Madd respect to The Rockabye Review
The above embedded track is titled ‘Forever’ and it is becoming the 2009 ‘Swagga Like Us’.
‘Forever’ features Drake, KanYe West, Lil’ Wayne and Eminem.
From a rapping standpoint Eminem came in the hardest. KanYe West also delivered a supreme verse, but Eminem was the king on this track. After KanYe West we have Drake and then Wayne’s verses to round out the fantastic four. Actually, Drake and Wayne’s verses weren’t all that spectacular. Drake’s lines are serviceable, Wayne is totally overshadowed by KanYe and Eminem. Wayne doesn’t even belong on this record.
The Lil’ Wang fans will immediately accuse me of hating on their favorite rapper, but the truth is that I listened to this song more than fifty times while I set up all the drops for my site today. To prove my point that Wayne’s verses are subpar I will go to the numbers that don’t ever lie. I believe the polysyllabic word count not only illustrates which artist’s have better lines but better technique and mic skills.
EMINEM
Word Count: 222
Polysyllabic: 12
There they go, packin’ stadiums as Shady spits his flow
Nuts they go, macademia, and they go so ballistic, whoa
He can make them look like bozos, he’s wonderin’ if he should spit this slow
Fuck no, don’t provoke, his cup just runneth over, oh, no
He ain’t had it with bars like this since the last time that he overdosed
They been waitin’ patiently for Pinocchio to poke his nose
Back into the game and they know rap’ll never be the same as before
Bashin’ in the brains of these hos, and establishin’ a name as he goes
The passion and the flame is ignited, you can’t put it out once we light it
This shit is exactly what the fuck that I’m talkin’ about when we riot
You dealin’ with a few true villians who stand inside of the booth true spillin’
And spit true feelings until them tooth fillings come flyin’ up out of our mouths, then rewind it
Payback, motherfucker, for the way you got at me, how’s it taste?
I’ma slap the taste out of your mouths with the bass so loud that it shakes the place
I’m Hannibal Lecter, so just in case you’re thinkin’ of saving face
You ain’t gonna have no face to save by the time I’m through with this, play some Drake
KanYE WEST
Word Count: 185
Polysyllabic: 8
I used to have hood dreams: Big fame, big chains
I stuck my dick inside this life until that bitch came
And went hard all fall like the ball teams
Just so I could make it rain all spring
Y’all seen my story, my glory
I had raped the game young, you could call it statutory
When a nigga blow up, they gon’ build statues for me
Old money, Benjamin Button, what, nothin’
Nah, superbad chicks givin’ me McLovin’
You would think I ran the world like Michelle’s husband
You would think these niggas know me when they really doesn’t
Like they was down with the old me, no, you fuckin’ wasn’t
“Uh, you such a fuckin’ loser
You ain’t even go to class, Bueller”
Trade the Grammy plaques just to have my granny back
‘Member she had that bad hip like a fanny pack?
Chasing the stardom’ll turn you to a maniac
All the way in Hollywood and I can’t even act
They pull they cameras out, and God damn, they snap
I used to want this thing forever, you can have it back
DRAKE
Word Count: 144
Polysyllabic: 3
Last name Ever, first name Greatest
Like a sprained ankle, boy, I ain’t nothin’ to play with
Started off local, but thanks to all the haters
I know G4 pilots on a first-name basis
In your city faded off the brown, Nino
She insists she got more class, we know
Swimming in the money, come and find me, Nemo
If I was at the club you know I balled, chemo
Dropped a mixtape, that shit sounded like an album
Who’da thought a country-wide tour be the outcome
Labels want my name beside an X like Malcolm
Everybody got a deal, I did it without one
Yeah, nigga, I’m about my business
Killin’ all these rappers, you would swear I had a hitlist
Everyone who doubted me is askin’ for forgiveness
If you ain’t been a part of it, at least you got to witness
Bitches
LIL’ WAYNE
Word Count: 160
Polysyllabic: 3
Okay, hello, it’s the Martian, Space Jam Jordans
I want this shit forever, wake up and smell the garden
Fresher than the harvest, step up to the target
If I had one guess, then I guess I’m just New Orleans
And I will never stop, like I’m runnin’ from the cops
Hopped up in my car and told my chauffer “To the top”
Life is such a fuckin’ roller coaster, then it drops
But what should I scream for? This is my theme park
My mind shine even when my thoughts seem dark
Pistol on my side, you don’t want to hear that thing talk
Let the king talk, check the price and pay attention
Lil Wayne, that’s what they got to say or mention
I’m like Nevada in the middle of the summer
I’m resting in the lead, I need a pillow and a cover
Shhh, my foot’s sleepin’ on the gas
No brake pads, no such thing as last
You can even see through the text formatting that Eminem is going in with his bars. He spits a polysyllabic word per every 18.5 words in his verse, while Drake has a polysyllabic word for every 47 words he issues and Wang comes through with an abysmal tally of 53.3 words for every one that he utters with more than three syllables. KanYe West was right on Eminem’s heels with a count of 23.125 within his bars and that figure slightly more than doubles Drake’s output.
