A new study shows the lyrics used in popular Hip Hop songs should be legible to your average third grader.
SeatSmart published a ten-year analysis of lyric intelligence in popular music. The data for the study was collected by Andrew Powell-Morse. He used 225 songs that spent at least three-weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Pop, Country, Rock and Hip Hop charts. Powell-Morse plugged the lyrics into Readability Score and received an average US reading level, word count and other metrics.
What Powell-Morse found was the overall reading level for hits released in the past decade have declined. In 2005, hit songs were being written at just above a third grade reading level and now, they are slightly below.
Out of the four genres (Country, Rock, Pop, R&B/Hip Hop) included in the research, Hip Hop has the lowest lyric intelligence. The average U.S. reading level for Hip Hop is 2.6.
Eminem’s lyrics are the most advanced of the artists included in the Hip Hop study. Drake, Macklemore, and Nicki Minaj are creating music at a third grade reading level while Kanye West, Chris Brown and Beyonce’s hits are at a second grade level.
Check out the data via infographics below:
Anyone can convey their thoughts using multi-sylabic words and crazy synonyms most may be unfamiliar with. But it is an art to express in simplicity.
Pop crap isn’t explaining anything at all except dumbing down, the already slow, American public.
Its a goverment plot to make Americans even dumber…Dont be fooled.Open ur eyes people.Stop listening to Kanye.Shit will make u retarted eventualy.
A. I hope you die in a fire.for saying that dumb shit.
Absolutely the dumbing down of Amerikkka. If you don’t realize it your part of the problem. Wake the hell up
How are Nicki’s lyrics more intelligent then Kanye’s? lol
She can actually spit compare to kanye her delivery is crazy and slso the way she articulates her wordplay is better than kanye
Wayne The Dopest Rapper Ever,But I’m Pretty Sure The Writer Was Even Dumber
Hey where’s 2chains
He’s at 1st grade level, couldn’t fit on the chart.
So why didn’t do this study for other genres? Apparently they want you to believe that black music is dumb. shame
So when they say dumb it down they really mean it.
That’s a damn lie they have something to say when tupac was in the game. It’s a shame if its not white is not right get the f*** outta here with that b*******.
I guess Waka Flocka is head start
Im dead
In the words of Del The Funky Homosapien “we keep the funk alive by talking with idiots”
The hiphop artist intelligence chart isn’t accurate cuz most they artist wherent around in 2005 so u compare large sum of work verses half that.
2ndly ASAP Yams was right 2014 was a bad year for hiphop RIP
Listen to never let me down, all falls down, or any of Kanye’s other conscious rap songs and explain to me how 2nd graders can understand the struggle and racism that black people face. This article is complete bullshit
They purposely put Eminem with those weak artists to make it look like the white dude is better than all the black people. Eminem has extremely simplistic lyrics. When I read his lyrics it’s like someone speaking, it’s not even poetry…But of course he’s going to look complex compared to people like Nicki and fucking Beyonce. lol If they did this with all rappers and people like Nas or Black Thought, or Ghostface were on it, they would have done way better than Eminem.
Join the discussionwow
Simple minded folk, want simple minded music. These artist’s lyrics are simple. Most people aren’t smart enough to comprehend more complex music. That’s why these artists make their music that way. And perhaps they can’t make more intelligent music. This study is skewed too, though. There are other artists with much more complex lyrics. Pharoahe, Black Thought, Ghostface, GZA. Unless it was solely based on mainstream hip-hop and meant to portray that, then I could understand.
man even now y’all intelligence levels are low….studies already said HS student reading levels are 5th grade. college freshmen are at 7th grade, that’s that “no child left behind” curriculum working. when the industry execs wanted to “dumb it down” they said to reach a “broader” fanbase (suburb kids), who uses rapgenius? suburb kids. all of this “shawt bus shawty” music is for them. now look at that skinny girl “cleaning up” the rap awards and her “hits” that are for pre-teen girls. they produced a whole generation of adolescent minded adults to be nothing but mindless consumers not smart enough to see the tricks before them, and it’s so deep……they put technology in front of you to make you think that’ll make you smarter!
this is most absurd thing ever written. it does take into account what the lyrics means, context or double entendrees. it views complexity from a classist perspective based on content
they use to call jazz, noise. rock, sex music. hiphop lyrically is more advanced than any other musical art form. but these idiots read the lyrics on the surface and think they understand the art. dumb peices of shit
in the feeble attempt of trying to say that white artists make smarter music, the years that are used for example are when the majority of fans are….WHITE.
This article sounds about right to me & I’m black today’s music is dumb let alone simple asf none of the new shit is lyrical at all which makes hip-hop look really bad compared to that of the 90’s and 2000’s…The music today in hip-hop isn’t lyrical at all just some random bs that’s supported by ignorant ass individuals and that’s the reason we have a lot of garbage rappers getting deals like it’s nothing….Stop supporting weak ass rappers and perhaps we can get hip-hop back on the lyrical track again I’m just saying what everyone is thinking anyways
like I just typed down there, y’all just don’t get it. the 90’s kids have been dumbed down since the education system! y’all graduating with 5th grade levels, listening to 3rd grade level music, walking around with a piece of technology that you think you can google your way thru life! even NOW, the technology does it for you! if any of you exist with levels higher than that, recognize these words and see how doomed people are. this is deeper than rap, they got y’all out here as brainless consumers with the smarts of a nickel and the attention span of a leaf!
