What makes a rapper good?

>>74471689
Kendrick is trash especially TPAB. Only people on the internet like it

>>74471722 he obviously has something that people gravitate to though, whether that be his vocal skills or lyricism or some other unknown nuance to me. That's what I want to know. What are these things that people see in him. Genuinely curious.

>>74471722
what? all my normie friends like Kendrick. he's as mainstream as they go

>>74471689
His ability to capture the hearts of young white kids.

his flow is just fucking enjoyable and versatile. don't even care what he says most of the time.

>>74471878
Nobody likes to pimp a butterfly in real life

No Kendrick fans that would like to chime in?

>>74471689
Alright I'm a huge Kendrick fan and consider him to be the greatest artist of all time, which may be pushing it but is my opinion.

The man has incredibly strong lyricism (with a message), spectacular charisma with great production.

Kendrick single-handedly made me re-think many political opinions of mine to become a kinder and greater person that can assess situations I once did not understand.

And in terms of his 4 studio albums:

Section 80 gave a strong rebellious Kendrick that fought against the idea of authority delivered with charisma and love.

Good Kid M.A.A.D City is a masterpiece of musical storytelling with the thought provoking "The art of peer pressure" and my personal favorite track of all time the tear jerking ballad of "Sing about me/ I'm dying of thirst.

To pimp a butterfly is his most controversial and political album yet, with many of 4chan hating it due to their dislike of its political views. While they see it as a "BLM album" I think it's far from it, it gives a set of perfectly comprised tracks with amazing flow (due to the poetry between the tracks and the great ending poem at "Mortal Man" the final track). The production is insane and it's not about just race but about YOU, a message about self love and self hate which perfectly set into my mind with these beautiful tracks, and I hope yours as well. This album and GKMC are his best works and in my opinion one of modern musics best albums of all time.

Finally: DAMN. is an album about Kendrick's self doubts and struggles in his life time to create a message in a set of beautifully written tracks, some stronger than others, to give the listener a sense of elevation in his musical pieces. This album comprises stories with big emotions which Kendrick play with track to track.

I'm not asking you to love Kendrick's music but to give him a chance with his message, thanks for reading.

>>74472977
See I think that is one of my problems is I cannot read between the lines, as I am with most music. You seem to have a good grasp of some of the meanings of his songs. I have never been able to think that deeply about a track and come to such a meaningful conclusion without asking the opinion of my friends or other music lovers. I guess that's why I like Hopsin a lot because I can actually understand him. That's why I'm asking of peoples opinions, because I want to be able to see what they see and try to gain my own insight abilities off that. Seeing as I just can't do it on my own. I've always been a black and white thinker.

>>74473389
That's cool man, you do you, if you want I'd say you should listened to kendrick's best albums and read into the lyrics, maybe on genius then come to appreciate his music more like you do with Hopsin.

>>74471689
Kendrick, for years now, has been challenging, every single rapper on the planet to take him on. For years, he has demanded the entire body of rappers to try and take that title from him.

Nobody has even attempted to.

That makes him the best rapper alive right now.

>>74471689
>melody
>rhythm
>voice
>rhymes
>instrumental
>be creative
>baroque and artistic

Kendrick Lamar is good but hes only a good lyricist

Travis Scott, Childish Gambino, Tyler, Skepta or Vince Staples for example, surpassed that level of creativity.

>>74474332
I do slightly agree but Kendrick does have amazing flow and instrumental pallets which he changes every album, but I agree with the other artists you name, gambino created the masterpiece "me and your mama".


But none of these artists but kendrick will be remembered in 50 years.

>>74471689
I havent really sat down and absorbed his discography, but desu I feel like hes only good relative to the shit we have to deal with today. If he was around in the early 2000s he wouldnt have been nearly as famous. Logic and J Cole have this dame problem; quality bars are so rare that even semi-deep raps are considered artistic masterpieces.

>>74471689
You're not missing anything, he's very dull and unoriginal.

>>74474460
Logic and J Cole don't have quality bars, or songs, and I don't remember a single rapper who came out in the early 2000s are who are still around now or will be considered rap greats ever besides Eminem and 50.

Kendrick Lamar is a good rapper, no question. He's just not a contender for greatest of all time or even Top 10.
He's just an excellent rapper by today's commercial rap standards. The rest of the industry is so mediocre that Kendrick stands out so much.
His rhyming skills are nothing special, flow is alright, production good.
If you want to step into the realm of the GOATS listen to Nas, Rakim, Wu Tang, Andre3000 etc.

>>74474332
>Travis Scott,
Yeah, he's great.
> Childish Gambino
I don't want to hear any more music from Donald Glover. Atlanta was fantastic though.
>Tyler
Creativity sure but his hands are in too many pots to be considered best musically.
> Skepta
Skepta's great. And I'm glad you mentioned him. Skepta is easily one of the top 5 rappers out now period. Skepta gets me hyped in ways that no other musician besides Travis right now makes me feel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF3y-HUxZTI
> Vince Staples
No

>>74474460
>>74474478
>Never sat down and listened
wow
>Dull
he is better than any rapper or lyricist before him oldheads

>>74474787
It will never not annoy me when people try and say 3000 is one of the greatest rappers ever.

>>74474833
Nice deliberate misquote fuckhead, I said I havent sat through all of his horing ass discography.

Daily reminder that literally any 2Pac album is more political than TPAB.

