read the posts and argue in good faith. Lol. That's all I'm saying. Oh and I'm def not better than Lupe brodie. Lol

Naw, you're better than Lupe. Social Drugs is better than anything I've heard from that nikka in the last 15 years. Don't know why y'all choose to overhype that wack rapper. shyt wild.

 

[Gizza]

Nas/Lupe you got clowns makin threads & dismissing everything since their idols aren’t viewed the same or right next to it.

Lupe just raps better he can do XYZ while Elzhi, Gza, Canibus can only do X & Y. Play dumb if you want to but “inside your heart of hearts” we can all see it, hence these looney ass threads.

 

[Chip Skylark]

nikkaz arguments is "why do all the lyrical stuff when you can dumb it down"

And nikkaz too dumb to realize it

End this thread man.

 

[The Truest]

My son u know I fukk wit u but u should be the last one talking as well. I try to counter the Lupe hate on here but u on the opposite end of the spectrum as well. U have ur favorites and will discount basically any other emcee that don't fit into that mold of who ur favorites are. Will flat out say they ain't lyricists n all kinda shyt and they could be held by esteem as some of the best emcees to ever do it. U tried to shyt on Rakim as a lyricist on here so I don't know if it's just trolling or u just have an EXTREMELY narrow view of what counts as lyricism. This stance usually comes from people who aren't writers themselves and don't understand the intricacies of actually writing lyrics from your own thoughts.

Yes my definition of lyricism is more narrow than most because most don't even have a definition and how they use it makes it impossible to exclude anyone which renders the word and discussion useless. Now we can call it "not a lyricist" or "bad lyricist" depending on whoever is giving the definition, but my stance doesn't change based on whether I like the rapper or not. That's why I can sit here and use my definition to say my favorite rapper, Pac, isn't a lyricist while acknowledging it doesn't take away from his greatness. I can admit someone like King Los is a better lyricist than Pac and I don't even know anything about whether he makes good music or not since I only listen to his freestyles.

Rakim doesn't fit my definition of a lyricist/or good lyricist (depending on how broad yall want to make it). He definitely did it better than his contemporaries, but if we comparing him to lyricism NOW, he just don't got it. And counting to 21 by 7's was never impressive to me and pops had Pais In Full when it released.

And I am a writer, I don't write raps... anymore. It's why I have an appreciation for people who put the effort into using various devices and weaving multiple themes throughout a verse compared to a nikka who runs like a cheetah.

The question I ask you is who does your "definition" of lyricism exclude?

 

[HiiiPower]

This thread didn’t go the way you though it would did it? Lol @Billy Ocean

 

[Pop123]

The “Lupe is too lyrical and makes his shyt overly intricate” angle ain’t even true, lol, yall just say that because you yourself can’t follow what he’s saying. Just because 5 feet of water in the pool is too deep for you because you’re a midget don’t mean it’s deep to me…I’m 6’2 little man.

Lupe even said on the podcast with Royce that he likes to say a lot without saying too much, or say something extremely potent and poignant with multiple interpretations but say it in the simplest way possible…so even if you didn’t catch it you can still enjoy it just on face value and it sounding good. Lupe is 100% not a “Rhyming big words and not saying shyt” ass rapper, lol, he probably says the most when the rhyming itself is actually simple. “bytch Bad”, for example. Etc…

 

[Mike Wins]

Mannnnnnneeee hell nawl. First 5 pages only GZA album nikkas named was Liquid Swords. @Chip Skylark was the first nikka to even bring up his other shyt

GZA is elite lyrically, but he’s like Jada dawg, the nikka has like one or two flows max

What we talking bout here mane? nikka hasn’t put out an album in 20 years and he got a deeper discography?

Yeah, ight…

That's what happens when you compare an artist who got a consensus classic to one who don't.

Fact is GZA got a landmark solo album under his belt and was a key part of multiple group albums that are viewed the same way, not to mention memorable guest spots on plenty other classics from that crew

Yall are better off sticking to arguments that don't bring quality and depth of catalog into play. You can spin it how you want but yeah, GZA been a crucial part of more projects and songs, solo and group, that stood the test of time than Lupe has. That ain't changing even if GZA never rap again

 

[spliz]

Yes my definition of lyricism is more narrow than most because most don't even have a definition and how they use it makes it impossible to exclude anyone which renders the word and discussion useless. Now we can call it "not a lyricist" or "bad lyricist" depending on whoever is giving the definition, but my stance doesn't change based on whether I like the rapper or not. That's why I can sit here and use my definition to say my favorite rapper, Pac, isn't a lyricist while acknowledging it doesn't take away from his greatness. I can admit someone like King Los is a better lyricist than Pac and I don't even know anything about whether he makes good music or not since I only listen to his freestyles.

