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jay-hovas_witness and ltsteez - madvillainy vs the chronic كلمات الأغنية

jay-hovas_witness – madvillainy

initial argument:
madvillainy is a truly unique album. hailed as a cl-ssic by most heads and critics yet it’s influence and impact are really only visible in underground hip hop. it didn’t sell weight, it didn’t start a movement and change the game, it never graced the top 40 or received any substantial airplay yet somehow it remains a monstrously acclaimed and heralded album. the album boasts an impressive array of accolades:

received a metascore of 93/100 on metacritic making it the third highest scored rap album on the site
pitchfork rated the album 9.4/10 and ranked it at number 13 on their list of the top 100 albums of 2000-04 and number 25 on their list of 100 best albums of the 2000s
rhapsody ranked the album number 1 on their hip-hop’s best albums of the decade list and number 13 on the 100 best albums of the decade list
positive reviews from allmusic, entertainment weekly, the new yorker, popmatters, slant magazine, stylus magazine, and the village voice

so the question becomes, “how does an album with average commercial success, zero commercial influence, and little mainstream significance receive such an impressive amount of acclaim and respect?” the answer to that question is quite simple: never in the history of rap has an album been made to parallel the experimental and technical marvel that is madvillainy. it is absolutely one of a kind. what sets this album so far apart from any other is the complimentary pairing of two of the most unique artists in hip hop: the eccentric and innovative madlib on the beat and the technically unparalleled mf doom on the mic

the production over which doom raps often plays second fiddle to his fascinating mazes of lyrical and technical verbiage and enthralling villain persona. however, madlib’s experimental instrumentals and quirky sampling serve as the perfect soundscape for doom’s eccentric raps. throughout the album, madlib sprinkles obscure or just plain random vocal samples that provide information or even serve as song lyrics. for example, the intro track “the illest villains” tells a story through a long string of these samples which are pieced together to form full and coherent sentences to introduce the villain theme that carries on throughout the entire album

behind all of the bizarre samples that provide a comic book-like aura, madlib’s mysterious, atmospheric beats create the perfect canvas. “accordion” for example, is a simple accordion loop yet it creates a mesmerizing ambiance that sets the tone for doom’s reflective verse. madlib’s natural ear for sampling helps him to create unconventional new beats that still sound brilliant

despite madlib’s cutting-edge production, doom refuses to be outdone. doom is a rapper with no equal in terms of technique; his flow is completely distinct with idiosyncratic variation of syllables and emphasis from line to line, his confusing stream of consciousness stories create a crazy cartoonish vibe, and he uses obscure slang and references and clever wordplay that create lyrical labyrinths. doom displays each of these the best he can throughout madvillainy

his nuanced flow is well displayed on every track for example on “all caps” doom almost completely abandons meter, ending his lines in random and always different places within each measure yet he somehow makes it sound smooth and rhythmic. look at these lines

plus n0body couldn’t do nothin’ once he let the brick go
and you know i know that’s a bunch of snow
the beat is so b-tter
peep the slow cutter
as he utters the calm flow
don’t talk about my moms, yo

notice the wide range of syllables used for each line. when doom raps this he doesn’t just naturally vary his tempo to keep the bars even, he simply uses it to create a bizarre rhythm. possibly the best display of this is “figaro” on which doom once again forgets meter and adopts the whackiest rhythms he can make. not once though all of this though do his flows ever sound unnatural or non-cohesive with the beat

one of doom’s specialties is using obscure slang and references that are difficult for people to understand like in these lines

hey bro, day glo, set the bet, pay dough
before the cheddar get away, best to get maaco
the worst hated god who perpetrated odd favors
demonstrated in the perforated rod lavers

these lines seem slightly like gibberish or at least like non-sequiturs but to someone who understands the oblique references these lines make complete sense. each of these lines contains a reference that helps to provide hidden information

day glo paint to denote obviousness
macco auto repair
god to 5 perctenters means a black person
rod laver’s adidas shoes

