As a certain H. Adaso over at About helpfully points out, Waka Flocka Flame has joined a league of ‘rappers’ increasing in rank. Peep this quote from a recent interview:
If you’re looking for lyrics, throw it out the window. Go throw on Watch the Throne
The fact alone that this guy apparently thinks WTT is some kind of complicated super-lyrical record should already indicate to what sub-zero standards he has lowered the bar. Hey, if this guy wants to make tunes I sure won’t try to stop him. To each his own, and maybe there’ll be a nice club-banger among the bunch, crazier things have happened. But can we all please agree on one thing?
Stop calling guys like this rappers. Rappers rap. They craft rhymes. From the earliest guys toasting to liven up a DJ-set in the NY of the ’70s, to the most intricate lyricists of today, they all worked on their craft and helped it evolve into what we hear in rap today.
Of course it doesn’t have to be revolutionary all the time, but if you simply refuse to put any care into your lyrics then you are not a rapper. You can call your music whatever you want, just don’t try and sell it to me as rap. I know rap. What you’re doing has surprisingly little to do with it. I can see how you’ve derived whatever it is you’re doing from it but it is no longer that. It’s insulting to put something you’ve put no effort in, by your own admission, into the same category as the greats, the good and even the mediocre or bad rappers that still tried. Go make electropop with Nicki Minaj and David Guetta or something, whatever floats your boat, but GTFOH with that “I’m not lyrical” tripe.
Rappers spit lyrics. Ergo, you are not a rapper. It’s that simple.
