Khalifa Jayy
Banned
http://rappers.mdaniels.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/
(Hit the link for an interactive version!)
EDIT: Updated version:
Dope.
GZA, an actual genius being near the top of the list is no accident.
loldmx and loldrake.
Update: http://mfdaniels.tumblr.com/post/93313634355/updated-rappers-sorted-by-size-of-vocabulary-20
Thanks, /u/FelixOrion.
(Hit the link for an interactive version!)
EDIT: Updated version:
Dope.
GZA, an actual genius being near the top of the list is no accident.
loldmx and loldrake.
Update: http://mfdaniels.tumblr.com/post/93313634355/updated-rappers-sorted-by-size-of-vocabulary-20
A lot has happened since the first version released in May. I highly recommend reading this analysis from Pigeons and Planes, which thoughtfully breaks-down what rap fans should take from a project like this:
The most common captions accompanying this article on social media were along the lines of, “I knew there was a reason I liked Wu-Tang,” or, “This proves how much better Aesop Rock is than all the mainstream crap.” Comments like these show that many people associate the amount of words a rapper uses with the breadth of his (or her) artistic expression—at least when they stop to think about it…
…Daniels’ insightful analysis shows that rappers can swing with heavyweights like Shakespeare when it comes to word choice, and highlights which rappers the word-obsessed among us (myself included) might gravitate towards. But the comments I’ve seen on social media disparaging or praising rappers for their place in the hierarchy of word usage seem to miss something. Rap can be poetic, but it’s not poetry. It’s music, a performed art, and as such its vocabulary cannot be described simply by words.
In short, take all of this shit with a grain of salt. Think of this as a data-point that sparks interesting discussion about hip hop and word-usage, and absolutely not a conclusive argument for rapper x is better than rapper y.
In version 2, I decided to add rappers who are known for their word-obsession (included a few others who were noticeably missing from v1):
Danny Brown
George Watsky
Childish Gambino
Jedi Mind Tricks
2 Chainz
K-Rino
Murs
Mac Dre
Action Bronson
Immortal Technique
Del the Funky Homosapian
Atmosphere
Sage Francis
Kendrick Lamar
J. Cole
Mac Miller
Jean Grae
Rick Ross
Trick Daddy
I expected that the top 10 rappers would shift dramatically.
Boy was I (and the Internet) right. Jedi Mind Tricks, Action Bronson, Jean Grae, Del, Sage Francis, and Immortal Technique are all at the top, artists known for their word-usage. Even Watsky is up there, whose roots are in slam poetry.
– @matthew_daniels
ps. Aesop Rock is still impossibly off the chart, even after his “peer set” was added.
Thanks, /u/FelixOrion.