all of these together help to paint a picture through coded language

doom also expresses his cleverness using wordplay and punchlines all over the place. “accordion” contains numerous idioms that doom flips and plays with to create new meaning such as

it’s like the ends to the means

this line plays off of the common phrase “means to an end” which means that the destination is what’s important and not the journey. doom flips this around to mean that rapping should be done only for the sake of the art and not as a route to money and fame

doom uses countless other literary devices and forms of wordplay though none of them quite as notably rare and finessed as the triple syntax found in “accordion”. without an example, a double syntax is a very difficult technique to explain and equally difficult to understand. it occurs when a common word or syllable is used to link two phrases to give the phrases or words within the phrase multiple meanings. doom uses this twice, linking three phrases together hence a triple syntax. this technique is so rarely used (i only know of three uses in rap including this one) that it is astonishing that doom employed it twice in a row (i have never seen that)

a gun fight and they come to cut the mixmaster
i-c-e cold, nice to be old

doom starts by paraphrasing the popular idiom “bring a knife to a gunfight” and brilliantly uses the phrase “cut the mix” as a lead into “mix master ice” a legendary dj, which leads into “ice cold” which doom uses to describe himself as a cool and controlled rapper. the cleverness and technical brilliance paired with the sheer anomaly of language manipulation basically forces a mental -rg-sm on english nerds!

and of course, doom wouldn’t be able to properly emphasize his villain persona based on the popular marvel super villain doctor doom without the cartoon and comic book style lyrics. on madvillainy, doom references several cartoons and comic books:

pinky and the brain

doom, are you pondering what i’m pondering?

animaniacs

some even say he might need some psychiatrist

whacky races

d-ck dastardly and muttley with sick laughter

g.i. joe

villain, metal face to destro

the flash

hands so fast he can out-spin the flash

thor

keep it low key

the lion king

off pride tykes talk wide through scar meat

and several more, not to mention the countless doctor doom and villain references in doom’s lyrics and multiple personas and even in madlib’s sampling. even the few guest features include cartoon/comic book/villain references in their lyrics

all of these together make the album incredibly creative, technically brilliant, and thematically cohesive but it wouldn’t be the legend that it is without the met important aspect; doom’s rhymes. doom’s signature sk!ll is his unmatched rhyming. in “raid” he boasts

wrote the book on rhymes

doom proves this statement in every way possible. there is absolutely no doubt that doom is the best rhymer of all time. nearly half of doom’s lyrics on madvillainy rhyme which is about twice the average. not only does he rhyme more often but he uses a huge variety of rhymes

slant rhyme

insted of trying to riff with the broke war veteran
spliff made him swore he saw heaven he was seven

internal rhyme

hold the cold one like he hold a old gun
like he hold the microphone and stole the show for fun

semi-rhyme

she could mind the toaster if she sign the poster
a whole host of roller coaster riders

masculine perfect rhyme

still back in the game like jack lalanne
think you know the name, don’t rack your brain

feminine perfect rhyme

how doom hold heat, and preach non-violence?
shhh, he ‘bout to start the speech, c’mon, silence

unaccented rhyme

how med hold heat like clint east is reborn?
leave you with more holes than a dartboard

mind rhyme

spit so many verses sometimes my jaw twitches
one thing this party could use is more… booze

and this isn’t all. no rapper has ever managed to reach doom’s level of rhyming and he puts it all out there on madvillainy

i used the word ‘unique’ probably four times as often as i would typically allow a word to repeat in my writing, but it is the only word fitting to describe this album. madvillainy is simply and completely one of a kind

reb-ttal:
the chronic is of course one of the most prized albums in the game. no hip hop fan can possibly deny it’s importance. it inspired countless careers and served as a roadmap for other rappers, and even started it’s own sub-genre. a sub-genre that the entire west coast would be using for years to come. however, the album’s style carries it which creates one simple problem; it’s not impressive

