Flashback: Do the beats really matter?

[GhettoGnom]

An amazing lyricist over sub-par beats is way more tolerable to me than wack MCs on stellar production.

When I hear some faggot spit simple simon shit on a dope beat I wanna punch somebody.

An amazing lyricist over sub-par beats > terrible MC on stellar production
but
amazing lyricist over sub-par beats << terrible lyricist with good flow/delivery on stellar production

imho anyways.

All these kids rapping now think they have to make every other fucking line a punchline, it's annoying as hell and overabused.

Corny punches don't make you a lyricist.

Punchlines are the new auto-tune, totally over saturated at this point.

Word!

[Rayson]

An amazing lyricist over sub-par beats is way more tolerable to me than wack MCs on stellar production.

When I hear some faggot spit simple simon shit on a dope beat I wanna punch somebody.

I think to myself "come up off that lil buddy, you obviously don't know what you're doing with this beat".

A sick lyricist who gets ignored by the industry and thus can't afford super producers is understandable.

Someone who can get A-list production but can't slaughter the sick beat they're provided is INEXCUSABLE!




I'd also like to address this quickly.

That statement is very true and it's fucking up Hip-Hop IMO.

All these kids rapping now think they have to make every other fucking line a punchline, it's annoying as hell and overabused.

Corny punches don't make you a lyricist.

Punchlines are the new auto-tune, totally over saturated at this point.

That's what i'm saying. I am captivated by lyrics, much like a screenplay. If I have to sit through a film with pathetic and unoriginal dialouge, I won't like it.

[Rayson]

^Nice sig. I didn't know we had many metal heads on here.

For sure man. I am a diehard metal fan, but hip hop has always been the best genre imo. Its hard to find people into both genres, especially death metal.

[rainbow]

The problem with Chino's debut is that he does nothing but drop similes.

This and that don't need that like this don't need that like this and that like that blah blah blah.

And it's good for a bit, but boring fucking quickly.

The production is good though.

And Soul on Ice has great production.

[THE MASON]

a wack beat can kill an emcee

a wack emcee can kill the vibe of a beat

i think for a casual listener of hip hop the beat is central in whether they like the track, but for the hardcore hip hop heads i think its more then just the beat. cause you come to know the artist for lyrics and flows. still the beat is essential to that artist and how they perform lyrically.

both rely on each other to make a track or an album for that matter

[Squidgy McGubbins]

Canibus should just release acapella vesrions of his whole discog.

That would be dope.

Except C! True hollywood Stories, that album is abysmally awful.

Even if God himself provided the beats it couldn't be saved.

[Durag]

To me, beats are more important than lyrics.

I love dope lyrics, obviously been a wu-tang fan i think all of us love dope lyrics, but wtf is the point of listening to dope lyrics over a truly fuckin horseshit beat? maybe if the emcee has a great delivery and flow i.e i could listen to Pharoahe Monch over nearly any beat, but hes an exceptoin to the rule.

When i first get an album and listen to it through, its the beats that catch my attention first. Its only when i listen to an album or a particular song a few times that i grasp a hold of the lyrics and really listen to what they are saying. So if i play an album through and i heard tracks with totally bullshit beats, im not going to listen to those tracks more than a few times, so if theres some great lyrics in there im not going to hear them coz im not going to listen to the tracks coz its got a shitty beat, ya get me?

If a beat is seriously dope with shitty lyrics, i can pretty much ignore the emcee and just vibe to the beat, but i cant ignore a shitty beat just to listen to dope lyrics.

I think people seem to forget that hip-hop is a form of MUSIC, why listen to it when the music (i.e beat) is shit?

People here seem to take that Masta Killa line ("The Dumb are mostly intrigued be the drum") as some sort of fuckin religion, and all commercial rap fans just enjoy the beat so they should listen to the lyrics to make them seem like 'true' hip-hop fans. I know, coz i done this when i was round 15 or 16, constantly telling all my friends who listened to Dre and Snoop that lyrics were more important. Yes, i was a little faggot.

[claaa7]

^ well put Durag, people are misinterpreting that MK line like crazy too. he says that's the dumb (the 85%) first hear the Wu-Tang beats and gets attracted (just like you say) and after a while they'll absorb the lyrics too and get the knowledge of the 5% nation.

[BLACK BART SIMPSON]

lmao did that faggot really just say punchlins r the new auto tune???? lmao ur a fucking retard...

FIRST OFF a punch line is more then a metaphor or simile its a punch...anything thtll mak listeners go "OOOOOOOOO" nd mak tht ugly face like sum1 farted is a punchline...

nd comparing it to auto tune is like...what?

punchlines r like anything if u do it right its good

but i know what ur saying tho the kids tht lack lyrics throw in wack meta4's nd similies... like "ill put more wholes in u then swiss cheese" if i had a dollar for every time i heard tht punch..i ven usd it in my earlier raps Big L first said tht shit likr 20 yrs ago is what niggas fail to realize..

i cnt believ i just had to explain punchlins on a wutang forum

punchlines for days in this vid

[Beowulf]

Beats have always been more important than lyrics.

A great beat with lame lyrics is still a good track = In Da Club
A lame beat with great lyrics is still a wack track = Immobilarity

You can take the lyrics away from a track, and its still music. You can still bump your head. How often do people listen to acapella? That isn't music, its spoken word.

[5hundred&one]

one of these days, some of y'all is gonna have to come to terms with the fact that lyricism was an extension of hiphop and if you go back and listen to early hiphop stuff it was more about a beat you could dance to than anything else.

of course you can make a dope song without lyrics, if you disagree then you took the interlude on Wu-Forever way too seriously. especially since the person who made it has since admitted to dancing to Soulja Boy in the club.

look at it like this: Canibus has no classic albums, he never will unless he drops one at some point in the future. meanwhile, Midnight Marauders is a classic record which is way more style than subtance, just recite the lyrics to Award Tour in your head if you don't believe me. the lyrics aren't super complicated and they ain't got to be. I enjoy it all the same.

[BLACK BART SIMPSON]

Beats have always been more important than lyrics.

A great beat with lame lyrics is still a good track = In Da Club
A lame beat with great lyrics is still a wack track = Immobilarity

You can take the lyrics away from a track, and its still music. You can still bump your head. How often do people listen to acapella? That isn't music, its spoken word.

in da club was the shit when it first came out...no gas

[BIG D O]

see, that's crazy though, while some contend that the production on Ras', Chino and Bis's debuts was "lame", I happen to think that it was above board....sheeeeiiit, none of em' ever went on to create albums that could match the production on their debuts, not even Rass, who had Dre giving him beats for "Rassassination"...only one that ever did it was Bis'; who commissioned Stoupe for a whole album....

that first Canibus album always gets that label and I can't stand that shit...the beats on that album were dope man....dope!