What Makes a Hip Hop Emcee?

[Thinking Skins]

So for the better part of a week, my boy and I have been going back and forth about hip hop emcees. Actually, we've had ongoing discussions for a while, but its gotten kinda interesting lately. When I've had this conversation with others, I'm often told that I've got to respect what an emcee did to change the world of hip hop, ala Rakim and his smooth flow that introduced a new style of rap that many artists today have picked up on. Thats something about an artist like Rakim that I respect and greatly admire. But thats not what got me liking Rakim. I mean, in 1987 when he dropped Paid in Full, I was still watchin' Sesame Street (much love to The Count, who had me countin' sheep as a youngster). So I couldn't really grasp how he was changing the game at that time. Right now, I can read papers and listen to stories about it, but its nowhere near the same. So when I start to listen to an artist like Rakim, I have my own reasons why I rank him high on that list of lyrical emcees.

And so lately, with the commercial rap beign so crappy lyrically, I've been doing a lot of going back into my hip hop archives and pulling out some of the classic albums and classic emcees that I've missed and trying to understand why others like them and seeing what I like about them. My boy Adrian told me about how much "Paid in Full" changed the game, but I told him that looking back I'm feeling "Don't Sweat the Technique" a little bit more. I realize that times were changed by 1989, but I feel like a lot of the topics he raps about on that album and the beats and all that - I had my windows down in my car and was just listening to that album the other day.

Fast forward to the conversation we had the other day. I think that being a lyrical emcee is about more than just lyrics. Its also about the presentation of those lyrics. What put Tupac as my favorite rapper all time isn't just that he could make a great metaphor like "Me and My Girlfriend". It was that he could bring a song to life like nobody else. So when he did "Life Goes On" he had me feeling both the sorrow and sadness of death, but also gives me hope that things are gonna get better even if its only praying for the "Heaven for a G".

I told my boy that one of the reasons that Lauryn Hill stood out to me, aside from her lyrical abilities, was that she had two particular qualities that helped her deliver these lyrics. She has one of the nicest flows I've seen on a female emcee, especially above those of her time. Then she could mix that with a beautiful singing voice - and then she could go back and forth between the singing and the flowing that just left listeners (or at least me) mesmerized (is that spelled/used right? Does that word mean amazed?).

My boy took me saying this as a knock on her lyrical abilities, which its not. Just like me saying that Tupac put passion into a song isn't saying that Tupac couldn't write. Its just the opposite. Its just like when somebody comments on Rakim's smooth flow, its not hating on the words he used. All its doing is stating that there are reasons other than just the beat of a song and the words in a song that inspire people to listen to those songs. I don't know how others define a lyrical emcee, but to me the definition is about more than just the words they use.

But feel free to chime in on this if you think I'm right or wrong.

[BigMike619]

I gotta feel it and believe you lived it. Most of these rappers nowadays are all "super thugs", all can "have sex with any woman they want", are all "ballers and players" and just are pretty much caricatures of what they think rappers are now.

KRS-One was homeless and probably the best rapper with something to say ever. He spit fire and at the same time he was schooling your ass you felt almost appreciative because you were being taught. "Edutainment" at its finest.

Pac had a way of making you feel everything because he just had such a flow to him. He was a huge personality and he was so complex you almost didnt care that he was being hypocritical at times and that he might not have lived that life. He knew someone at least who did. I appreciated Pac because he lived both sides. he went to that School of the Arts and lived in Marin City on couches. His mom was a crackhead but at the same time he was a Panther.

Big said it perfectly, "If I worked at Mickey D's all my life then my raps would be about Big Macs and fries. But I grew up on the block and servin cane so thats what I know". When he said that and I listened to Ready to Die I bought it fully.

Rakim broke it down how he wrote rhymes and how every syllable was written and how not only the last word in the line rhymed but the flow was the same. But he pure heat on the mic. "I used to roll up, this is a hold up, aint nuttin funny stop smilin, and still dont nuttin move but the money".

Chuck D was the first "angry/militant" rapper that scared me. He had such fury and anger in his voice that it used to actually make me worried about if anyone else felt this way. Black Steel in the hour of Chaos was and is still one of my favorite songs ever written by a rapper. The more I listened to Chuck and his lyrics I realized that he wasnt JUST speaking to black people but people who could relate in general. "By the time I get to Arizona" was extremely educational for someone like me who had no idea that AZ wasnt going to celebrate Dr King's birthday. "911 is a joke" was yet another one (even though it was flav). I saw PE at RFK in 1990 with my brother and was so happy I did.

I got more to say but this is turning into an almost rant...

[The Sisko]

Well, nowadays all you need are a synthesized beat, meaningless lyrics seasoned with generous amounts of violence and mysogyny and you're in business. Maybe you should change the thread title to what makes a good M.C.?

