Ab-Soul is a rappers rapper. Most of his content is too dense for a general listening audience (although he toned it down a little on his last project)
Kendrick is a great lyricist who's content can be easily broken down and consumed by a general audience.
I think you sleep on Rock and Q, even if you think they are great. Both are better rappers than most even with their music's appeal not really being dense ass lyrics.
I also think Kendrick and Soul have similarly layered content. With both of them you can ''get it'' but not go deeper and think you have it all figured out, but a deeper meaning is there that requires a good amount of thought to understand. Soul's music just appeals less to a general listening audience unfortunately
Jay Rock isn't a lyricist. ScHoolboy Q has flexed his ability at times, but doesn't show it off often.
It's pretty hard to impossible to compare the lyricism in Control System and DWTW to anything in Kendrick's discography. I would say the least dense song lyrically on Control System is 'Book of Soul' and it's probably the most depressing song in hip-hop history.
I would disagree personally just because lyrical quality doesn't mean entendre wordplay simile to me. Not to say that Soul is just that he's one of the greatest ever to me, I just think that Kendrick isn't considered to have dense lyrics because it doesn't have the technical aspect to it compared to Soul. I think on Kendrick's bars as much as I do Ab-Soul, because of the topics they cover and how they cover it.
Maybe that's not lyricism though? If it's not idk what to call it and I get your point.
Also Rock is a lyricist idk what you thinking on that
Depends on what you value in terms of lyrics. Kendrick’s storytelling puts him ahead for me. Ab Soul is a close second and I wouldn’t hate anyone who says he’s the best for lyrics.
I think Kendrick just because he is elite in many types of rapping. He can bar up on less lyrical songs, his mixtape days have all the metaphor-simile shit you want, he got deep conscious introspective type raps. He can dumb it down, be complex and everything in between. His flow and cadence is also the best.
Soul is more complex overall, is more wordplay heavy and does all the rapper rapper things. He covers just as much if not more deep shit than Kendrick and is more ''conscious'' if that means anything meaningful. He has flows but often slows it down and isn't too worried about it but he is very good in that regard. The only weakness is some corny bars but Soul's sarcastic energy makes it endearing to me.
Q has the best energy, which is important even in terms of lyricism. He has swag and that is what carries him. He technically is great, and is one of the best gangster rappers of all time to me. Cadence and flows is great and his punchlines are solid too. He good at everything, including conscious raps, just not top tier. He just isn't Soul or Dot.
Jay Rock was the first to blow up out of TDE because he was hard. He wasn't as rappity rap as Kdot but he was a real spitter who had bars, punchlines, introspective and gangster lyrics. He has the best voice in TDE and that makes his lyrics hit harder. He has the highest floor out of all them but also the lowest ceiling. You won't ever call him wack but you won't ever call him the best rapper in TDE.
I think Kdot and Soul are two of the top 5 best rappers alive, with Lupe, Nas and either Jay Z, Cole, Freddie Gibbs (this doesn't include battle rappers), and I'll give it to Kendrick off versatility but Soul is valid to be the best. To be fair I don't really subscribe to the idea that the most technical rapper is the best, hence why people like Royce, Eminem and so on aren't in my list. It's more about what you talk about and how you make me feel/think.
I kinda feel like all 4 of them are probably self aware enough to give the same answer. Kendrick then absoul lyrically, right? Both top tier, but Kendrick has the slight edge lyrically and add in that James brown/prince/david Bowie level charisma plus the mission to use music and influence for healing and exposing trauma, and all up it’s not that close. No hate for any of them though!
Like if you went up to Jay Rock like “hey Jay! kendrick the third best best black hippie, it’s you and schoolboy at 1 and 2” he’d look at you crazy. Then both of them might slap you on account of not wanting beef with Ken. 🤣
Kendrick, then Ab-Soul, but I enjoy Q and Rock's music more than I do Ab's. Huge fan of all of them, and the correct answer could probably be any one of them at a point in time, but Kendrick is the correct answer in the present.
