Random Midday Hotness: A G.O.O.D. Cypher

If you missed the BET Hip-Hop Awards last night, then you missed this. Which would be a shame:

I don’t care what Shani says: Common has some skills. And Kanye really has gotten appreciably better as a MC.

Joel

Joel Anderson —blackink —  writes about sports, politics, crime, courts, and other issues far beyond his competence at BuzzFeed. He has worked at media outlets in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Atlanta and contributed to a number of publications, including The Root and The American Prospect, among many others.
  • This Big Sean character is a problem.

  • I liked the Black Thought, Mos Def, Em cypher. They had more energy. Pusha T was nice on this one, though.

  • I liked the Black Thought, Mos Def, Em cypher *better. The energy ramped up with Sean and the dude after him. Kanye’s first verse was weak. And where was this Common on Universal Mind Control?

    • blackink12

      It almost ain’t even fair to compare the Thought, Mos and Em cypher to this one. That’s the majors, and this is Triple A ball.

      But yeah, Big Sean got nasty with it. And there’s nothing that Pusha T does that I won’t listen to at least twice.

      • “That’s the majors, and this is Triple A ball.”

        Word.

      • Paula

        Harsh, but … true.

  • I thought the kid from Atlanta took it. Kanye was nasty, but I wish he’d stop fucking whining.

  • R.A.B.

    “appreciably better?” Have you heard early Kanye raps, before he inked with Roc-a-Fella as a producer even? Back when he was making beats for Mase? Dude used to sound TEAR.UH.BULL. And most of his verses on College Dropout aren’t exactly great. “appreciably better” is one hell of an understatement.

  • Somebody said Common doesn’t have skills?

    Royce’s verse bodied all of these though, if you can find that cypher (skip the other ppl and just go to his part)

  • blackink

    I should probably mention that I liked Thought’s verse from the cypher at the ’09 Awards a little less when I realized it was almost entirely the verse from “Doin it Again.”

    @TNC: If you really like Cyhi Da Prince, you should definitely check out his “Royal Flush” mixtape. And if you can’t find it, just hit me up.

    @RAB: See, I wasn’t gonna say that he was terrible. But I don’t think he could’ve held his own in a cypher like this in the “College Dropout” days. I think he’s just, generally, a better overall artist – even in terms of performance. Of course, that’s obvious.

    @Jay: Shani – you can clarify this if you’d like – has told me that Common wasn’t much of an artist until he linked up with Kanye. But nah. Not really. He’s MC-ing ability has never been in doubt to me.

    • shani-o

      Whaaaat. Quit telling tales out of school, son. I said Common has always been a major misogynist, not that he wasn’t skilled.

    • R.A.B.

      Yeah, I recall a Buzz argument with Shani about Common, but I remember it being about misogyny, not skills. I mean, the rapper that annihilated Ice Cube in two verses over a Pete Rock beat can’t possibly lack skills.

      Also, @blackink, yeah, Kanye has clearly benefited from hanging out around Jay, Common, and Rhymefest for the past decade; that’s really the only way to explain his style now versus how he flowed on pre-Dropout tracks.