Lupe would be at PHD level
You noticed how its only charter watered down shit, country is basic as fuck but can still have a good message. All round hip hop is like no other go listen to Rakim, Nas, Em, Lupe & Budden
they ain’t gonna go check rakim, nas, gza, rza, guru, ras kass and all of that because they ain’t smart enough to, y’all not seeing how this is an educational problem
Skewed info.. Lupe would mess up the scale lol
it’s revealing how some of you keep mentioning Lupe when he’s basic. I think of 9th Wonder teaching in university, GZA doing University tours speaking, Nas’ raps being dissected in Universities. even sterile Jay Z lyrics still have people trying to figure out what he really said. There’s an article on DX right now with Clark Kent telling the masses what that JayZ show was REALLY about, him coming from slinging to being corporate and the songs for THOSE people, NOT TIDAL “desperation” for subscribers, like the under-developed minds just read into and assumed. think about that one real hard and look at “Lupe”. Y’alls level of intelligence once again has been played.
Floyd Mayweather can’t even read so who gives a shit
but do you have a skill that’ll make $300m in a night and a dad experienced in that field to help you? no. trust when I say that once you start getting them 30-40 year old problems with that mind you have of a 13 yr old that you gonna see that “savage” mentality ain’t funny at all.
Crooklyn I truly appreciate you giving intellectually sound criticism. Been seeing you give gems over the past few days…lets hope some of the pasta sticks
Jay Z said it best “I dumbed down for my audience to double my dollars. They criticized me for it, yet they all yell holla”
HHDX created a great opportunity with this thread, at a time where/when many of you are graduating school to converse about a topic that has been discussed in society for years, the very LOW intelligence of millenials. white kids should be in an uproar being targeted for such a ignorant product and should be blasting how eminem selling a 4th grade level type of music would even mean something special to them. because the reality is you are being played too, you’re not immune because of skin color & location & parents bank account. every school system nationwide decided capitalism over education and taught you in a dumbed down manner, it wasn’t just them atlanta teachers who cheated. look at them diplomas/degrees and ask yourself did you REALLY learn more than what some smart kid in 4th grade is learning. THEN is when you’ll start learning, because if you’re abiding by the protocol, you don’t know sh!t. some kid in india or china in 5th grade gotcha beat HS/COLLEGE GRAD. best of luck and peace.
See, this proves Eminem’s the GOAT lmao
No It doesn’t it
I don’t see what the big deal is with this particular thing. I mean, sure… a lot of artists today suck as lyrics, but having lyrics at a 3rd grade level isn’t bad since we normally converse at that level on a day to day basis.
you and your little buddies speak like a cat in the hat book, grown folk speak with education and experience. you one of these unintelligent kids, don’t even know the difference between usage of basic english and usage of intelligence, which is what the article means when it talks about LEVELS.
This is the saddest comment I have ever seen.
“Who’s we?”, just stop. Your comment has proved that you’re verging on illiteracy.
Fuck, Rock. Get your shit together.
White ppl ran this survey because they would of put Lupe up there. Instead of trying to say Eminem is the smartest.
When was the last Lupe song in the top 10 Billboard?
Hey dumbass Eminem dumb down his lyrics for people who couldn’t understnd his lyrics everybody else yea they on 2nd level lol
Guys, there is SOOOOO much music out there. Turn off popular radio, satellite, et al, and discover something with some substance. You have to LOOK for it.
Nicki Minaj’s lyric intelligence ratio was in the top 3???
These results are so fundamentally skewed.
Shit is laughable.
They aren’t even taking factors like metaphor, similies, double and triple entandres and so on.
Not that I’m defending the mainstream tripe they used as a cross section to determine “lyric intelligence”, but this all seems like very cut and dry, literal interpretations of the artists lyrical content.
However, I do agree with Kanye West, Beyoncé and Chris Brown’s lyrics being on some autistic 2nd grader shit.
They all chat retarded, egocentric ignorant babble.
P.S.: Please don’t point me in the direction of your favorite of Kanye West’s latently homoerotic laments, I’m not interested in the slightest.
So…….Chew tobacco, chew tobacco, chew tobacco….spit! are lyrics on a higher level of intelligence than Rap or other genres of music? Well….Me Myself and I thinks not!
Who cares, they still make more money and have more power than all the poeple that did this irrelevant study combined.
Money and power. Sounds like they are all true satanists doomed forever to burn in the lake of fire. haha.Jim
They make so much money because sure they may have a nice voice but mostly there down with illimunatiy most of these singers and actors gave there souls to the devil for fame and fortune look at Michael Jackson when he start to talk about it opps all of a sudden he dies think about it some songs make no sence also bad mouthing women a whole lot of stuff we just don’t pay it no mind because I’ve got nothing to lose or do we our kids hear these songs and get influenced thinking they could be a gangsta pimp ect so people think these times are rough and we must be aware
If you want to increase your intellect, IQ and your overall mood. Stop listening to all pop music. Listen to classical or Jazz music. It will improve your mood and your cognitive reasoning.