Atmosphere Vs. Lil Wayne Through The Eyes Of Lyricism

[mariotroise]

I'm not trying to put more fire in the "mainstream vs. underground" discussion. However, everytime I make a video with an underground song, or I show some new tunes to somebody, people say: "is this hip hop? It doesn't sound like what I hear on the radio!"

Last week I was trying to show a friend the difference between good hip hop and the gansta radio stuff. I made some lyric clouds comparing Lil Wayne, Atmosphere, Soulja Boy, etc. The result was so good I decided to share it on my blog.

The article is here: http://neosublime.com/2009/04/atmosphere-vs-lil-wayne-through-the-eyes-of-lyricism/

So, what do you think about it?

[illmitch]

Well, that's a good way to figure out what they talk about, but there's more to lyricism than what you talk about: it's how you talk about it. Think about Rakim. Most of what he rapped about was money (Paid in Full, anyone) or how good at rapping he is. Would you consider him un-lyrical?

However, that doesn't mean I'd call Lil' Wayne a "lyrical" rapper, because he simply isn't. That doesn't mean that he's not a good rapper - in my opinion, he's an exceptionally skilled one - just that he's not a good rapper in the style of Nas, Wu-Tang, et cetera. A blog I read wrote a series of posts about what the author calls "post-lyrical" hip hop, I'll post the links at the end of the post.

That said, I think it'd be really interesting to see stuff like this from other rappers. What was your methodology in doing this? I think I might try to do some other clouds.

Links:
http://brandonsoderberg.blogspot.com/2008/09/raps-post-lyrical-phase.html
http://brandonsoderberg.blogspot.com/2008/09/raps-post-lyrical-phase-pt-ii-how-we.html
http://brandonsoderberg.blogspot.com/2008/10/raps-post-lyrical-phase-pt-iii-whats.html
http://brandonsoderberg.blogspot.com/2008/10/final-notes-on-post-lyricism.html

[mariotroise]

Thanks for the reply. I'm checking the links right now, got a lot of things to read.
I agree with you. My goal with the article was just to compare 2 completely different rappers with something more visual.

This is what I did: I got 3 or 4 songs of each album, removed some common words (get, like, do, etc) and generated the clouds until the result was good enough. I could compare just one album in particular, or a selected playlist.
But now I think I'm going to make some old school clouds and compare them with recent stuff.

[illmitch]

Cool, I'll try that.

[mariotroise]

By the way, do you have the link to make the word clouds?
http://www.wordle.net/

Please share if you get anything interesting!

[Rams]

Atmosphere is a bunch of fake stories. They do the same thing as any other rapper and fictionalize life to try to connect with listeners.

[mariotroise]

At least they write something with content.
And that's not all true. Do you know the song "That night"?

[illmitch]

http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/753364/Cam'ron

10 or so Cam'ron songs

[mariotroise]

That was fast. Nice one: "killa boy like ya"!

[illmitch]

Yeah, there probably wouldn't be as many "boys" if I hadn't included "Oh Boy" (like every other word in that song is "boy", if you haven't listened to it).

[kingsoby1]

i enjoy songs about bitches money and guns

[illmitch]

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah

[Rams]

http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/753391/Immortal_Technique

The wordsmith himself, Immortal Technique's Revolutionary Vol. 2

[illmitch]

Immortal Technique has a thesaurus to differentiate all the anti-government words he uses

[Rams]

Artists:

Dr. Dre: 6 Times
Biggie: 6 Times
Tupac: 5 Times
Kanye west: 5 Times
50 Cent/Curtis: 5 Times
Suge Knight: 4 times
Jay-Z - 3 Times
Snoop Dogg: 3 Times
Lil Wayne: 2 Times
Ice Cube: 2 Times
Ludacris: 2 Times
Mary J Blige: 2 Times
Rakim: 2 Times
Diddy: 2 Times

Scarface
Big Boi
Young Jeezy
Common
Spice1
Beanie Sigel
Erick Sermon
Baby
Slim
Jazzy Pha
Wu Tang
Scott Storch
Akon
MC Ren
Nas
Beyonce
Rihanna
Young Buck
T-Pain
Mobb Deep
M.O.P.
Shock G
Shyne
Mack 10
Will Smith
Uncle Luke
LL Cool J
Public Enemy
NWA
New Edition
Naughty By Nature
Black Rob
DJ Kool Herc
DJ Red Alert
Big Daddy Kane
Frankie Beverly And Maze
D.O.C.


Brands:

Cars:
Impala ('64): 9 Times
Phantom: 7 Times
Lamborghini: 4 Times
Range Rover: 3 Times
Bentley: 2 Times
Chevy Suburban
BMW
Mercedes
Bugatti
Escalade
Chevy Malibu
Mustang
Porsche
Buick

Luxury:
Rolex
Louis Vuitton
Prada


Drinks:
Patron (5 Times)
Cristal Champagne (3 Times)
Kool Aid

Other:
Air Force 1s: 2 Times
Nike: 3 Times
Jordans: 3 times
Air Force 2
Jordans
Bo Jacksons
Dickies
Kangol
Adidas
Champion
Ralph Lauren
Timberland
Mc Donald's
Skytel
Smith & Wesson

Personalities

Sports:
Lebron James: 2 Times
Michael Jordan
Kobe Bryant
Dwight Howard
Chris Paul
Tony Parker
Mike Tyson


Jesse Jackson: 2 Times
Delicious (Flavor Of Love): 2 Times
Kurt Kobain
John Lennon
Don Imus
Frank Lucas
Jacob The Jeweler
O-Dog
Pablo Escobar
Al Pacino
Tyra Banks
Martha Stewart
Vanessa Del Rio
Ronald Raegan
Jackie Chan
Gandhi
Rosa Parks
Martin Luther King
Bill Gates
Barack Obama
Hillary Clinton
Nelson Mandela
Coretta Scott

This is my favorite review ever. Seriously makes me giddy inside.

[mariotroise]

Now you're talking Rams! Awesome cloud! How many songs did you use?

[kingsoby1]

http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/753415/El-P

[Rams]

http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/753448/The_Game

The Game's Doctor's Advocate

[Jawaharal]

http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/753493/Untitled

n.o. nigga