The Best Rappers Alive

As a confessed Waynehead, I downloaded The Drought #4 mixtape last week:

Even though I've heard far too much Wayne this year, I wasn't upset to hear a just little bit more. Insert your stan comment if you wish (I know everyone complains that he's tired), but Wayne always brings something new to the table for me. Whether it's a different flow, a great delivery or just an overall ridiculous statement to LOL at, I always find his bafoonery refreshing. He even SINGS on "I Like It"... not just a hook either, but for the track's entirety. I read in The Fader that singing is something he wants to conquer, but not from the "talented vocal" standpoint... for him, it's more about having a "unique" vocal swagger. Getting on his Prince shit, so to speak (pg. 47). I therefore assume we'll be seeing more of this is the future.

I brought this up not because I think all the tracks on the mixtape are incredible, but because many stood out, having me think "I wouldn't be upset if this was on the new album." Can't be mad at that!

Speaking of The Carter III, it drops 12/18... the same day as The Cool, from my other hero... Lupe the Great. And by the way, I heard Lupe's album 2 weeks ago in the office and I was blown away.


Bottom line, these two dudes are MY "kept" dudes. Am I torn over 12/18? Yes and no. This whole thing is clearly meant to be.

LUPE spits that intellectual fire... relentlessly stubborn, "way above their heads" verbals that you can still smell hours after listening. WAYNE takes a more savage approach, plowing us over with ignorant rapper stereotypes woven into his rhymes. But don't underestimate him; his portrayed ignorance has nothing to do with his level of intelligence. I, for one, think Weezy's a crazy genius. LUPE, on the other hand, would never participate in such things... equally as brilliant, he'd rather educate and inspire his listeners by letting them decipher and decode the more progressive messages beneath his words.

On the surface, it appears as though they're coming from opposite sides of the hip hop spectrum... similarly to Kanye and 50's 9/11 battle, it could be said that "Hip Hop" (Lupe) is battling "Rap" (Wayne). But if you examine the fundamentals of both, they're strikingly similar: VERSATILE FLOWS, CREATIVE WORDPLAY/LYRICISM, UNIQUE DELIVERY... all aspects of what I consider to be a great MC. But to each their own, right?

Unfortunately, "Kanye" can't win this time... Wayne has the south on lock, and we haven't really broken Lupe yet, SMH. I just wish both of my boys get the numbers AND the critical acclaim that they respectively deserve.