I actually am a fan of it. Rap is what got me started writing poetry to be accurate. If you like battle rap, you should YouTube Apathy, MC Juice, Mac Lethal, etc. Lot of good ones out there, and if you know where to look, you'll find the real beasts. Massive multi-liners, internal rhymers, all the works. Most of them make actual songs as well, but the battle rappers/underground rappers make the best name for themselves. Could never go wrong with some Jedi Mind Tricks though. . .?

Yes that Juice. Bad ass that you knew that! I'll check out that video sometime, bookmarked it for later. Also, you should look up the video of Mac Lethal eating a Reaper pepper and trying to rap - that is some of the funniest shit I've seen on YouTube in a long time if you haven't seen it already. Him ordering a pizza is also pretty entertaining, I like to put it on after I'm done jamming music and there isn't shit else to do.


May I also suggest some Sadistik? He can do twice the rhymes as Eminem in a song. Em usually focuses on 2-3 syllables per rhyme, while Sadistik regularly covers 4-5 in a lot of his work. He has a song called, "Ashes to Ashley" with Mac Lethal, he's done work with Tech N9ne, all kinds of heavyweights in the business. You would not be disappointed if you took a look at him, very, very good at what he does.

Yeah Mac's a beast on rapping like that, and I have seen that one, very good one as well. And yeah beyond a certain threshold of syllables/rhymes, the lines begin to sound verbose and it seems like sometimes only the drums could rescue it. I know because I write in holorhyme, and if I perform it like to practice it or refine it, I think I sound all fucking weird doing it. Only my wife seems to like it, but that may be because we listen to rap together and she knows what sounds good even acapella.


Do you have a published book of poetry out Ferris?

I truly think that the UK looks at rap like America looks at poetry: Not good enough writers to warrant attention unless the piece being disseminated is on Instagram or in the media in some way. That's how I felt when looking for places of like-minded people here in the States that may like poetry. The closest poetry performances are a 4 hour drive from where I live, and even then I'm betting they are sparse.

In the UK, you can't throw a stone without hitting a poet, and that's exactly how it is here where I live with rappers. Everybody and their cousin has a mixtape out or thinks they need a 'deal' to make it to a point where they succeeded. To be honest, I highly doubt you will find more rap fans on this site. In fact I've seen more Trump supporters than actual rap fans, so go figure.

How in the hell is it that even possible?? Ha ha.

Blueprint, Atmosphere, Grieves, Brother Ali, and R.A. the Rugged Man are all top notch, underground rappers here in the US that make mainstream music look like shit. Brother Ali and Grieves especially man, everything they put out is pure (insert emoji here) fire! If you haven't heard them already, don't be afraid to give them a listen. In fact a lot of the underground rappers do what I do with poetry - they market in another country because their own has a lack of understanding and appreciation for their art. Either way, there's always time for a rhyme, whether from rap or poetry.

Also, you should save up your poems for an anthology, they would make a great book.

Damn Ferris, you keep roping me in here!

I personally think R.A. has one of the greatest rap verses of all time in the song, "Uncommon Valor" by Jedi Mind Tricks, along with his sophomore album songs, "Daddy's Halo" and "Still Get Through the Day". To be honest though, I think Brother Ali has him beat on several fronts. Ali's superb vocal range, topic range, social commentary, beats, and overall message are far beyond what R.A. can currently do. You are right man, R.A. is the rapper's rapper, very much so, legend from the '90's and still on top of his game, but it's hard for me to say Brother Ali is below anyone right now. Do you know who Ant is? He is the producer and one half of the rap band Atmosphere. Been kicking shit since the late '80's! His production is my favorite in the entire rap game. He can make magic with pianos and melody, and he has produced 2-3 of Brother Ali's albums in their entirety. His beats are off the wall, up-to-date but still headbanging worthy. Brother Ali has an album called, "All the Beauty in This Whole Life" and I think it is one of the greatest rap albums to ever touch wax.


Think Biggie in his heyday. . .


Think 'Pac when he rapped with sentiment. . .


Think of all the best ones, and Ali is definitely on that list. He, Grieves, and Sadistik are probably my 3 favorite rappers for their unbelievable skill. I agree fully that not enough people appreciate rapper skills, but it's because most people (at least here in America) are dumbed down by bullshit like Migos, Drake, Lil' Wayne, Cardi B, etc. All of which sound exactly alike, copy and pasted, and are far below any rapper you and I have been discussing. To be honest this is the best conversation I've had on this site, I could go on for days about rap, skills, rhymes, all that shit, but that's probably because that's where I got my own start writing.