>>74474883
Wait why? His flow is simply out of this world
https://youtu.be/KXGqHYNTNHU

>>74474332
>skepta
stopped reading

>>74474941
It's simple. Show me Dre's classic solo rap album. Big Boi's got one of those. It's like when Jay Elec came out and a bunch of people were so quick to crown him the greatest lyricist in hip-hop.

I'm not saying 3000 isn't a fantastic rapper, songwriter entertainer. I'll readily admit he's part of one of rap's greatest duos. But if you're asking me to single him out and credit him as one of rap's greatest rappers ever I can't do that because I don't feel as far as rapping is concerned that he is that much better than Big Boi, who was never outrapped by him on any Outkast album and gave us Sir Lucious Left Foot and Speakerboxxx.

>>74471924
>don't even care what he says most of the time.

I always thought lyrics were the biggest appeal of hip-hop. How do people listen to it so much if they're not even paying attention to the words? There's so little going on musically that I can't imagine listening to hip hop solely for the music.

>>74472977
haha i agree a lot actually

Kendrick is like every other rapper in the world. Talks mad shit, thinks he's saying anything clever

Can't write his own beats. The greatest of all time will know how to make a fucking song and can write it.

He's just like every other faggot rapper trying to be relevant. Kendrick Lamar is a fucking joke to the black community

>>74471689
Some of these answers were on the right track, but basically what makes Kendrick a contender for top 10 is his musicianship, it's impressive and has not been achieved at that level since 3K.

He understands duality to a T. Meaning, he isn't just using superfluous multi-syllabic schemes just to use them and he isn't devoted to trends to the point of banality. He knows when to be intricate and when to be simple--something that many rappers fail at. He also has a style of writing that mirrors Nas in that his lyrics are sublime and colorful. Sublime in that he can take a simple idea "e.g. Going to the store." and creatively repurpose it, e.g. "Left and right Kmart sandals walking thru the cornerstore gravel," but not overdo it to point of Aesop Rock level obfuscation.

He has an arsenal of flows, hes aware of how tone affects a beat, he can effectively deliver concepts, he has (or use to have at least) mastery over assonance, cossonance, and inflection, his rhyme pairs and patterns are erratic and often unpredictable (again, like Nas) and his ear for beats and how to approach them is unique.

You don't have to like him, but his resume is approaching Radiohead's . To assume that an absence of good rappers is the only factor illuminating him is ridiculous. It's also I'll advised to begin with DAMN.

>>74475042
He does care what he says. Lyrics is probably the most important part of Kendrick's music, and the difference between him and someone like Logic, who both have great flows, can rap really well and have good beats.

Also, many people listen to hip hop just for the music. Examples being Playboi Carti, 21 Savage, Young Thug, Lil Pump, Future etc.

Thanks for the input everyone. I'll definitely have to listen to him some more.

>>7447172 aren't you a guy on the internet? Why don't you like it?

>>74471689
his voice is so fucking annoying

>>74473389
Like you said if you don't get what he's saying yu probably won't enjoy it since you just see nothing but the ramblings of some black guy. I love Kendrick and understand he isn't a god send but he is pretty solid who I think gets too much shit because he's popular now.

>>74475889
Are you part of the black community?

>>74472977
>>74476176

Oh and these are the kind of answers I was looking for. Especially the second one. Thanks

>>74471689
You know how the commercial music industry will pick one act to represent a genre so they can mass market a certain aesthetic or subculture? He is America’s only conscious rapper.

>>74471689
a lot of this is because he can put a song together really well, and he can put an album together really well. a lot of great rappers can definitely spit, but can't put their verses into a song that really holds together as its own separate piece. this is hard to do- you have a lot of lyrics you have to make sure all fit into one cohesive whole, and he NAILS this. every one of his songs is about something concrete and his lyrics, hooks, and the beat work together to make something greater than the sum of its parts.

so he has a lot of great, well-connected songs, over fantastic beats, and then he sequences them perfectly so his albums work really well from start to finish, which is something rappers don't do nearly as often as they should. you'd think album sequence would be easy- just take all the songs you made and put them in a good order- but it takes real careful effort to keep an album flowing, to make sure the energy doesn't get too intense but also never dies off. kendrick cares a LOT about this, and it shows with how well each of his albums works As Albums.

of course adding to that, he has ridiculous flow that changes at the drop of a hat, and his lyrics are always thought-provoking and about very concrete things. but his ability to put together a bunch of great songs and put them on great albums is what really makes him stand apart, in my opinion. that's a hard thing to do, especially in hip-hop.

also shouts out to his collaborators, especially Sounwave, who's had a hand in every Kendrick album so far. from the way he tells it, though, Kendrick is very much the one calling the shots

>>74471952
maybe you just haven't met anybody who does, or talk to anybody about rap music in real life. I have met these people. I have had these conversations. Go outside and find some answers

>>74471689
He's been shit since GKMC

>>74471689
Kanye is the only good rapper.

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>>74479006

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>>74479006

>>74474830
clearly you haven't heard the big fish theory or prima donna then. big fish is one of the best records that came out this year

>>74475040
Hes got everything needed to be in the conversation, but not having a solo album is holding him back from that goat title.

Watch this if you want good insight on this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T2ZV6TjCTE

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TPAB >>>> the entire catalog of any rapper that label himself a 'conscious rapper'

>>74472977
lol

>>74475040
> Jay Electronica will never make an album

just kill me now senpai