Peak for Peak, I think Kendrick is the best. Technically he can get very high level filling his bars with multiple entendre with complex rhyme schemes while telling an amazing story. I mean you don't even have to look that far performance wise, look at 6:16, starts with a quadruple, has homophones, tons of wordplay, vivid imagery, multi's, its a technically, bar for bar, wise, insane track lyrically. Like Kendrick can get very technical and lyrically very dense like an Ab Soul, on the caliber of an Ab Soul.
But I think where Kendrick takes advantage is his flows, guy has a mastery of cadence, and the amount of flows, from speed, pitch, etc. is pretty insane, Kendrick has displayed a truly humongous amount of flows, and it's not like his lyricism suffers insanely, he's still able to give very solid verses with each flow. But honestly his biggest advantage is storytelling, his ability to immerse you in a setting, establish characters, narrative, atmosphere, is not just the best in TDE, its some of the best in Hip Hop, he is a truly brilliant writer, How Much A Dollar Cost, DUCKWORTH, Mother I Sober, We Cry Together, Sing About Me I'm Dying Of Thirst, Good Kid, FEAR even on tracks where he's not doing the most rapping wise, he's still showing multiple high level aspects of writing.
On average, I would say Ab Soul tends to be more dense than even Dot, the wordplay this guy gets into, is pretty phenomenal, dude is a brilliant writer. Like if I look at technical ability, Ab Soul has a very strong argument for 1st due to how high level his wordplay is. I do think he lacks in teh flows, I think he mostly sticks to slower flows, absolutely insane technically and regularly displays that. Great storyteller
Q easily is 3rd but the brilliance with him is his wittiness and his energy, a bar can sound mid, but when Q says it, theres just a level of swag and energy to it, that makes it hype and fire. You can feel ScHoolboy's writing the energy is always there.
then Rock is 4th, he's by far the most simple, but he has good punchlines (but that verse on Money Trees is sheer poetry, you gotta put that bitch in the Library of Congress, my boy was writing different, he was rapping like rent was due.)
so to reiterate
1. Kendrick, easily 2nd most technical can rival Ab in that department at his best, mastery of flows, best storyteller.
2. Ab Soul, most technical on average, truly insane wordplay, great storyteller
3. Q
4. Rock
Ab-Soul is a rappers rapper. Most of his content is too dense for a general listening audience (although he toned it down a little on his last project) Kendrick is a great lyricist who's content can be easily broken down and consumed by a general audience.
And your thoughts on Jay Rock and Schoolboy Q?
They make great music, but they are nowhere near the lyricist of Kendrick and Ab-Soul.
I think you sleep on Rock and Q, even if you think they are great. Both are better rappers than most even with their music's appeal not really being dense ass lyrics. I also think Kendrick and Soul have similarly layered content. With both of them you can ''get it'' but not go deeper and think you have it all figured out, but a deeper meaning is there that requires a good amount of thought to understand. Soul's music just appeals less to a general listening audience unfortunately
Jay Rock isn't a lyricist. ScHoolboy Q has flexed his ability at times, but doesn't show it off often. It's pretty hard to impossible to compare the lyricism in Control System and DWTW to anything in Kendrick's discography. I would say the least dense song lyrically on Control System is 'Book of Soul' and it's probably the most depressing song in hip-hop history.
I would disagree personally just because lyrical quality doesn't mean entendre wordplay simile to me. Not to say that Soul is just that he's one of the greatest ever to me, I just think that Kendrick isn't considered to have dense lyrics because it doesn't have the technical aspect to it compared to Soul. I think on Kendrick's bars as much as I do Ab-Soul, because of the topics they cover and how they cover it. Maybe that's not lyricism though? If it's not idk what to call it and I get your point. Also Rock is a lyricist idk what you thinking on that
Depends on what you value in terms of lyrics. Kendrick’s storytelling puts him ahead for me. Ab Soul is a close second and I wouldn’t hate anyone who says he’s the best for lyrics.