Rakim doesn't fit my definition of a lyricist/or good lyricist (depending on how broad yall want to make it). He definitely did it better than his contemporaries, but if we comparing him to lyricism NOW, he just don't got it. And counting to 21 by 7's was never impressive to me and pops had Pais In Full when it released.

And I am a writer, I don't write raps... anymore. It's why I have an appreciation for people who put the effort into using various devices and weaving multiple themes throughout a verse compared to a nikka who runs like a cheetah.

The question I ask you is who does your "definition" of lyricism exclude?

See I feel like ur not a true fan of lyricism. U just like what u like. And that's cool. But u can't dismiss someone like Rakim as a lyricist because he doesn't fit in ur little narrow box. Any true writer and true fan of lyrics can appreciate different forms of lyricism and approaches to it. Rakim is a pioneer. He's also a musician. And literally created a "flow" in rap when there wasnt. He used his lyrics like an instrument and thats how he came up with the flow. Like when people say Pac wasn't a lyricist. Pac was very much a lyricist. Pac's lyrics had a level of emotional captivity to them that that they are used all over the world. The Pope quoted Pac. Not many people can do what Pac can do. Pac was also a master songwriter. Pac turned a gloomy beat that would be considered some underground horror sounding beat like Hail Mary and made a certified catchy hit record out of it. There's magic in what Pac did with his lyrics. People think it's simple but have such a hard time doing it themselves effectively. Pac could effectively rap about literally anything and come off convincing. He has the most versatile list of hit records than any rapper ever. His reach is beyond rap for these reasons. I come from writers. My mother is NY Times best selling author and this is AFTER she had brain surgery. To me. DMX is another that people underestimate as a lyricist. Especially early DMX. From his vivid storytelling to his conceptual conversations with God/The Devil. There's also a poetic aspect to lyricism as well that I feel u miss as well with ur narrow view.

 

[The Truest]

See I feel like ur not a true fan of lyricism. U just like what u like. And that's cool. But u can't dismiss someone like Rakim as a lyricist because he doesn't fit in ur little narrow box. Any true writer and true fan of lyrics can appreciate different forms of lyricism and approaches to it. Rakim is a pioneer. He's also a musician. And literally created a "flow" in rap when there wasnt. He used his lyrics like an instrument and thats how he came up with the flow. Like when people say Pac wasn't a lyricist. Pac was very much a lyricist. Pac's lyrics had a level of emotional captivity to them that that they are used all over the world. The Pope quoted Pac. Not many people can do what Pac can do. Pac was also a master songwriter. Pac turned a gloomy beat that would be considered some underground horror sounding beat like Hail Mary and made a certified catchy hit record out of it. There's magic in what Pac did with his lyrics. People think it's simple but have such a hard time doing it themselves effectively. Pac could effectively rap about literally anything and come off convincing. He has the most versatile list of hit records than any rapper ever. His reach is beyond rap for these reasons. I come from writers. My mother is NY Times best selling author and this is AFTER she had brain surgery. To me. DMX is another that people underestimate as a lyricist. Especially early DMX. From his vivid storytelling to his conceptual conversations with God/The Devil. There's also a poetic aspect to lyricism as well that I feel u miss as well with ur narrow view.

I literally just said Pac was my favorite rapper, you don't have to explain to me the quality of Pac's music. My point is that none of what you said is lyricism. He has other qualities that make his music valuable to me.

But what you did show here is that you define lyricism as "lyrics that I like" which as I said renders the word and discussion useless because someone somewhere likes every rappers lyrics. Someone likes Birdman's lyrics.

