What makes something lyrical?

[Willy]

What makes something lyrical? In rap. I see it often, but what does it mean to be lyrical?
How do you judge what is lyrical? It may not be something that has exact guidelines, but I'm curious if we can find a formula to judge something as more lyrical than something else. If this thread has been made before, lets try again. If none of this made sense, I'm tired.

[Man1x]

Something that has deep meaning and isn't about nothing and punchlines. Some on here would say rhyming but I'd say that's a very small part of it, even though a lot of good lyricist are good rhymers as well. However, not all good rhymers are good lyricist and vise versa.

Dictionary: Expressing the writer's emotions in an imaginative and beautiful way.

[Willy]

What do you mean by deep meaning? What about a song that described food so well, everytime you heard it you became starving?

[Man1x]

What do you mean by deep meaning? What about a song that described food so well, everytime you heard it you became starving?

Well then that person painted a vivid picture. When I mean deep meaning, I mean like that person just gave you a life lesson and put a creative twist on it. Then there is also being lyrical by giving your own opinions on events. It just revolves around creativity and meaning. A vivid image of a hot dog means they only had half of the formula seeing that a hot dog isn't a life lesson.

[cheeseburger]

You have to be consistent, AND persistent.
I other words you have to rhyme.
You have to be ABLE to rhyme.

Theres big differences there and people should not mix those things together.

[Willy]

So.. lyrical:

Deep meaning
-gave you life lesson and put a creative twist

or

Opinions on events

-------------------------------


Question: Did you like Relapse?

Cheese: Not sure if I follow..

[Man1x]

So.. lyrical:

Deep meaning
-gave you life lesson and put a creative twist

or

Opinions on events

-------------------------------


Question: Did you like Relapse?

Cheese: Not sure if I follow..

I thought it was alright and not his best work. Some things are very cool and different in a good way, however the accent sometimes got annoying but he took rhyming to another level. Although, there was a lot of forced rhyming. Despite this, the album had a concept and had story telling. If I were to but the majority of the album under one of my definitions it would be the second one I provided because Eminem took on the persona of a cereal killer that was based off of real killers. It was, in a way, his own twist on events, but he made himself a combination of all of the personalities he had taken a liking too. It was absolutely fictional, but it drew its content from real events. Now is any of it deep? Not really, but there are some tracks where he gets into his personal life and that is on the outer brim of being defined as lyrical under my first definition, however they are on the OUTER brim of the definition and not his best attempts at being deep or lyrically. They are (Beautiful) good attempts to relate his feelings to a larger audience however.

[cheeseburger]

http://youtu.be/RXGi-p2M4WQ?t=17m2s

Just had to put it somewhere, even tough it didnt quite fit.

I love relapse for songs like Stay wide awake and so on because of the technical rhymeschemes. But lyrics? If you are a fan of massmurer then yes, theres lyrics there.


Man1x said what I didnt have the strenght for to do.

[Willy]

well fuck

[Slim Fiasco]

It's a weird question, just like asking what makes something beautiful? To me, songs can be lyrical in different ways. For example, you have the complex guys like Lupe and Jay who are using a lot of metaphors, entendres, references etc. Other aspects of wordplay can be considered as well, such as rhyming, and I'm not just speaking on multies, but also alliteration, internal rhymes, or assonance. You also have storytelling and concepts. These songs may be simple in rhyming or wordplay but they can showcase creative ideas which takes a lot of skill as well. This can even be made better if the rapper is able to incorporate good rhyming or some figure of speech such as personification. There's also the aspect of social commentary, introspection, conveying emotion, sending a message, adding humor and wit, so there are definitely a lot of things that need to be considered. So overall, as long as the rapper cares about his lyrics and maybe tries to make them a little more complex by either rhyming or metaphors then I can consider it lyrical.

[12characters]

It's a weird question, just like asking what makes something beautiful? To me, songs can be lyrical in different ways. For example, you have the complex guys like Lupe and Jay who are using a lot of metaphors, entendres, references etc. Other aspects of wordplay can be considered as well, such as rhyming, and I'm not just speaking on multies, but also alliteration, internal rhymes, or assonance. You also have storytelling and concepts. These songs may be simple in rhyming or wordplay but they can showcase creative ideas which takes a lot of skill as well. This can even be made better if the rapper is able to incorporate good rhyming or some figure of speech such as personification. There's also the aspect of social commentary, introspection, conveying emotion, sending a message, adding humor and wit, so there are definitely a lot of things that need to be considered. So overall, as long as the rapper cares about his lyrics and maybe tries to make them a little more complex by either rhyming or metaphors then I can consider it lyrical.

Slim DA GOAT

[Man1x]

It's a weird question, just like asking what makes something beautiful? To me, songs can be lyrical in different ways. For example, you have the complex guys like Lupe and Jay who are using a lot of metaphors, entendres, references etc. Other aspects of wordplay can be considered as well, such as rhyming, and I'm not just speaking on multies, but also alliteration, internal rhymes, or assonance. You also have storytelling and concepts. These songs may be simple in rhyming or wordplay but they can showcase creative ideas which takes a lot of skill as well. This can even be made better if the rapper is able to incorporate good rhyming or some figure of speech such as personification. There's also the aspect of social commentary, introspection, conveying emotion, sending a message, adding humor and wit, so there are definitely a lot of things that need to be considered. So overall, as long as the rapper cares about his lyrics and maybe tries to make them a little more complex by either rhyming or metaphors then I can consider it lyrical.

This basically, what I was trying to say somewhat. It's just a hard question to answer.

[Slim Fiasco]

Slim DA GOAT

Lol, thanks bro!

[Willy]

I don't think it's that weird of a question. People all the time compare music and say wow this rapper sucks, this dude is better. So, I want to know HOW people get to that conclusion.

[Manly Moose]

Something that has deep meaning and isn't about nothing and punchlines. Some on here would say rhyming but I'd say that's a very small part of it, even though a lot of good lyricist are good rhymers as well. However, not all good rhymers are good lyricist and vise versa.

Dictionary: Expressing the writer's emotions in an imaginative and beautiful way.

EVERYONE -DO NOT FUCKING CONFUSE THIS WITH SAD SONGS. SAD SONGS =/= DEEP GOD DAMMIT.