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2013 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival - Day 3

Source: Tim Mosenfelder / Getty

GZA of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan has penned an open letter titled “The Lost Art of Lyricism” via Cuepoint and medium.com.

Hip-hop is not going to be what it was 15 or 20 years ago. Everything changes. There are different sounds, different dances. But at the end of the day, to me it’s all about the lyrics.

‘The Genius’ speaks on the absence of words like “lyrical” and “MC” in today’s rapper’s vocabulary.

He refers to artists such as Nas and Big Daddy Kane as shining examples of what an MC/hiphop should be.

Take somebody like Big Daddy Kane, his first record was “Raw.” When Kane came out as an artist, I’d get chills from his music because it would be so dope and so lyrical and so strong and so fresh and so new….…and he’s talking about MCing! He’s talking about his craft! Yah, Kane was a player dude. He was a sex symbol in hip-hop, he was flossy and drove the fancy cars. But he never really rhymed about it. He still lived that life but he was talking about MCing in his songs.

GZA continues saying that rappers today have a “sterile” imagination, and ends the article with what he believes MCing truly is about.

“When I was in Wu-Tang, and even before that, it’s always been about being lyrical — who can craft the wittiest, the most intellectual, the smartest and the cleverest rhymes. It’s always been that for us as MCs from Day One. It’s the same for me now. It’s all about the story.”

Check out the full article here and hit the comment section below to tell us what you think about the current state of hip-hop!

 

GZA pens open letter to hip-hop, says “Lyricism is gone”  was originally published on boom92houston.com