 

[Mike Wins]

See I feel like ur not a true fan of lyricism. U just like what u like. And that's cool. But u can't dismiss someone like Rakim as a lyricist because he doesn't fit in ur little narrow box. Any true writer and true fan of lyrics can appreciate different forms of lyricism and approaches to it. Like when people say Pac wasn't a lyricist. Pac was very much a lyricist. Pac's lyrics had a level of emotional captivity to them that that they are used all over the world. The Pope quoted Pac. Not many people can do what Pac can do. Pac was also a master songwriter. Pac turned a gloomy beat that would be considered some underground horror sounding beat like Hail Mary and made a certified catchy hit record out of it. There's magic in what Pac did with his lyrics. People think it's simple but have such a hard time doing it themselves effectively. Pac could effectively rap about literally anything and come off convincing. He has the most versatile list of hit records than any rapper ever. His reach is beyond rap for these reasons. I come from writers. My mother is NY Times best selling author and this is AFTER she had brain surgery. To me. DMX is another that people underestimate as a lyricist. Especially early DMX. From his vivid storytelling to his conceptual conversations with God/The Devil. There's also a poetic aspect to lyricism as well that I feel u miss as well with ur narrow view.

That dude claims to be a writer but has horrible communication skills and don't understand the basics of the artform

Probably explain why he spend all day typing nonsense about Nas instead of putting them "skills" to use

 

[Iverson_64]

See I feel like ur not a true fan of lyricism. U just like what u like. And that's cool. But u can't dismiss someone like Rakim as a lyricist because he doesn't fit in ur little narrow box. Any true writer and true fan of lyrics can appreciate different forms of lyricism and approaches to it. Rakim is a pioneer. He's also a musician. And literally created a "flow" in rap when there wasnt. He used his lyrics like an instrument and thats how he came up with the flow. Like when people say Pac wasn't a lyricist. Pac was very much a lyricist. Pac's lyrics had a level of emotional captivity to them that that they are used all over the world. The Pope quoted Pac. Not many people can do what Pac can do. Pac was also a master songwriter. Pac turned a gloomy beat that would be considered some underground horror sounding beat like Hail Mary and made a certified catchy hit record out of it. There's magic in what Pac did with his lyrics. People think it's simple but have such a hard time doing it themselves effectively. Pac could effectively rap about literally anything and come off convincing. He has the most versatile list of hit records than any rapper ever. His reach is beyond rap for these reasons. I come from writers. My mother is NY Times best selling author and this is AFTER she had brain surgery. To me. DMX is another that people underestimate as a lyricist. Especially early DMX. From his vivid storytelling to his conceptual conversations with God/The Devil. There's also a poetic aspect to lyricism as well that I feel u miss as well with ur narrow view.

"Let The Rhythm Hit Em" alone is one the greatest displays of technical lyricism in hip hop. That poster is a hipster lol.

 

[Chip Skylark]

That's what happens when you compare an artist who got a consensus classic to one who don't.

Fact is GZA got a landmark solo album under his belt and was a key part of multiple group albums that are viewed the same way, not to mention memorable guest spots on plenty other classics from that crew

Yall are better off sticking to arguments that don't bring quality and depth of catalog into play. You can spin it how you want but yeah, GZA been a crucial part of more projects and songs, solo and group, that stood the test of time than Lupe has. That ain't changing even if GZA never rap again

What? Someone please explain to me how you can dismiss dope rappers.

I’ve been vocal about my love for GZA and his lyricism, but how can you say Lupe doesn’t have a clear cut consensus classic and that he lacks quality and depth? Lupe fukking Fiasco doesn’t have quality and depth?

Even if you stop listening to him because of the Atlantic Fiasco and haven’t heard Tetsuo, DROGASWave, and DMIZ, the cool and F&L are landmark albums and are considered classic albums. He’s influenced so many artists.

As a fan of music and rap lyricism I get saying so and so is better but to totally say someone isn’t good or whack is crazy to me.

OFFICIAL "RAPPERS PRAISING LUPE" THREAD | TOP...

www.kanyetothe.com

This man has gotten praised from Common, Chuck D, GZA, Nas, Hov, Ice T, Bun B, Killah Priest, and a thousand rappers have said he’s influenced them from Kendrick, Meek Mil, Isaiah Rashad, Schoolboy Q, Ab Soul, Wale, and others.

Only a few of us have tried to breakdown lyrics yall are just in here being disrespectful. How can you not appreciate what GZA and Lu done? This is wild man.

You said he was “Lupe a hyper technical lyrical miracle with super dense bars type” and then when I broke down how I can tell you don’t listen to him “By dense I mean packed with multis and verbose, not abstract or hard to understand. I get that it's a generalization and don't apply to every track.” THATS SIGN OF A GREAT LYRICIST!

Just say you don’t like him.