Rap songs with good lyrics.

Off-topic
1

A lot of rap nowadays seems to have extremely unimaginative, or otherwise poor lyric usage. This thread is for posting rap songs that have good lyrics. If you post a song, it would be nice if you included the lyrics, and a link to where the song could be heard (though you don’t have to).

Oh, and if you don’t like rap, then that’s fine by me. There’s no need to argue about taste in music here.

In any case, the first song that comes to mind with good lyrics is easily “Think Again” by Hieroglyphics. I’m not sure if the topic of the song is all that great, but the word usage is just so much more advanced than all the songs from other rappers I’ve heard. Here, I’ll show you what I mean (I will bold my favorite examples of good word usage):

Think, think, think
You think about it

Think, think, think
You think about it

Watch this ??? radiation from the flamin’ hot sun
Known as Hieroglyphics
The light intensity is blazing
Collapse into an angel dust fit
From the dope I spit
Cocaine to your brain
You sick chasin’ a dragon
Hollow-tips disintegrate
When I infiltrate your temples with these rap magnetics
Depleting the iron in your hemoglobin
Freeze burnin’ a slack apathetic
Who fiendin’ for the spotlight
While you plot on me
I write these older soliloquies
You can’t see
Your corneas are straight sizzling
Riddling your shell with holes from the shit I bring
Catch you with the black adder poison just for mentioning Hiero fool
You got it twisted like King James
Perversion Persian Gulf syndrome got your mind spinning
Head flown from the eclectic
Fuck up your electrics
No audio, no visual
Your city goes up in flames
No remorse for the slain victims
The same curriculum goes for the next mission
This is the North Star microphone type violence
Pilot wings gunnin’ MC’s like a F-18 jet fighter
The Spiderman swinging through your neighbourhood
Takin’ out your Kingpin
Get inside you like I’m Sabrewolf
I got the killer instincts
I don’t blink
Before you get heat seek with the onslaught

Think, think, think
You think about it

Think, think, think
You think about it

Think, think, think
You think about it

Think, think, think
You think about it

If you control a man’s thoughts
You don’t have to worry about his actions
So think about that
Rather think about it in traction
For a fraction of the cost you could be bossed
But you suffer from inflation cause your mind is straight lost
Why you worrying about us
What’s occurring right now is
We makin’ power moves and you don’t even know how
You fret and fume and claim Hiero is doomed
But your hating won’t alter
We still won’t falter
We plotting our own maps
We clocking our own snaps
If you think you so smart
Tell me why you ain’t known that

Think, think, think
You think about it

(That was stupid, peep)

You think we’re weak so
Our fans think we’re the dopest
So there’s something else for your people mind to focus on
Who wrote this song
The mighty Hiero
You thought we was dead, pfffttt
Alive on arrival
Biofeedback, we’ll fry your weave back to the follicles
And shrink your brain to the size of a molecule
Follow you, never, you dumb
I’m like the thinker
Constant elevation, that’s why I like to tinker
With rhymes and concepts
So I can stay one step beyond
Learnin’ about the planet we on
I’m not sayin’ I’m the smartest
But there’s a lot of targets
To take my mind to
Cause that’s part of being an artist

Think, think, think
You think about it

Think, think, think
You think about it
[B]
The magnetic flux inducted when I touch the mic is acupuncture
Fluctuated in the lotus poles through your solar plexus
I bust a rap through a cardiac arrest
The reflex of charges convulse your carcass[B]
Like a heart attack
Then charge you wack emcees for life support
While the mics record
You’re a gun done plunging in total blackness
My retrospect is photographic
I got constellations in (Flabacastal?)
To flabbergast you Siamese emcees
The tumultuous maelstrom is bone crushing
On all who approach Hieroglyphics
Too relentless to break your style down to cubic inches
Sterilized like dentures
Paralyzed inventive
Like Jan Matchslinger
I’m not a gat slinger Goldfinger
Niggas is polygamous like bigots
Working for genocide
Everybody knows we rose to preeminence
Sharp witted like diamond tipped rhombuses
Every direction on your compass stabilized
No transfusing the intoxication we profusely drop so fatally
Huh, I think you are spurring a blind horse
We’re set to rule the universe with mind force

Think, think, think
You think about it

Think, think, think
You think about it

Think, think, think
You think about it

Think, think, think
You think about it

This song can be listened to here.

