all subjective at that point.
You named three lines, only one of them was dope on its own. Shows your tastes are much different than mine (and a lot of people in this thread, for that matter).
Bruh... so 1/3 hit. at least I got one. I'm still waiting on ONE from Kendrick.
And I
deliberately named lines from a song that is not about quotes and more in line with Kendrick's approach (the story, not 'punchlines' or 'spitting').
If I start naming strong lines from Nas on songs where he's just spitting, we'll be here for years.
It's not that subjective. When you're GREAT, it's pretty fukking obvious.
But he has lines that a lot of people think are dope, both within context and without. I named some earlier. You don't like them, that's fine. Still seems like you're here to push an agenda instead of to actually seek out good lines.
No I'm not. There is no agenda or grand conspiracy. stop it. I'm just a hip hop fan. I ask the tough questions.
"I'm African American, I'm African, I'm black as the heart of a fukking Aryan" is dope because of the way it plays on black skin color, whites hating blacks, having an evil heart, etc. Describing an anti-black person by calling his heart black is dope, and putting it in the context of a song that's lashing against white supremacy is even more dope.
That line is mediocre to me because it's not a
clear image. The repetition of "African" is redundant and straight up filler. I'm african-american, I'm African... dude really wasted some time on that.
"I'm as black as the heart of a fukking Aryan??" HUH?
What the fukk does that mean? This is the Lupe scenario all over again.
You new nikkas are addicted to mixed metaphors and it's something I do not fukk with. Especially if the song itself (the vocals + beat) are trash. It's offensive to me, lol.
fukk all that "the themes of white supremacy and race" blah blah bullshyt. You guys are masturbating over randomly referenced themes but not saying a damn thing. The real issue is that that line makes zero sense. You can't picture it. Because it's not an image nor does it inspire an image. And even worse, it's an incorrect simile. It's a mixed metaphor. Similes compare
like things. You can't say: "I'm as green as a red light." Them shyts don't go together, unless you're just spewing bullshyt on some comedy shyt. Or being sarcastic (which would mean that Kendrick is not black and only joking about being black).
Is that what he's saying? But if he isn't Black, then why does he repeat how African he is seconds prior? I'm already starting to lose interest. Can't waste my time on vague nikkas. especially knowing that real revolutionaries/strong thinkers are not vague and certainly don't mix their metaphors.
Mos Def has a line that goes: "
I'm blacker than midnight on Broadway and Myrtle". That shyt makes sense. It's a specific location I can picture. It's at night. So it's really dark. And he's using the magnitude of that blackness it to compare to his own Blackness. Essentially, it's a simile that actually works. Comparing like things.
"This orphanage we call the ghetto is quite a routine" is profound because calling an entire neighborhood/segment of society an orphanage shows how hopeless it is for a kid growing up that way, and calling it a routine just shows how cyclical/normalized the violence is for people who live there. In the context of a verse where someone is talking about his brother who just got killed, that's even more profound of a line.
bland. It's too mundane. Those habitations are so close together and often mentioned in the same breath.
You're wowed by theme, but there is no unique/insightful image here. It's just a thematic statement. one that I've heard a million times.