Lyricism is the backbone of hip hop. Although there are a ton of rappers who aren’t saying a gotdamn thing, there are those who are exceptionally gifted at putting words together over a beat. And with so many songs dropping during any given month, we feel that those rhymes that combine lyrical dexterity and cleverness with verbal gymnastics should be celebrated.
Each month, we’ll spotlight five of the finest offerings and leave it up to you to vote who had the “2Dope Verse Of The Month.” After we tally the votes, we’ll post the winner of the fan vote as well as who The DopeHouse thought put together an excellent display of lyricism.
The month of September found the biggest disparity between the fan vote and the DopeHouse’s pick for verse of the month as Dave East was our choice for his awesome narrative on “Don’t Shoot” while the reader vote found Kendrick Lamar’s “Wat’s Wrong” edging out The Game’s “92 Bars.”
We have a feeling that October will yield similar results, as there isn’t an easy choice for the month’s top display in lyricism.
There’s Eminem’s rambunctious yet polarizing “Campaign Speech” as well as Drake’s controversial double-barreled blast at Pusha T and Kid Cudi on “Two Birds, One Stone.” Nasir Jones showed up with the consciousness on Robin Thicke’s “Deep” while Boogie got all introspective on our ass with “Still Thirsty.” Vince Staples absolutely blacked out on his Funkmaster Flex freestyle. And just when we thought it was safe, Big Sean comes out of the blue to crash the party with his verse that got a whole lot of shit off of his chest on “No More Interviews” where he addressed everything from Naya Rivera and Kid Cudi to his label situation.
Take a listen to each verse and vote for your favorite below. Good luck picking a winner because the competition is fierce.
- Note: Drake’s “Two Birds, One Stone” is pretty much non-existent on YouTube. So, if you aren’t familiar with one of the most talked about songs of the month, you can head over to Genius for a full breakdown.