This is probably my favorite rap songs.

So, any of you know of any songs that either tell a good story, have a good message, or use clever wording, or anything of that nature?

2

Okay, these guys can use big words, but they still can’t put together sentences that make sense.

What’s imaginative about these lyrics, again? Every single hip-hop act raps about how their words will somehow make your head explode, but it hasn’t happened to me yet, despite having listened to 100ish albums.

Not that he makes much more sense, I’m a big fan of Del The Funkyhomosapien. His Deltron 3030 album is quite imaginative, weaving stories of a future riddled with robot battles, computer viruses and corrupt corporations.

My favorite verse comes from “Meet Cleofis Randolph the Patriarch”; it’s full of silly lyrics cleverly glued together with consonance and assonance. The verse is fun to say yourself, it seems to roll off the tongue quite easily.

3

Del is AMAZING. I love 3030, by far my favorite rap album. Dan is amazing, del’s style is insane. Perfect. Still waiting for 4040, hard to follow up with something as good as 3030 though. Legendary. Cannibal Ox is pretty damn good. Pigeon is an awesome song.

I’m a big fan of MF Doom (MadVillian, Victor Vaughn), nothing quite as good as 3030, but very good stuff. Very funny.

Good stuff. Seriously deltron 3030 is the best though. I can listen to that album through over and over, I still find myself catching little bits of genious here and there which I missed before.

Aesop Rock is alright. His song None Shall Pass gets a lot of play by me along with 5fingers. None Shall Pass is easily one of my favorite songs. The instumental is amazing as well.

4

It’s a bit ridiculous to expect song lyrics, or even poetry, to be entirely grammatically correct.

Here, let me demonstrate.

A Girl by Ezra Pound

The tree has entered my hands,
The sap has ascended my arms,
The tree has grown in my breast-
Downward,
The branches grow out of me, like arms.

Tree you are,
Moss you are,
You are violets with wind above them.
A child - so high - you are,
And all this is folly to the world.

You may not like the poem, but would you really argue that this is not clever, simply because the sentences don’t make sense? Poetry and songwriting have never been judged by their grammatical correctness, as it simply wouldn’t make sense to force one to apply such conventions when they attempt to artistically exercise and express their creative mind.

I think that you just like telling others off whenever you get the opportunity. Perhaps it’s because you would like to to prove to yourself and others that you are more intelligent than them, or perhaps there’s another reason. In any case, I would like to politely ask that you think about your criticisms more in the future, prior to posting them. Consider, maybe you are wrong after all? Also, please try to consider whether or not you are actually contributing, and improving things, rather than just pissing people off and feeling pleased with yourself. Though I have seen some great posts from you, a lot of them seem to just be cheap self-esteem raising attempts that often offend, or otherwise annoy others. Please, post wisely :).

5

Anything by The Dan

6

So, how’s that degree in psychology coming along? I didn’t realize people were doing evaluations online these days. Are you using me for your next paper?

Whatever makes you happy, Pele, keep listening to it, I don’t care. Just don’t confuse your hip-hop with poetry… the Hieroglyphics might write rhymes, but that does not put them on level with a poet like Pound.

7

Most anything by Flobots.

8

As if.

9

Jason’s picture made me cough up my soda and it fizzed in my nose.

But it was worth it.

