đ (GOAT)
Rap is competitive. There arenât many rappers not competitive in their lyrics. I canât think of one but Iâm sure they exist. Rap comes in many subgenres but all aspire to be the greatest of the entire game. Whoâs got it?
There is the idea that there are many goats. If youâre one of the goats, Iâm sure you think youâre the (/ËĂ°iË/) goat. Symba articulates this in âGOATâ well.
The idea of all time is difficult as well. Some give way to nostalgia and wonât hear of the new rappersâ greatness, while others arenât even aware of the old school (meaning only one generation older, since the concept old is recursive).
Whatâs the criteria? For me, itâs lyrics. My quite âradicalâ idea is that if a rap song is bad without the beat, itâs bad. I know too many listeners are involved with the beat business and would dislike a song if it had a bad beat. Thatâs why I think itâs somewhat radical. But the same listeners also love freestyling without a beat or with only a human-made one so itâs not clear cut.
Saying lyrics is not enough. All the songs have lyrics. Or saying word play. Playing with words have levels and layers. I guess the initial layers would be about the rhymes. How many syllables rhyming with what structure? The further layers would be meanings. How many entendres? Quadruple?
I have listened to quite a lot of rap. Too much in fact. But for me, not enough. My favorites changed over time but favorite does not equal đ. I have listened to American rap the most but also to Turkish rap in the past, and some UK, Italian, Korean, etc.
This is not an objective question from the start. Your goat should be the one you would choose to listen to the rest of your life without any other rapper. However, itâs also true that listening to many different people and styles is enjoyful. In fact, the competition comes out of multiplicity. Variation is the concept that gravitates me towards rap and any other lyrical form. I love hearing the variation in rappersâ sayings, be it accents or plays.
To be expandedâŠ