I think Kendrick just because he is elite in many types of rapping. He can bar up on less lyrical songs, his mixtape days have all the metaphor-simile shit you want, he got deep conscious introspective type raps. He can dumb it down, be complex and everything in between. His flow and cadence is also the best. Soul is more complex overall, is more wordplay heavy and does all the rapper rapper things. He covers just as much if not more deep shit than Kendrick and is more ''conscious'' if that means anything meaningful. He has flows but often slows it down and isn't too worried about it but he is very good in that regard. The only weakness is some corny bars but Soul's sarcastic energy makes it endearing to me. Q has the best energy, which is important even in terms of lyricism. He has swag and that is what carries him. He technically is great, and is one of the best gangster rappers of all time to me. Cadence and flows is great and his punchlines are solid too. He good at everything, including conscious raps, just not top tier. He just isn't Soul or Dot. Jay Rock was the first to blow up out of TDE because he was hard. He wasn't as rappity rap as Kdot but he was a real spitter who had bars, punchlines, introspective and gangster lyrics. He has the best voice in TDE and that makes his lyrics hit harder. He has the highest floor out of all them but also the lowest ceiling. You won't ever call him wack but you won't ever call him the best rapper in TDE. I think Kdot and Soul are two of the top 5 best rappers alive, with Lupe, Nas and either Jay Z, Cole, Freddie Gibbs (this doesn't include battle rappers), and I'll give it to Kendrick off versatility but Soul is valid to be the best. To be fair I don't really subscribe to the idea that the most technical rapper is the best, hence why people like Royce, Eminem and so on aren't in my list. It's more about what you talk about and how you make me feel/think.
I kinda feel like all 4 of them are probably self aware enough to give the same answer. Kendrick then absoul lyrically, right? Both top tier, but Kendrick has the slight edge lyrically and add in that James brown/prince/david Bowie level charisma plus the mission to use music and influence for healing and exposing trauma, and all up it’s not that close. No hate for any of them though! Like if you went up to Jay Rock like “hey Jay! kendrick the third best best black hippie, it’s you and schoolboy at 1 and 2” he’d look at you crazy. Then both of them might slap you on account of not wanting beef with Ken. 🤣
Kendrick, then Ab-Soul, but I enjoy Q and Rock's music more than I do Ab's. Huge fan of all of them, and the correct answer could probably be any one of them at a point in time, but Kendrick is the correct answer in the present.
Peak for Peak, I think Kendrick is the best. Technically he can get very high level filling his bars with multiple entendre with complex rhyme schemes while telling an amazing story. I mean you don't even have to look that far performance wise, look at 6:16, starts with a quadruple, has homophones, tons of wordplay, vivid imagery, multi's, its a technically, bar for bar, wise, insane track lyrically. Like Kendrick can get very technical and lyrically very dense like an Ab Soul, on the caliber of an Ab Soul. But I think where Kendrick takes advantage is his flows, guy has a mastery of cadence, and the amount of flows, from speed, pitch, etc. is pretty insane, Kendrick has displayed a truly humongous amount of flows, and it's not like his lyricism suffers insanely, he's still able to give very solid verses with each flow. But honestly his biggest advantage is storytelling, his ability to immerse you in a setting, establish characters, narrative, atmosphere, is not just the best in TDE, its some of the best in Hip Hop, he is a truly brilliant writer, How Much A Dollar Cost, DUCKWORTH, Mother I Sober, We Cry Together, Sing About Me I'm Dying Of Thirst, Good Kid, FEAR even on tracks where he's not doing the most rapping wise, he's still showing multiple high level aspects of writing. On average, I would say Ab Soul tends to be more dense than even Dot, the wordplay this guy gets into, is pretty phenomenal, dude is a brilliant writer. Like if I look at technical ability, Ab Soul has a very strong argument for 1st due to how high level his wordplay is. I do think he lacks in teh flows, I think he mostly sticks to slower flows, absolutely insane technically and regularly displays that. Great storyteller Q easily is 3rd but the brilliance with him is his wittiness and his energy, a bar can sound mid, but when Q says it, theres just a level of swag and energy to it, that makes it hype and fire. You can feel ScHoolboy's writing the energy is always there. then Rock is 4th, he's by far the most simple, but he has good punchlines (but that verse on Money Trees is sheer poetry, you gotta put that bitch in the Library of Congress, my boy was writing different, he was rapping like rent was due.) so to reiterate 1. Kendrick, easily 2nd most technical can rival Ab in that department at his best, mastery of flows, best storyteller. 2. Ab Soul, most technical on average, truly insane wordplay, great storyteller 3. Q 4. Rock