If you look at the greats there were a few things they all seemed to have:

Intelligence-You just can't do real rap without real intelligence. Whether it was knowlege of the streets and black history a la KRS1 or of ambition, partying, and real life like Slick Rick or Busta Rhymes, this is IMHO the single most important ingredient.

Conciousness/topical lyrics-Real MCs make real, relevant lyrics that have something of value to say at least some of the time.

Universality-The best of them always wrote lyrics that anyone could understand and relate to regardless of their race, sex, socioeconomic status etc. Example? Soul Food, quite possibly the greatest rap album ever for precisely this strength.

Delivery-There simply has to be something different, captivating, or powerful in your delivery. So it could be the raw power of a Cujo from Goodie Mob, or the brilliant turning of a phrase by guys like Eminem, Kool Moe Dee, KRS1, Kurtis Blow and others, Busta Rhymes' rhythmic delivery and obscure references, or even the mixing of genres like Run DMC.

How's that for a start?

[BigMike619]

come and get your soul food...alright.

everything is for free

as good as it can be

good ol fashioned soul food.

Gipp is one of my favs and the select few i listen to nowadays.

[Tastes Like Chicken]

What makes a hip hop emcee, is being able to biggity bust a riggity rhyme like this:

I don't like 'em stiggity fat! (No!)

I like 'em stiggity stacked (Yeah!)

You wiggity wiggity wack if you ain't got biggity back (Awwww!)

So when you hear the rump shaking on the dance floor

Keep you bottling get your eyes and get hypnotized

But a n**** like me will dance up to some chopping and chewing

Keep em bottling you know I keep 'em bobbing

I put my fingerprints all over that rump

I'm guilty as hell but I love the pumps and the bump! (Ow!)

[Thinking Skins]

See, KRS-One is another rapper who I hear many things about. He was at his best way before I started listening to him, so when I turn to Return of the Boom Bap, I don't get the same impression of him that others did. But as a Black man driving a car at 3 in the morning, every time I get pulled over I want to bus that song "Black Cop" or "Da Sound of Da Police". KRS one is a dude who made intellect something to be admired, and not just that SAT vocabulary stuff that a guy like Michael Eric Dyson will try to fool you with. But KRS one will rap a song, and it'll be like its the ommitted chapter from your history book. You sit and want to listen to it. That dude is amazing.

[Tastes Like Chicken]

Random trivia: I once had a summer fling with Big Daddy Kane's ex g/f.

[BigMike619]

Random trivia: I once had a summer fling with Big Daddy Kane's ex g/f.

FALSE!!

[Thinking Skins]

Well, nowadays all you need are a synthesized beat, meaningless lyrics seasoned with generous amounts of violence and mysogyny and you're in business. Maybe you should change the thread title to what makes a good M.C.?

If you look at the greats there were a few things they all seemed to have:

Intelligence-You just can't do real rap without real intelligence. Whether it was knowlege of the streets and black history a la KRS1 or of ambition, partying, and real life like Slick Rick or Busta Rhymes, this is IMHO the single most important ingredient.

Conciousness/topical lyrics-Real MCs make real, relevant lyrics that have something of value to say at least some of the time.

Universality-The best of them always wrote lyrics that anyone could understand and relate to regardless of their race, sex, socioeconomic status etc. Example? Soul Food, quite possibly the greatest rap album ever for precisely this strength.

Delivery-There simply has to be something different, captivating, or powerful in your delivery. So it could be the raw power of a Cujo from Goodie Mob, or the brilliant turning of a phrase by guys like Eminem, Kool Moe Dee, KRS1, Kurtis Blow and others, Busta Rhymes' rhythmic delivery and obscure references, or even the mixing of genres like Run DMC.

How's that for a start?

You name some interesting things. But I think that just being an emcee is about delivery and message. I guess to me its a question of what you say versus how you say it. Cause as big a fan I am of hearing people with something to say, does it make a guy more talented if he can make a lyrical song about nothing that still makes you think?

When I say message, its not that I'm talking about being conscious or political or like KRS-One. I'm more into how many different bases can you connect with? Can you connect with the crowd who's going to the club on Friday night? Can you connect with the people who just like something to ride to in their car? Can you have a song about a cause that makes you care about that cause? Can you tell your biography? Can you tell somebody else's biography? Can you relate to the guy who dropped out of school and doesn't care about politics? Can you relate to the gangsta who doesn't want a sermon on good versus bad?

When I listen to people that people call the top emcees, I listen to their libraries and I'm hearing both a great delivery and just an ability to relate to these different people in their own ways. Thats just the greatest thing about some of these Emcees.