10

I don’t really listen to rap, but I have heard some of Shai Linne’s stuff. If anything, this is good rap, IMO. His “song”, Mission Accomplished:

Verse 1

Here’s a controversial subject that tends to divide

For years it’s had Christians lining up on both sides

By God’s grace, I’ll address this without pride

The question concerns those for whom Christ died

Was He trying to save everybody worldwide?

Was He trying to make the entire world His Bride?

Does man’s unbelief keep the Savior’s hands tied?

Biblically, each of these must be denied

It’s true, Jesus gave up His life for His Bride

But His Bride is the elect, to whom His death is applied

If on judgment day, you see that you can’t hide

And because of your sin, God’s wrath on you abides

And hell is the place you eternally reside

That means your wrath from God hasn’t been satisfied

But we believe His mission was accomplished when He died

But how the cross relates to those in hell?

Well, they be saying:

Lord knows He tried (8x)

Verse 2

Father, Son and Spirit: three and yet one

Working as a unit to get things done

Our salvation began in eternity past

God certainly has to bring all His purpose to pass

A triune, eternal bond no one could ever sever

When it comes to the church, peep how they work together

The Father foreknew first, the Son came to earth

To die- the Holy Spirit gives the new birth

The Father elects them, the Son pays their debt and protects them

The Spirit is the One who resurrects them

The Father chooses them, the Son gets bruised for them

The Spirit renews them and produces fruit in them

Everybody’s not elect, the Father decides

And it’s only the elect in whom the Spirit resides

The Father and the Spirit- completely unified

But when it comes to Christ and those in hell?

Well, they be saying:

Lord knows He tried (8x)

Verse 3

My third and final verse- here’s the situation

Just a couple more things for your consideration

If saving everybody was why Christ came in history

With so many in hell, we’d have to say He failed miserably

So many think He only came to make it possible

Let’s follow this solution to a conclusion that’s logical

What about those who were already in the grave?

The Old Testament wicked- condemned as depraved

Did He die for them? C’mon, behave

But worst of all, you’re saying the cross by itself doesn’t save

That we must do something to give the cross its power

That means, at the end of the day, the glory’s ours

That man-centered thinking is not recommended

The cross will save all for whom it was intended

Because for the elect, God’s wrath was satisfied

But still, when it comes to those in hell

Well, they be saying:

Lord knows He tried (8x)

11

You can listen to it here.

12

In the spirit of the daily Stryper video, this thread deserves some DC Talk. :stuck_out_tongue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ClRxHBtI6Y

13

MC Lars is one of the few rappers I enjoy. I love how he can work science fiction and literary theory into one track :wink:

He also does a cool retelling of “The Raven”:

And finally, some Hamlet :smiley:

14

I didn’t. In fact, I explicitly separated the two:
“It’s a bit ridiculous to expect song lyrics, or even poetry…”
“Poetry and songwriting”

I was not suggesting that Hieroglyphics write poetry. I was suggesting that even in poetry, as well as songwriting of any sort (yes, I think that poetry and songwriting are related somewhat), grammatical correctness is not considered a necessity. I have heard criticism from many people that rap isn’t “poetic” enough for them. But here, you see, I showed that even in poetry, which is (I guess) what some people think that rap should ideally sound like, grammatical correctness is unnecessary.

And no offense was meant by my above criticism of your posts. I only have the best interest of the unicyclist community in mind. Your unnecessary assholish comments that you make on a regular basis do not help anyone. I’ve been annoyed by them, and I’m sure many others have been annoyed by them to, so I just wanted to politely ask you to think before you post, and perhaps give you some thoughts on why you may be so tempted to post in such a manner all the time, so that you could make better judgments in the future.

15

+1

My pick at first glance of this thread.

