Current Events > Who writes better lyrics, rappers or rockers?

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Rappers write better lyrical content for the most part

Rock, metal, and all the subgenres thereof...haven't really made me take a second look at the lyrics very often. I could give you a lot of rap songs whose lyrics hit me on a personal level but would struggle to say the same of the former, and that music was my first love.

For me it's a difference between some shit that's catchy and stays with you vs lyrics that you relate to about women, money, friendships, backstabbers, family ties, legacy, etc. etc...more real life experiences that's written about.

Really no contest to me on the lyrical front.

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you vs lyrics that you relate to about women, money, friendships, backstabbers, family ties, legacy, etc. etc...more real life experiences that's written about.

Rock does this as well but gets falsely accused of being emo or edgy when it does.

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Name the best examples of rock lyricism.
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Trickfinger posted...

Name the best examples of rock lyricism.

Punk, country (old country, not pop country), and folk tend to be where the strong lyrics are when it comes to rock. Other genres, you need to go by artist.

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CommonJoe posted...

Punk, country (old country, not pop country), and folk tend to be where the strong lyrics are when it comes to rock. Other genres, you need to go by artist.

TBF you need to by artist for rap or in fact any genre imo.

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Fred

Fucking

Durst

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dolomedes posted...

country and folk pre-date rock music tho

But overtime theyve become intertwined. You seldom see country or folk singers and groups that arent also effectively rock artists.

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The real answer to this question, from a dude who loves rock and loathes rap

There are great and terrible representatives in each genre. I see your Papa Roach, you see my Yin Yang Twins. I see your Pink Floyd, you see my Nas

But. Rap hinges more on its lyrics than rock does as a whole. Rock hinges more on riffs and instrumentation. So, being that rap needs lyrics more, I'd say that more effort is put into those lyrics than a typical rock song

So rap as a whole I think tends to be more high quality when it comes to lyrics, generally, though there are outliers in rock for sure

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Trickfinger posted...

Name the best examples of rock lyricism.

Sympathy for the devil

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My go to example for good rock lyrics is Silver Jews. David Berman was a poet first and a musician second and it shows.

Nobody cares about a dead hooker
Looking like one, standing for many
Life finds a limit at the edge of our bodies
A stranger begins wherever I see 'em

His lyrics on his last album, Purple Mountains (RIP) was a lot more straightforward but just as great I think.

And when I see her in the park
It barely merits a remark
How we stand the standard distance distant
strangers stand apart

Ghosts are just old houses dreaming people in the night
Have no doubt about it, hon, the dead will do alright
Go contemplate the evidence and I guarantee you'll find
The dead know what they're doing when they leave this world behind

My favourite lyric of his and my favourite lyric ever though is from his Silver Jews work.

My life: home every day, drinking coke in a kitchen with a dog who doesn't know his name

I've never heard a lyric that's painted a picture so vividly in my head, that's conveyed a mood so clearly.

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Rappers

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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=72wD12HyyMo

People shittalk this band, but rap fans will probably be able to appreciate it. Has the lyrics they want without the song being [c]rap.

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