There are two things that I would like to clarify here. Rap music is firstly and foremost about the skill and dexterity the orator has with language. Some of us might use the term wordplay but it extends far deeper[ll] than simply playing with words. Does the orator have a mastery of words? Or is the speaker restricted by his or her own limited vocabulary? Complex compound words are the zenith of the English language. If you think grunts and chirps are so evocative why aren’t you in an aviary(see what I just did) listening to birds tweet since you are obviously a birdbrain?
Finally, if you take away anything from this drop it should be the knowledge that some rappers make simple rhymes for simple minds.
‘Nuff said.
Breaking it down the way it should be done. Personally i think Kanye had better lyrical content then Em, and Drake definetly has a long way to go to become an elite rapper.
Great post DP
I second LC but I’m glad you posted this and explained it the way you did. As far as the verses…
Ye > Em > Drake > WANG
Chuh Chuh
Dunno this freestyle deserved analysis but people can’t say DP ain’t generous. Co-sign on LC, I guess; Em is technically leagues beyond but content this is just like a random Eminem verse generator. Kanye is a little more audacious but a little dumber too, nothing stellar, while the other two clowns try to get by on personality and rhythm– sometimes it works with Wayne (like his drop on Ghostface “Run” (Remix)) but mostly I don’t care.
It’d be funny to do this on a Jeezy song– HEY!!
Willis Still Sunsweet’s recommended album of the day: O.C. “Jewelz”
^”Ye > Em > Drake > WANG”
Co-sign
Its a matter of style whether you place Em over ‘Ye Tudda but by the numbers Em smashed his verse clearly. I fux with ‘Ye Tudda’s joint too. He might be in the top 10 spitter range right now.
Mos Def
Eminem
Sean Price
DOOM
Raekwon
Ghostface
Kanye
Black Thought
Joell Ortiz
Method Man
not in that order but those are the current top 10
DP is the Rotoworld of this shit! I don’t see how anyone can say Em’s verse is silver medal…
ye first drake second and then wayne, em was slacking to me. i just wasnt all that impressed. he is usually more creative. on this its sounds like he got the track last and decided to switch the style up a bit to stand out. yo the numerical breakdown is dope but straight up trying to quantify who killed the song numerically is like judging a chilling contest by how many ingredients you use.
Ye killed, Em died
some rappers make simple rhymes for simple minds
^ Quote of the day
Great drop.
I appreciate this drop Dallas, but why the eff does every single producer in 2009 make fisher-price-my-first-beats beats? I could barely listen to this. for God’s sake, I wish producers would go back to knockin drums and sampling 70s funk records.
Cosiggy, sir. I agree.
@wax: Sampling cost too much these days. Damn lawyers turned that mess into a high cash business.
Dallas: are you posting this to XXL? If you , I just want to see how different the comments are. I know more clowns are gonna be saying Drake and Wang were “fire”.