An example for those who don’t know them…

Song: Stand Up

Stand up
We shall not be moved
Except By a child with no socks and shoes
If you’ve got more to give then you’ve got to prove
Put your hands up and I’ll copy you
Stand up We shall not be moved
Except by a woman dying from the loss of food
If you’ve got more to give then you’ve got to prove
Put your hands up and I’ll copy you

We still don’t understand thunder and lightning
Flash back to when we didn’t fund the dam
Didn’t fund the damn levi? No wonder man
Now our whole damn city’s torn asunder man
Under water but we still don’t understand
We see hurricane spills over on the land
Through gaps you couldn’t fill with a 100 tons of sand
No we still don’t understand
We’ve seen planes in the windows of buildings crumbled in
We’ve seen flames send the chills through London
And we’ve sent planes to kill them and some of them were children
But still we crumbling the building
Underfunded but we still don’t understand
Under god but we kill like the son of Sam
But if you feel like I feel like about the son of man
We will overcome

So Stand up
We shall not be moved
Except By a child with no socks and shoes
If you’ve got more to give then you’ve got to prove
Put your hands up and I’ll copy you
Stand up We shall not be moved
Except by a woman dying from the loss of food
If you’ve got more to give then you’ve got to prove
Put your hands up and I’ll copy you

I said Put your hands up and I’ll copy you
Put your hands up and I’ll copy you
If you’ve got more to give then you’ve got to prove
Put your hands up and I’ll copy you

We shall not be moved
Except By a child with no socks and shoes
Except by a woman dying from the loss of food
Except by a freedom fighter bleeding on a cross for you
We shall not be moved
Except by a system thats rotten through
Neglecting the victims and ordering the cops to shoot
High treason now we need to prosecute

So Stand up
We shall not be moved
And we wont fight a war for fossil fuel
Its times like this that you want to plot a coo
Put your hands up and I’ll copy you
So Stand up
We shall not be moved
Unless were taking a route we have not pursued
So if you’ve got a dream and a lot to do
Put your hands up and I’ll copy you

I said Put your hands up and I’ll copy you
Put your hands up and I’ll copy you
if you’ve got a dream and a lot to do
Put your hands up

Now shake, shake
A Polaroid dream
nightmare negatives develop on the screen
We sit back and wait for the government team
Criticize they but who the fuck are we
The people want peace but the leaders want war
Our neighbors don’t speak, peek thru the front door
House representatives preach “stay the course”
Time for a leap of faith
Once More

Put your hands up high if you havn’t imagined
Hope that the pen strokes stronger than the cannon
Balls to the wall, Nose to the grindstone
My interrogation techniques leave your mind blown
So Place your bets lets speak to the enemy
Don’t let em pretend that we seek blood
And who’s we anyways Kemo Sabe?
Mighty warlord wanna-be street thug
a threat for a threat leaves the whole world terrified
blow for blow never settles the score
word for word is time need clarify
We the people did not want war

So Stand up
We shall not be moved
Except By a child with no socks and shoes
If you’ve got more to give then you’ve got to prove
Put your hands up and I’ll copy you
Unless were taking a route we have not pursued
So if you’ve got a dream and a lot to do
Put your hands up and I’ll copy you

I said Put your hands up and I’ll copy you
Put your hands up and I’ll copy you
if you’ve got a dream and a lot to do
Put your hands up

16

White and Nerdy, and Amish Paradise

Really clever.

Weird Al is sometimes funny, and in these two songs he delivers.

17

BTM and Maestro8 are my favorite posters. Maestro really isn’t even and asshole, people on this website get offended way to easily. It’s the Internet, calm down, take a break, welcome to the ignore list. He’s sarcastic and blah blah, but that’s just how it goes. He’s one of the best posters on here.

18

Although I don’t like rap, I’m not going to start an argument. The only good rap song I’ve ever heard is the one in the video seen below. I’d also advise watching the video, it’s really good riding. Sorry, no lyrics :o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqCyTM1bF6Q&feature=related

19

Oh…And who could forget “Read a Book”

NWS for language.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlKL_EpnSp8

20

Just like there are no good white basketball players, there are no rap songs with good lyrics.

blind man.gif