trying to pull apart where keef's lyrics are "good" and where they're "memorable" runs counter to the entire point of his music -- like waka he says he made a conscious decision to write simple lyrics. and if you admit that he has memorable lyrics -- or there's a mountain of evidence for that argument -- then the argument that he's a "shitty" lyrics kind of falls apart.
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 8 January 2013 23:54 (eleven years ago) link
unlike w/ gucci i think most of keef's lyrics don't really translate well to being written out, tho
― rap steve gadd (D-40), Tuesday, 8 January 2013 23:56 (eleven years ago) link
the "that boy jewelry lookin bleary like who sold him that shit" reminds me of gucci's "freakin partners probly never bother with a second option" tho, weird syllable play
― rap steve gadd (D-40), Tuesday, 8 January 2013 23:57 (eleven years ago) link
this thread has become amazing and a future ilx classic. has made my work day well worth it
― bish (bosch), don't kill my vibe (rennavate), Tuesday, 8 January 2013 23:58 (eleven years ago) link
― rap steve gadd (D-40), Tuesday, January 8, 2013 6:57 PM (44 seconds ago) Bookmark
also this epic pimp c quote
835bosse 6 months ago"ALL YOU BITCH ASS NIGGAS OUT THERE BUYIN THAT O KING JOHNNY, WITH THEM CLOUDY ASS DIAMONDS, LOOK LIKE HURRICANE KATRINA JUST HIT!"- PIMP C
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 8 January 2013 23:59 (eleven years ago) link
so "memorable" is the yardstick now
― Welcome to my world of proses (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:03 (eleven years ago) link
again, i didn't bring it up
― J0rdan S., Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:04 (eleven years ago) link
jesus are we really going to go down that "what makes a lyric good" rabbit hole?
― bish (bosch), don't kill my vibe (rennavate), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:06 (eleven years ago) link
HOLY SHIT I ABSOLUTELY LOST IT AT: "Tuomas would body Keef in 8 bars and drop the mic onto the icy Finnish stage"
post of the year IMO.
― Blue Collar Retail Assistant (Dwight Yorke), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:06 (eleven years ago) link
because i'ma tell you right now, no two parties will ever agree on a definition
he has a cool voice and an original style. his voice sounds at once affectless and 'cool' (in that detached, unruffleable sense) & yet it PROJECTS. good rapper voice. his flow is original, w/ that weird off the beat swag that drives ship nuts, idk
the problem w/ this is the more people expect you to 'explain it' the more posts there are and then they can go LOOK YOU GUYS ARE OVERANALYZING HE JUST SAYS 'I CAN FUCK YOUR MAMA' AND YOU HAVE LIKE 50 POSTS LOL CASSIE FAN CLUB
― rap steve gadd (D-40), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:09 (eleven years ago) link
its this inexcusable need to compare everything to Nas as if the Eazy E / Too Short / Pimp C yardstick was such a bad one
what's sh1p's username on here again?
― bish (bosch), don't kill my vibe (rennavate), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:10 (eleven years ago) link
this guy is no Too $hort gimme a fuckin break
― Welcome to my world of proses (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:12 (eleven years ago) link
xpost kl0pper
― NINO CARTER, Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:12 (eleven years ago) link
― Welcome to my world of proses (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, January 8, 2013 6:12 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yes thats definitely the argument i was making
― rap steve gadd (D-40), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:14 (eleven years ago) link
a 17 year old kid with one album and a couple mixtapes is too $hort
laughin at this slave's life
― rap steve gadd (D-40), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:15 (eleven years ago) link
where is this sudden meme about waka being joyous and charismatic coming from
― D-40, Friday, December 14, 2012 5:02 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
http://24.media.tumblr.com/5175859feaea8be5bada311aa929ada5/tumblr_mf238adrzr1r03eaxo1_500.gif
― rap steve gadd (D-40), Tuesday, January 8, 2013 6:34 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― ThePartyHater (some dude), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:15 (eleven years ago) link
Chief Keef why you say those nasty words
― NINO CARTER, Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:16 (eleven years ago) link
I'm just sayin if you want to go by the Eazy/Too $hort/Pimp C axis that's fine but he seems much more humorless/less comical to me and that makes it much less appealing
― Welcome to my world of proses (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:17 (eleven years ago) link
This need is a strawman you pull out when you want to defend bad lyricists. AFAIK/IIRC Eazy didn't write his own rhymes but who can deny that "Real Muthaphuckkin Gs" is a great lyric? Not everybody's gonna be cerebral comb-through-it-for-hidden-meanings style, tand I can't speak for anybody else but that's not my complaint, I don't care what somebody's writing about or whether they're aiming for deeper truths or whatever. one can write well on any topic, and in a multitude of styles, as many styles as there are writers.
if we're taking "memorable" to mean "people can remember it" instead of "worth remembering" then yes, these are memorable. so is that band fun. by that yardstick.
― too many encores (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:19 (eleven years ago) link
well i think it's both and i like fun., so idk
― J0rdan S., Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:22 (eleven years ago) link
j0rdan shutting down an argument by linking a search of a song title in twitter is some jason newsted "yes, we sell out ::claps hands:: every night, every seat in the house" shit
― ThePartyHater (some dude), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:23 (eleven years ago) link
@ SD media-savvy waka is also post-quality music waka we all know this
― rap steve gadd (D-40), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:25 (eleven years ago) link
I think fun. said something nice about me recently so I should stfu those guys are in a position to do a man a solid right now
― too many encores (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:25 (eleven years ago) link
too many encores, what makes a good lyricist?