Eminem's work up until Relapse is nearly flawless. One of the greatest to ever touch a mic hands-down, but once he nearly died and stopped abusing drugs, his lyrical skills changed and went downhill I think. Now instead of stretching a line into funny, emotional punches, or anything of the sort, now he relies solely on short, stubby punchlines because Lil' Wayne was doing it. Dude, Big L was doing that shit in the '90's, years before it was cool, and no one even knows who he is!

Em even shouted out Big L on a 50 Cent song I believe called "Patiently Waiting".

I think that when he dies, everyone in the media will rush to call him the 'Greatest Rapper of All Time', but won't dare do that to his face now that he's alive. I think now he's trying too hard to fit in with this newer crowd of mindless fans that he forgets what got him famous in the first place. And even if he's not in the same mindset that he was in to create it in the beginning, he could at least learn from himself what works and what doesn't. Since no one if going to bite my head off for saying so, I think after Encore, Eminem has some of the corniest choruses I've ever heard. It's almost like he lost his ability to harmonize without autotune, and now sounds like he's trying way too hard to be heard.


I also think Eminem is a lot like Tupac in that they both rap with people way below their caliber, and then shout them up to make their collaborator feel better about themselves. The Outlawz? They fucking suck. 50 Cent fucking sucks. Yelawolf is a joke, Kendrick Lamar is 100% overrated, and don't get me started on Lil' Wayne. All of those shitty ones, 'Pac or Em could've bodied with just four lines each. Em is selling himself short, and I think it's because he thinks he's the only 'great' one still left. I honestly do not think he YouTubes rappers in the underground, because if he did, I think he'd up his game at least a little bit.


Nas thinks too much of himself and carries himself like a quieter/lesser known version of Kanye West.

I look at Mos Def more like a poet because his writings lean more to the unconventional and not mainstream. The way he writes is much more poetic than most other rappers to be sure. I honestly haven't heard much of his music, but he is very good at what he does from the few songs I have heard. It only takes one song to notice skill.

Tupac and Biggie are always compared, what with the way they were both shot and killed within like 6 months of each other. But to their music. . .I used to jam Biggie when I was like 12-15, and I didn't like Tupac's music until I got a bit older. Biggie once was quoted with saying about R.A. "I thought I was the illest." Tupac did a song with Big L (who was from New York) at the time that New York and Los Angeles rappers were at each others throats. The song is called, "Deadly Combination" by Big L. Even though Tupac outshines Big L on it by a longshot, I think it is fucking cool how both rappers did their own styles for their own verses and did not try to outdo each other by copying each other's styles.

Big Pun is terribly underrated as well. Dude was nearly 700 pounds when he died, but he could outdo the Bone Thugs on some songs with how fast he rapped and his technical skill. His son goes by 'Chris Rivers', and is pretty decent nowadays. He did a song with Vinnie Paz called "Last Breath" that is pretty damn good too. I don't know Ferris, I think rap is divided between the good ones, the shitty ones, and the best. It's good to know that the best rap still has a home in writer hearts everywhere. I listen to it every day when I write poetry, when I'm pissed off at something, or when I have something to say but haven't figured out the words how to say it just yet. I may just have to make a list of the 5-10 best rappers of all time though, as that sounds interesting. I'll get back to you on that front.?

It has been illuminating hasn't it Ferris??

Reasons of Rating//
1. Technicality of Lyrics and Rhyme
2. Variety and Value of Topics
3. Usage of Harmony, Melody, and Choruses
4. Message Sent or Entertainment Value
5. Production Value


