The Glade 4.0

See, I'd even contest that, because there's no way those verses don't go through some refining over the course of recording. We have no idea if they flowed so well when he first thought them up. Ultimately though we're debating a subject I'm sure neither of us is very good at, and we have no idea how Jay's mind really works, so we can just agree up to a point and call it a day

I'm very good at it.

I'm just white and middle class, so I gave up.

Ego aside though, I think that to an extent you're right, but interviews with people other than Jay-Z seem to indicate his mind works more closely along how my perception of it works.

Tangent, have you ever heard him truly freestyle though?

_________________
“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

I have not.

His early stuff was pretty unpolished, but he had pretty amazing ability to continue verses for minutes at a time.

Here and there he's put in some appearances such as The Basement on BET, but given that his philosophy is to not freestyle in public because it's basically giving away his goods, and that freestyling is bad business for rappers, vids/audio of him doing so are very hard to find.

2 hard-drives ago I have about 7 mp3's of him... they're gone now. /sadpanda

_________________
“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

It was precisely this talent that separated Mozart from other composers of his era. You're essentially arguing that because Jay-Z is more intelligent and possesses a better memory than his peers, he is not free-styling.

_________________
Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Clifford Harris, AKA TI, uses this method. His last studio album was titled "Paper Trail" exactly because it was his first album since his debut where he actually penned the lyrics rather than just memorizing them and then dropping them in the studio. If you ask me, he stomps all over HOVA:



I have a feeling Ludacris probably does the same thing only because when you read his lyrics, they read very ugly but when he raps them, they sound fine.

As for raw, stupid speed but with the straight meter and staccato delivery vs the Bone Thugs/Twista syncopated Bounce ... hats go off to my hometown MCs. Check out the pig latin stanza at 3:07.50ish. Pretty damn slick.

_________________
"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

What's interesting is that I wholly dislike TI. Friend of mine has several of his albums as well as Jay's. It's potential the difference between the two is merely opinion, meaning the variance in skill is extremely small. I'd disagree, but that's my bias.

_________________
“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

Course there's always The Beastie Boys tribute to Run DMC (presumably after the death of Jam-Master Jay):

[youtube]Usf9iYczSxs[/youtube]

I'm pretty sure I would have given copious amounts of money to be at that concert.

EDIT: Then again, the comments say this was Glasgow 1999, and J-M J didn't die until 2002, so /shrug. Either the tribute part was wrong or the date is wrong.

I can find literally no fault with him as an MC and entertainer. He has massive charisma, swagger, dresses like a player, his drawl sounds nasty on everything he releases, his cadence is perfect for the way he pens (or memorizes as the case may be) his lyrics - the change-up's in his lyrics and the way he writes rhymes within rhymes is just deadly precise and fun. Yet underneath the bravado is a man of considerable intelligence and humility - when he speaks off the mic, you can tell that TI and TIP are just on-stage personas, but ones that somehow reflect a small element of the man that is Clifford Harris.

It comes through on less popular tracks like Live in the Sky or Slideshow.

_________________
"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

Another take on Intergalactic -- ROFL

[youtube]xtDqNfnwmns[/youtube]

Just to follow up with my answers to a few of the other battles:


Twista vs. Ludacris
*I'd take Twista here. Twista's flow is unmatched. Luda's flow relies a lot more on changing his voice, in a slower, more calculated manner. Even looking at Luda's latest album, I can't say I'm overly impressed.

TIP vs. Jeezey
*TIP, easy. He relies on simple rhymes, which are easy to come up with off the top of the head. He also has the presence to make it sound a lot better than anyone else who rhymes something as simple.

Dre vs. Jay-Z
*Jay-Z. Dre is more of a producer these days. He still has amazing songs and rhymes, but I think Jay-Z has far more experience at freestyles.

_________________

Here is a wicked nasty Corey Gunz freestyle:



edit: the link is broken on my phone. Not sure if embedding is disabled or if it's safari:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhfglOre_qI

_________________
"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

TI has a new album in the pipeline, King Uncaged. He has a free mixtape out, **** a Mixtape:

http://www.livemixtapes.com/mixtapes/11 ... xtape.html

I'm Back was the first single off of it, a mid tempo Southern style banger where Harris barely gives the track any breathing room from his constant snarl. Great track, youtube it.

Of course, after listening to the mixtape, I was thoroughly underwhelmed. It was a mixtape after all. Hoewever one track stood head and shoulders above the rest, in terms of lyrical content, poise and delivery, production and overall finish, Yeah You Know. I couldn't believe it wasn't a single off the new album. Well, only I wouldn't know that it wasn't because I haven't been keeping up on things. Take a listen, top caliber material.

[youtube]9YtlZY4-JXQ[/youtube]

I did also finally pick up Jeezy's last album, The Recession. Not really inspired in terms of lyrical content or rapping, Jeezy isn't really a top tier talent in terms of technical ability, but there are some absolute great tracks off this one. My favorites are By the Way (BANGER), Hustlaz Ambition, Done It and Don't Do It.

_________________
"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

I'd go with DMC.

But, based on the title of this thread, I'd be more interested in seeing a Hip-Hop/Rap version of the movie "Face Off."

"Yo, I'm Nicholas Cage"
"And I'm John T!"
"And this sucka right here is my"
"EN-E-MY!"

"I planted a bomb"
"But he's brain dead!"
"So get da scoop"
"I'm gonna steal his head!"

_________________
Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Necro, but have you all seen the new Eminem/Rihanna duet?

Pretty tight:
[youtube]uelHwf8o7_U[/youtube]

Too much clothing on both Rihanna and Megan Fox.

_________________

Can't wait for his No Love video release with Lil' Wayne. They recorded it before Weezy went to prison but they have a certain release schedule, I'm sure.