― bish (bosch), don't kill my vibe (rennavate), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:26 (eleven years ago) link
http://i48.tinypic.com/cuooh.jpg
― ThePartyHater (some dude), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:27 (eleven years ago) link
which one's the free space
― NINO CARTER, Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:31 (eleven years ago) link
after said video was posted to ilx for the first time:
haha waka kinda owns that video
― aim chtza (The Reverend), Friday, December 25, 2009 9:18 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
waka is so gifable!
― stupid fruity crazy jag (J0rdan S.), Friday, December 25, 2009 10:03 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― ThePartyHater (some dude), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:32 (eleven years ago) link
the middle one duh
― bish (bosch), don't kill my vibe (rennavate), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:32 (eleven years ago) link
this proved to be correct
http://smokenmirrorsblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/waka_relaxxxin.gif
― J0rdan S., Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:39 (eleven years ago) link
think we're not really arguing so much about 'best rap lyric of the year' so much as 'best rap catchphrase of the year'
― 乒乓, Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:40 (eleven years ago) link
― ThePartyHater (some dude), Tuesday, January 8, 2013 7:23 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark
sorry that i turned to an obvious place in order to show that many people find his lyrics memorable
― J0rdan S., Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:40 (eleven years ago) link
wait that gif is from 2010? how can that be? deej told me waka's charisma is a sudden 2012 invention! (xpost)
― ThePartyHater (some dude), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:41 (eleven years ago) link
if you want to prove the LYRICS are memorable why did you link a search for a SONG TITLE
because it's also the central lyric and if you scroll through the results it's as much people quoting the hook than saying "hey i really like that song 'hate being sober'"
― J0rdan S., Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:44 (eleven years ago) link
eh when i scrolled through it like every 20th tweet was a quote
― ThePartyHater (some dude), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:45 (eleven years ago) link
j0rdan thinks The Source's "hip hop quotable of the month" used to be like 'you can find me in da club/ bottle full of bub'
― ThePartyHater (some dude), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:49 (eleven years ago) link
there's no single yardstick - certainly not in rap, which did more to stretch the parameters of how to write well within a genre than any single genre ever has imo - as many styles as there are good writers. that said, solid rhymes are nice, being comfortable with meter but able to move freely within in it is great (this is imo where corny dudes do indeed go crazy for Nas, whose old stuff really did scan like he meant for it to be printed and studied), unexpected similies/metaphors/comparisons that jump out but not too harshly are good. vivid imagery that points to a vision uniquely belonging to the lyricist, one that's identifiably in a voice so that if somebody else covered it you might still be able to say "that sounds like a Chief Keef lyric." (I don't think anyone will ever say that.)
I mean there's no end to what makes a good lyricist, it's an endless craft.
― too many encores (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:51 (eleven years ago) link
― ThePartyHater (some dude), Tuesday, January 8, 2013 7:49 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark
i've spent more time than arguably anyone in the history of ilm transcribing lyrics to this message board, but that doesn't mean that all lyrics have to function the same way
― J0rdan S., Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:52 (eleven years ago) link
so what's the line from a chief keef VERSE that people everywhere are quoting
― ThePartyHater (some dude), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:53 (eleven years ago) link
J0rdan will you own that I am not claiming anywhere that all lyrics have to function in the same way because that is not my deal like at all and I take offense, sir, at the accusation as I perceive it
― too many encores (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:55 (eleven years ago) link
good thread. interesting to see the conservative view move/adjust/reject.
it's so I can see if you can actually cite any good lyrics by this guy you rep. you can't, because he is a shitty rapper and terrible lyricist.
you judge poets in the same way, aero? ask b/c I know you are a fan, just wonder if you hold them up to that same test.
― bnw, Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:58 (eleven years ago) link
you're asking if avid poetry readers can cite passages by their favorite poets that they consider exemplary?
― ThePartyHater (some dude), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 01:00 (eleven years ago) link
― too many encores (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, January 8, 2013 7:55 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark
okay. i do think your parameters as they pertain to keef are very rigid.
― J0rdan S., Wednesday, 9 January 2013 01:00 (eleven years ago) link
underrated poets i have found exemplary
― NINO CARTER, Wednesday, 9 January 2013 01:01 (eleven years ago) link
good rap lyrics are lyrics that sound good when the rapper who wrote it raps it. Gets bonus points if style is original.
― sisilafami, Wednesday, 9 January 2013 01:01 (eleven years ago) link
depends on the style of poetry - classic metrical poets for sure, if no phrases stick at all then wtf kind of poet is that? whatever you want to call poetry since the rise of unmetered verse/open forms/whatever, very different class of stuff, I can't quote many/any? lines from my favorite novels probably except Absalom, Absalom! but that doesn't mean it didn't leave a huge impression, it's just less about lines & phrases than the big effect. a lot of my trouble with open forms in poetry has to do with this though, long boring talk to be had by me there any old time so stop on by
― too many encores (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 01:03 (eleven years ago) link
well yeah i didn't think we were talking about MEMORIZING -- obviously that's much easier to do w/ music than printed verse
― ThePartyHater (some dude), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 01:05 (eleven years ago) link