_______________
My Top Five

1. Brother Ali: “I rated Ali at the top of the list because of his impossible style, his extremely positive lyrics, his near-perfect production, and his ability to bend words and create rhymes out of words that do not rhyme at all. He has covered some of the best topics I have ever heard in a rap record, and the positive messages he sends are well-received in his melodic voice. He is beyond technical, and he always has better choruses the longer he stays rapping. His last two albums have been nearly flawless in execution, and he sounds even better than Golden Era Tupac and Biggie.”
> 1. RATING: 4/5
> 2. RATING: 5/5
> 3. RATING: 4/5
> 4. RATING 5/5
> 5. RATING: 5/5
2. Grieves: “Grieves comes in second place on my list because he always does a lot of love songs that end up saying the same thing in a lot of different variations. His choruses are unmatched, his melody finely tuned, and he is the only rapper on this entire list that can successfully harmonize every one of his own songs and have it come out like a hit single. A great ear for notes, and very technical rhymes with the ability to rhyme nearly as good as Ali, but with rhymes that are more relatable and emotional in weight. Grieves also scores so highly because of his Golden Era-inspired beats that make bangers every time.”
> 1. RATING: 4/5
> 2. RATING: 3/5
> 3. RATING: 5/5
> 4. RATING: 4/5
> 5. RATING: 5/5
3. Eminem: “Half of Eminem’s legacy is legendary and unmatched, and the other half is marred with struggling identity, fizzling hopes, and new rhymes he might have used on the Slim Shady EP. His technical skill in matching syllables and cadences to the beat is unparalleled in hip-hop and one of the most difficult to repeat successfully, as well as his paving the way of acts that might have never gotten off the ground. His production has been fire since after Infinite, his topics though lacking some of the time, make up for it in the ones that are hits. Though a shadow of his former self and losing his ability to harmonize a song after Encore hit shelves, but he can still outmatch anybody in mainstream music by a long shot.”
> 1. RATING: 5/5
> 2. RATING: 4/5
> 3. RATING: 3/5
> 4. RATING: 3/5
> 5. RATING: 5/5
4. Sadistik: “Rhymes more technical than Eminem, beats that sound like a rock opera on crack, and the ability to write poetry as rap at its finest is Sadistik. I placed him lower on the list of Best Rappers than Eminem because Sadistik simply cannot harmonize. He rhymes like nobody’s business, but he can’t sing a chorus or harmonize them very well by himself. If he could harmonize like Eminem, he’d be better than Eminem as a rapper, but as a lyricist I give it to Sadistik hands down and any day.”
> 1. RATING: 5/5
> 2. RATING: 3/5
> 3. RATING: 3/5
> 4. RATING: 4/5
> 5. RATING: 4/5
5. Vinnie Paz: “Can rap to any flow that kills it, can match Big Pun’s flow dead flow, has been around since the ‘90’s making jams, and has rapped with more legends of rap than probably any other rapper alive (except R.A. the Rugged Man). Vinnie P kills it on nearly every track he is on. Getting better with age, Vinnie is so low on this list because he usually raps about the same shit in different rhymes and over several albums, his solo production is – meh – but his Jedi Mind Tricks production is spot-on. His melody is non-existent, and his harmonies are too outside of his best songs which in turn have choruses that are sung by others. He usually doesn’t even have choruses in a lot of earlier work, but he sticks to 2 verses instead of the usual 3, leaving more to be wanted out of his bad ass work.”
> 1. RATING: 4/5
> 2. RATING: 3/5
> 3. RATING: 2/5
> 4. RATING: 3/5
> 5. RATING: 4/5
Honorable Mentions: Rakim and KRS-One

Rakim did lyricism in rap music before lyricism had been invented. Before Rakim, it was just rapping mindlessly and humorously to the beat. After Rakim did it, more and more conscious rappers came to the forefront as well as the lyrical ones, the gangster ones, the religious ones, and the political ones.

KRS-One deserves to be mentioned because of his extremely commendable action of preaching non-violence in his music after a certain point. The Teacha is exactly what he says he is, a preacher of community, positivity, understanding, and non-violence.
_____
On an off note, thanks Colin.

Hell yeah more Top 10's, this shit is great!

Damn dude, you fucking killed it!

I read that whole thing out loud, and it banged. Seriously if you can write like that, you need to seriously consider doing an audiobook, an album, or an anthology. That's talent you don't want to waste man for real.

Talk about freestyle - shiiiiit!

I would love to do a collaboration with you in writing some day Ferris, that shit is bad ass. Most people can't rhyme that well, so I think that'd be cool shit to have you as a collabo on an anthology or something. Just something to think about. You have any more freestyles/raps feel free to throw 'em my way, I'll happily give you feedback because that shit was nice.
This site needs a flame or fire ball as an emoji so I can wear that fucking button out. . .

Yeah this site now has it all. . .I just started a brand new group on this site called "Poets of Hip-Hop", and I hope you'll join me in contributing to it. Maybe inject a little respect for underappreciated arts (in your case rap, in my case poetry) to the masses. It'd be great to have your input and add to this pile of poignant pieces.

And that line is bad ass. The best part about giving your best, is you can always try better after. Hope you have all your best lines saved on USB man, it could save your ass in case they get lost in one form or another. .

Either way it's been a good day.

Cool man it's all set. I invited your profile to it already, and will hype it up as best I can. If you want, put whatever you want on the group profile that you think would be a good fit, and we can promote through it. Audio, a spare poem, whatever. Eventually it'd be cool to get it running with some oil and make this machine fly.

I know a wordsmith when I read them, and I think you'll do amazing work.?