Best Lyricist[Hip-Hop/Rap]

Just wondering who everybody thinks is the best rapper, or hip-hop artist lyrically, if you do not like this type of music, just leave now.
Essentially I am just wondering if all the Lil Wayne fans actually think he has any writing talent, and if anybody here listens to a few people I like.
Personally, I would definitely say Talib Kweli is the best lyricist I've ever heard.

Here's a couple samples of Talib Kweli's lyrics if you haven't heard him before, links to the songs are above.. The third is Blackstar(Talib Kweli and Mos Def's former group)


http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=8aA9BSoK0Q0
Yo, living in mass confusion
Looking for absolution
The gas-inducing psychopath produce the last solution
Based on his interpretation of what the words were saying
Trying to get to God but ended up doing the work of Satan
Religion create the vision
Make the Muslim hate the Christian
Make the Christian hate the Jew
Make the rules of faith
That you condition to and to you gotta follow
And God forbid you go to Hell
But if you ever walked through any ghetto then you know it well


http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=KkUoI0n4NmI
Yo, I heard it's said the revolution won't be televised
But in the land of milk and honey there's
a date you gotta sell it by
Otherwise it just expires and spoils
And these folks jump out the pot when the water too hot
Cuz the fire boils inside
You go to church to find you some religion
And all you hear is connivin' and
gossip and contradiction and
You try to vote and participate in the government
And the muh'fuckin' Democrats is actin' like Republicans
You join an organization that know black history
But ask them how they plan to make money and it's a mystery
Lookin' for the remedy but you can't see what's hurtin' you
The revolution's here, the revolution is personal
They call me the political rapper
Even after I tell 'em I don't fuck with politics
I don't even follow it
I'm on some KRS, Ice Cube, Chris Wallace shit
Main Source, De La Soul, bumpin' "2Pacalypse Now"


http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=1xBZ3Cs9bCM
"Give me the fortune, keep the fame," said my man Louis
I agreed, know what he mean because we live the truest lie
I asked him why we follow the law of the bluest eye
He looked at me, he thought about it
Was like, "I'm clueless, why?"
The question was rhetorical, the answer is horrible
Our morals are out of place and got our lives full of sorrow
And so tomorrow comin later than usual
Waitin' on someone to pity us
While we findin beauty in the hideous
They say money's the root of all evil but I can't tell
YouknowhatImean, pesos, francs, yens, cowrie shells, dollar bills
Or is it the mindstate that's ill?
Creating crime rates to fill the new prisons they build
Over money and religion there's more blood to spill
The wounds of slaves in cotton fields that never heal
What's the deal?
A lot of cats who buy records are straight broke
But my language universal they be recitin my quotes
While R&B singers hit bad notes, we rock the boat
of thought, that my man Louis' statements just provoked
Caught up, in conversations of our personal worth
Brought up, through endangered species status on the planet Earth
Survival tactics means, bustin gats to prove you hard
Your firearms are too short to box with God
Without faith, all of that is illusionary
Raise my son, no vindication of manhood necessary

 

Tupac<3

 

Hm.. You reminded me, I should have added The Game, one of the few new rappers I actually like.

 

theres many, but the one that spits the most truth is immortal technique. his beats arent exactly the best but if you listen to him you listen to him for his lyrics.

 

lil wayne, i like his voice and music

 

Can't deny this, The Cause of Death is untouchable.

 

Not a huge fan, hate his mainstream songs but some of his more underground ones are good, I like "Hustler Musik".

 

Tupac, Big, Nas, Talib/Mos Def, Immortal Tech, GZA and wu tang, how can you miss them. also andre 3000

 

As generic as you think it may be, you can't exclude Eminem from that list.

He is the best lyricist.

 

And you claim this based on.....................................................

This is certainly a solid list aside from Lil Wayne and Kanye. Never Heard of the one dude Tali

Kanye is a potentially great rapper but that's totally another post.

Lil Wayne's songs are neither catchy nor quality. It's not hip hop and it's not rap. It's bubble gum rap, a completely separate genre. When you're listening to bubble gum rap, you're essentially chewing it until it almost instantly looses its flavor, and then spit it out into the garbage where it belongs.

It has nothing to do with "mainstream" or "hype"

People hype things because they can, not because it's good.

My favorite song as far as lyrical quality is concerned has to be Common's I Used to Love H.E.R that compares rap to a girl, sort of like I apply Biggie's song 10 Crack Commandments to doing business correctly, but in a different sense.
http://sythe.org/showthread.php?t=544044&highlight=notorious+b.i.g

I have yet to listen to Common's new album but my friend who's music taste i trust, tells me it's insanely commercial (leaning towards bubble gum)

 

Commons new album is insanely commercial

Also Eminem isn't the best, however he is very good. Again new album very commercial, why the fuck does everyone sell out/lose talent??

 

Nas is currently the only guy holding down the rap game I think.

Wu Tang Clan still plays shows and I gotta hit them up asap. They just charge arena prices at small clubs

 

I essentially just added Lil Wayne and Kanye West because I knew if I hadn't people would ask where they were, made this to see peoples opinion, I already know they aren't actually close. About not having anyone from Wu Tang or Immortal Technique, I knew I was missing some great lyricists, that's why I said "Other (Please Specify)" I can't just put everyone, can I?

 

Also, can you really blame people for selling out? The mainstream likes it so they will make more money. In Jay-Z's Moment of Clarity he states:

I dumbed down for my audience to double my dollars
They criticized me for it yet they all yell "HOLLA!"
If skills sold, truth be told, I'd probably be
lyrically, Talib Kweli
Truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common Sense
But I did five mill' - I ain't been rhymin like Common since
When your cents got that much in common
And you been hustlin since, your inception
Fuck perception go with what makes sense
Since I know what I'm up against
We as rappers must decide what's most impor-tant
And I can't help the poor if I'm one of them
So I got rich and gave back, to me that's the win/win

Would you not "Dumb down your lyrics to double your dollars"?

 

Ill never forget "One Blood" and "My Life" Both by The Game.

So it would have to be The Game for me.

 

2pac is pretty good, look up ' until the end of time' AWSOME SONG!

 

Hm, I agree that he's pretty good, and he is the person who actually got me (And I'm guessing most of the people here) into rap music. But can he really be compared to Nas during Illmatic and It Was Written or Talib Kweli Lyrically?

 

He bases it on personal opinion; why are you attacking him?

I like it when Lil Wayne uses AutoTune. It makes his voice sound so cool. I also like Kanye, Deltron 3030, Aesop Rock, and others.

 

I think Lil Wayne and Kayne are the best Lyricists right now.

 

Immortal technique.
Look up, "dancing with the devil"
It's deep.