MetaChat - punchlines killed the hip hop star

MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.

09 July 2010

punchlines killed the hip hop star →[More:]
Recently hip hop has been heavily influenced by an artist named Lil Wayne who loves wordplay and punchlines but is atrocious at them. As a result the quality of acceptable punchlines in hip hop has devolved to...

Kanye West: "I ain't in the Klan, but I brought my hood with me."
(oh boy)
Eminem: "I gave Bruce Wayne a valium and said settle ya f'n ass down, I'm ready for combat man / Get it, calm batman?"
(.. you're better than this, don't go there)
Ras Kass: "I'll stab you in the eye with a can of alphabet soup so you can see what I'm saying"
(what?!)
Crooked I: "couldn't get the scoop if they brought Reese with-her-spoon"
(I refuse to believe you said this)
Drake: "Swimming in women come and find me, Nemo / In the club you know I balled, chemo"
(please stop)

post by: Firas at: 11:38 | 10 comments

Ugh!

posted by serazin 09 July | 11:48

At least this rapper does it for comedic effect... I think (nsfw language).

posted by Doohickie 09 July | 11:52

Ugh!

Yeah. I mean I can give Kanye a pass because he's zany in general but it's sad to see someone like Eminem stoop to this level. And the Drake style punchline (sentence-comma-word) is just weird in general. (I heard Jay-Z do it like "Got me bringing guns to work, Gilbert Arenas.")

I don't really get the point.. so instead of saying "the tears gushed like a stream" you're gonna say "the tears gushed, stream"? It sounds like a style that will get played out really quick.

posted by Firas 09 July | 11:55

Wow, those are almost as bad as the "funny raps" that hack stand-up comics used to do in their acts throughout the 1980s:

"Well, my name's Rappin' Ronnie and I'm here to say
Hey Gorby, tear down that wall today!
I said, t-t-t-today!"

posted by Atom Eyes 09 July | 11:59

for comparison about how far we've fallen, in the 90s hip hop punchlines used to be like this: Tupac claimed that he had sex with Biggie Small's wife, Faith Evans. So Biggie rhymed, "If faith had twins she'd probably have tupac's--get it, two pacs". (in the same song he said after he kills someone for personal reasons he's gonna "sprinkle coke on the floor, make it drug related" which is one of the slickest lines in hip hop.)

posted by Firas 09 July | 12:04

Sometimes I love Kanye. This line is my favorite (from Jay-Z's Run This Town):

"Whatcha think I rap for? To drive a fuckin' RAV4?"

posted by mullacc 09 July | 13:12

mullacc his love for playing with syllables reminds me of Biggie. It's hard to explain; obviously he's not a very technically proficient MC but his style is still focused at jabbing at internal rhyme as desperately as he can.

"Damn Ye, it'd be stupid to diss you/Even your superficial raps are super-official"

posted by Firas 09 July | 13:52

Motherfucker says he's a Robocop. That's both the coolest and the stupidest line ever.

posted by Hugh Janus 09 July | 19:55

Drake cracks me up. How anyone takes that kid from Degrassi seriously as a rapper is way beyond me.

posted by unsurprising 09 July | 20:45

Also: Drake? Honey, your name is Aubrey. Embrace it.

posted by unsurprising 09 July | 20:46

← This is a thread for grumbling about all your minor aches and pains || In which Sir Winston Churchill makes his first visit to the vet →

HOME || REGISTER || LOGIN