Okay, hello, it’s the Martian, Space Jam Jordans
I want this shit forever, wake up and smell the garden
I’m like Nevada in the middle of the summer
I’m resting in the lead, I need a pillow and a cover
WTF?? Seriously? this is what rap has become? granted my generation had dudes like Craig Mack and Busta who would leave you wondering wtf you just heard..but at least they had a tight delivery. how is this lean fiend still considered to be one of the top dudes in the game?
@P-Matik I know I know… theres a direct correlation to the rise in wack beats since dudes stopped samplin and started plinkin on korg keyboards.
someone who has access to the acapella of this – throw it over the drums from this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDyYHIDJ1CQ&videos=cYgykzU7eCQ&playnext=2&playnext_from=TL
Jesus fuck, this is a real “produced” track? My bad. And why the fuck would ANYBODY listen to that crap more than once, unless the verses were godly, which none of ’em were. Thanks again to DP for doing the work I couldn’t bear to do myself.
wax & P-Matik: Ya’ll make excellent points but I have a question, and maybe Combat Jack could help answer sometime–
* Business wise, are the publishing companies charging too much for samples? They might all hope they get picked by the handful of huge producers in today’s biz climate, why hold out when they have this GIGANTIC catalog of music that’s not doing shit but sitting there?
I know a lot of underground cats just do what they want and rightly figure that nobody will notice but I wonder if the sample clearance racket is still living by an old business model?
Anyway, just something I think about sometimes when I hear horrible beats at all levels of the game.
Good looks, dp.
God knows I didn’t really want to hear the songs, per se, but I was very intrigued with how the collective would fare when “pitted” against each other.
Lyrically, Em would smash most cats, because he’s skilled in the formatting/execution of a more complex scheme, versus dudes who are still just rhyming words. Which, is what the other 3 seem to be doing. Not that Marshall’s dropping major content; how it’s said versus what’s said. Technically speaking, not necessarily lyrically, Em>Ye=Drake=Wayne to me. Those latter 3 did what I’ve come to expect. & how come Ye didn’t produce the song? Or, umm, did he?
My rap style swing like Willie Mays
My eyes Purple Haze, my solar razor burn through shades
My grenades raid the airwaves, catch this rap page
I glide like, hovercrafts on the Everglades
Boom master, with the faster blade, track slasher
Manufacture poems to microphones, bones fracture
Limited edition composition spark friction
non-fiction, the calm bomb keep your arm distant
Zero tolerance, dominant intelligence
Wu original, true colors stem from the melanin
The most high, most try, to get close by
and overthrow I, but choke, with they hopes up high
I circulate the tri-state and vibrate beyond the Richter
Flies sense to flock when they spot this live nigga
The crowd seducer black your third eye before I lose ya
Verbal high I leave stys in the eyes of Medusa
Top ten, parley like Cochran, or Sharprton
narrow margin, of your odds to dodge the marksman
Murder rap, kill you soft like Roberta Flack
Words attack like a British bulldog, observe the stacks
^^^^^^^^
Ya’ll know THAT’s one for the space capsule and ain’t no verse on fucking Drake, Slaughterhouse, or Blueprint 3 is coming close, although I’ve not done the math, DP-style.
*APPLAUSE*
Personally I think Em took this one.
“There they go, packin’ stadiums as Shady spits his flow
Nuts they go, macademia, and they go so ballistic, whoa
He can make them look like bozos, he’s wonderin’ if he should spit this slow”
Willis, et al re: sampling
There are no set fees for sample length and the clearance costs are determined by the publishing holder (sometimes a publishing co. and sometimes an artist). Sampling costs too damn much money. Period.
Consider tht fact that these rates are brokered by lawyers who put their $.02 cents onto the transaction and you have a clusterfuck of fees in order to clear a six second snare sound/ Who needs that? Who can afford that with NOBODY buying records anyhoo?
Well Done, DP. Em’ shows his superiority on this track.. They shoulda’ gave him another verse..
if i could, i would kill for it to be ’89 right now
Em = Slaughtered the rest. None of the others are lyrially worthy enough to be on the same song as this dude.
Drake and Wayne is still overrated and annoying. DOA to them.
