Reply #36: Point being, even so called "bling bling" and "gangsta" [View All]

[markses]

stuff is pretty damn smart, lyrically, and beatwise, and mixwise, and samplewise.

Apparently, the definition of "intelligent" here means "engages in social/political commentary." That's all well and good, but I think a lot of the other stuff has its own kinds of logics and intelligence, and we do an injustice to those knowledges by using "intelligent" to mean only one fairly restricted thing. I think good party hip hop (say, Mystikal) is prewtty damn intelligent, in terms of

1) rhyme schemes
2) narratives
3) rhetorical sensibility and crowd management
4) capacity to create affective resonance

Put simply, a brotha (or sistah) can muthafuckin' groove to that shit. Think that's easy. I'd like to see the attempted lyrics of even one of the white bread motherfuckers on this thread claiming "intelligent hip hop artist" is an oxymoron. Just fucking one set of lyrics - forget even the complex notions of call and response, the way to breath with beats, where to come in, how to hit the beats correctly, and the million other details that make hip hop - along with jazz - one of the most amazing emergences on the world stage of the 20th century.