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good vocabulary - rap, Shakespeare and Melville

bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
edited May 2014 in Strut Central
Whether or not one agrees that Shakespeare (and Melville) should be the benchmark to compare to, this is kinda fun still.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/05/kanyes-vocabulary-compared-to-shakespeares/361697/

http://rappers.mdaniels.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/

"That said, though, one of the most obvious takeaways from Daniels' comparison is the 15 artists whose vocabularies, according to Daniels' metrics, rank higher than that of Shakespeare. Another is the vocab-richness of Aesop Rock???whom Daniels had almost excluded from his analysis, on the grounds that he was too obscure."




DMX :(

  Comments

  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    It's interesting enough, I guess, particularly if you're a data geek. But is it really that big a surprise to discover that people who use words for a living happen to use a lot of them? It's worth pointing out as well that Shakespeare and Melville can't really be held responsible for the fact they lived in an age when people were forced to express themselves without words like "fanute", "yelzebubs" or slightly clunky uses of "endeavoured".

    Also, at the risk of sounding anti-intellectual (or even worse, as if I've had a sense-of-humour bypass), isn't this another one of those benign yet irritating attempts to grade and evaluate rap according to the number of $50 words used by its practitioners? The use of Rap Genius data tells its own story, I feel. Let's be real here, there's no way Killah Priest would be anywhere near the upper echelon of anything without the assistance provided by exercises like this.
  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    Um, sure. But it was fun(ny) to see Tyga 'score' higher than Eminem.
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    bassie said:
    But it was fun(ny) to see Tyga 'score' higher than Eminem.

    See, this is what happens when I take stuff like this too seriously - I end up missing the funny bits completely.
  • dukeofdelridgedukeofdelridge urgent.monkey.mice 2,453 Posts
    rap is all about the data!
  • akaaka 67 Posts
    I almost never post here (lurker related), but thought I'd remind folks about that James Joyce / Kool Keith quiz that is sort of related (comparing rappers to writers): http://hudsonhongo.com/joyce/

    Edit: there's a part 2! http://hudsonhongo.com/joyce2/
  • DuderonomyDuderonomy Haut de la Garenne 7,793 Posts
    aka said:
    I almost never post here (lurker related), but thought I'd remind folks about that James Joyce / Kool Keith quiz that is sort of related (comparing rappers to writers): http://hudsonhongo.com/joyce/

    Edit: there's a part 2! http://hudsonhongo.com/joyce2/

    One is a hyper-libidinous wordsmith with an unhealthy obsession with butts, the other is Kool Keith.

    :get_on_my_level:
  • BeatChemistBeatChemist 1,465 Posts
    6/10
    8/10

    Post your scores, soft batches!
  • vintageinfantsvintageinfants 4,538 Posts
    in classic soulstrut style:

    http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/the-if-i-fought-this-rapper-would-i-win-chart/

  • JectWonJectWon (@_@) 1,654 Posts
    vintageinfants said:

    Why in the fuck is Drake where he is on this scale? I haven't read the link but no amount of prose would justify his placement on their 'toughness' meter. Same goes for Wiz...dude couldn't even hit you hard if you were a blunt of kush.
  • JectWonJectWon (@_@) 1,654 Posts
    BeatChemist said:
    6/10
    8/10

    Post your scores, soft batches!

    Ahhhh 7 out of 10 on the second one...

    These are the ones that got me...

    "I am for caveman chase and Sahara sex, burk you! Them two bitches ought to be leashed."

    "Like Enoch, I wear my cape. You can't destroy my impeccable caliber that makes your vision blur."

    "The hyperape the mink he groves the mole you see now for crushsake."
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    The obligatory rebuttal.
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    DocMcCoy said:

    Or put simply:

    Too $hort > Aesop Rock.
  • UnherdUnherd 1,880 Posts
    HarveyCanal said:

    Too $hort > Aesop Rock.

    I agree with Harvey.

    Wow, that was actually kind of refreshing to type out.
  • ReynaldoReynaldo 6,054 Posts
    It's geeky but it confirms my existing beliefs and prejudices about the general intelligence levels of various rappers, even if said intelligence doesn't translate directly to record sales or net income.
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