Kanye’s verse was cool.
EM, Jay, Nas need to get on a few songs. Put all these other suckas to rest.
Dallas, you need to interview Sean Price for The Mic Tyson Album, email me and i can make it happen if you need help. Thats my dude.
Iono DP, I don’t like trying to use something as black n white as numbers for something like “art.” IMO, the feeling you get when absorbing a song/verse should trump how intricate it may be. basing hip-hop with numbers reminds me of phrenology.
more to the point, I hold Eminem so high lyrically that the fact his verse didn’t make my face scrunch and that Ye & Drake were even fucking with his verse tells me Ye & Drake prolly bodied that more than people think. Or Em’s verse was lazy and he wasn’t trying hard enough.
Your system fails to penalize Ye for saying something as wack as “Superbad chicks wanna give me mclovin.”
Clipse been spitting lately (is 5 years lately?)…always overlooked. Go check their syllables/words ratio D. I reckon Malice would be right up there.
Great Drop though, Ye killed it, em bagged it up. ‘Ye’s been a show stealer lately on the features, he’s really stepped up his spit game in the past couple years.
DP, I live in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; i.e. Wayne’s World. They say he’s the greatest rapper alive like it’s a fact here. My retorts of, “But he’s not even the greatest rapper in his own city; Jay Electronica would KILL him” get shot down regularly b/c honestly, between Wayne, Boosie, and Hurricane Chris, they kinda embrace ignorance here. Anyway, I had my homie and fellow Hip Hop lover [ll], play the above-mentioned song over the speakers in his barber shop, in an effort to show Wayne’s lyrical ineptitude compared to REAL emcees. In the first listen, most in the shop said that Wayne had the hottest verse, and they couldn’t even understand what Em was saying. Upon PLEADING for them to LISTEN to the whole song again, even Wayne’s fans/lovers finally conceded that he didn’t even belong on the same song with Em. Poetic justice.
What this is a measure of is really the school systems. On the coasts and in the mid-west they teach all the kids how to read and write. Down South not so much, it’s not Wayne fault he doesn’t know any polysyllabic words to spit on a track. Kayne and Em are Mid-West products.
So “macadamia” is somehow a better word than “Martian” cuz it has an extra syllable? Fuck outta here with that nerdsense. The song went worst-to-first
Em>Wayne>Kanye>Drake
“Nuts they go, macademia” is somehow better than “hello, it’s the Martian, Space Jam Jordans”? At least Wayne MENTIONED something about bball in this LeBron-something-song! But “macademia” is what matters?
Mehh… just because you can fit a bunch of words in one verse doesn’t make it that good… sounded forced and awkward to me. Part of bein dope is ridin the beat… not sayin he didn’t come hard, he just didn’t have the dopest verse to me.
lol.. although i do agree eminem had the best verse, you fucked up by only counting polysyllabic words.. what you should have done was analyze the rhyme schemes.. cuz you can combine different words to create a consistent rhyme pattern.
for example: lime green, rhyme scheme, bright screen.. im not using big polysyllabic vocab but im using multiple shorter words together to create a more complex polysyllabic rhyme scheme..
just because weezy drake and ye doesnt have as strong a vocabulary as eminem doesnt mean they are inferior.. you can combine different words to create a dope rhyme pattern stretched out to as many syllables as you want.
and eminem still merked everyone on this track based on rhyme schemes cuz he made entire BARS rhyme with each other.. as opposed to making 2-3 syllables rhyme with each other in everyone elses verses..
“He ain’t had it with bars like this since the last time that he overdosed”
I could’ve sworn it was
‘He ain’t had a buzz this big since the last time that he overdosed…’
rap teacher,
Do yourself a favor and type in the word ‘polysyllabic’ into the search bar here at DP.com to come up on some of the earlier posts that describe the theory as to why I value the insertion of those words into rapper’s lyrics.
When you speak of rhyme pattern you are actually reflecting on melody, but you don’t even know that do you? Maybe that is why rappers sux ass nowadays because you are the rap teacher