from a critical standpoint, the production is some of the best and can’t really be touched but the rapping is subpar. for one the album didn’t bring anything new to the table lyrically. in fact, it was pretty much just average besides the guest features. dre got renegaded by every guest on it and even then the only rapper who really made anything from it was snoop dogg. the album is more notable as the album that introduced snoop than the cl-ssic dre album. the chronic is the first and only top ten hip hop album with no single rapper, as the main artist or as a featured artist, that has a solid place in the top 30. once again snoop dogg is the only one who receives any recognition as a rapper and even he is pretty far down in the top 50. because of the lack of lyrical significance the album is completely carried by it’s legacy which is built on the production and the introduction of snoop but that also means that once dre produced on snoop’s debut, doggystyle, the chronic was rendered essentially useless. 2pac who is a cemented top 5 rapper and has many top rap albums was hugely influenced by the chronic’s production. what if dre had simply produced an entire pac album. if dre’s production would have made it out anyway accompanied by much better lyrics, the chronic wouldn’t even need to exist. the only thing that would really be different without it is that other albums produced by dre would have even bigger legacies than they already do because they would be the first to use g-funk. imagine me against the world or all eyez on me completely produced by dre with the same style as the chronic. the album would be top 5 and would rival illmatic as the goat. instead, the only importance behind the chronic is the fact that it was the first to feature dre’s new sub genre which could’ve been displayed on any album

the chronic is definitely a cl-ssic and rightfully so, but it is essentially unnecessary and useless

ltst–z – the chronic

initial argument:
“this is dedicated to the n-ggas that was down from day one”
for an album to be considered a “cl-ssic” it needs to accomplish something in every tense. it needs to diverge from the past and offer something new, which helps to shape albums in the future, all while just being d-mn good albums in the present. even then, certain “cl-ssics” have been able to accomplish all three of these feats, which is amazing in it’s own right as some albums can’t accomplish one (look at the late career of dre’s proteges for those), but still can’t quite stand the test of time. most albums can’t do all that. h-ll, asking them too is foolish. but when an album is able to pull of that hat trick and still sound good 20, 30, 50, 100 years later, it deserves the t-tle of “one of the greatest albums of all time.” the chronic won’t make you feel anything like you would on abbey road. the chronic isn’t something so different that it was rejected at the time it came out, only to be truly recognized for it’s greatness down the line like kid a. you won’t put the chronic down with a gaping mouth, thinking that you’re life’s been changed forever like the first time you heard mbdtf. but you will walk away from the chronic knowing it’s own of hip hop’s crowning achievements
the chronic introduced g-funk to the mainstream. before the chronic came along, you could be a rapper with mainstream success, but if you wanted a top 10 single you had to sound more like mc hammer than ice cube. then one day a single dropped
“nuthin but a g thang” reached number 2 on the billboard hot 100. rap fans loved that they had a song they actually liked topping the charts, as the mainstream hip hop scene at that point was… well, the only rap song that ever topped the charts at this point was “ice, ice baby.” ik some of heard that and went “alright stop! (gravitate and listen) you gotta be sh-tting me, right?” nope, but thanks for the set up. to have a rap song by black artists, who specialized in “gangsta rap” no less, get to number 2 on the charts was a big deal back in 1992. as for the song it’s well… i don’t have to argue the beat for this song, because everyone knows it’s one of the best dre, and vicariously, rap has to offer. in fact, complex ranked it the second best beat in the history of rap music! the only beat that beat (hah) it: “the message” by grandmaster flash. arguably the most iconic beat in rap music
this album isn’t full of any lyrical miracles, but that helps this album in the long run. it sounds more like you and your friends freestyling over some sick beats while smoking than mf doom rapping his -ss off on madvillainy, but, that first situation also sounds more fun
but enough talk, while my opponent might sit here going on & on about why madvillainy is a cl-ssic, the chronic wasn’t made to be dissected. the chronic was made to be heard. judge for yourselves

- jay hovas_witness and ltsteez

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