Ebro took to Twitter today (July 24) to share his thoughts on rappers. In his posts, the Hot 97 New York radio host says there is a difference between lyricists and rappers. Ebro says that lyricism is when artists use wordplay and rapping is “words that rhyme.”
“2Pac = Rapper
BIG = Lyricist & Rapper…
Jay Z = Lyricist & Rapper
Nas = Rapper” Ebro writes.
Many people respond, questioning why Nas is not named a “lyricist.”
“Nas tells stories… His game is not word playing… Stop,” Ebro writes.
“@Nas story telling is amazing…” he says in response to someone who asks how the story in Nas’ “Rewind” from 2001’s Stillmatic is not lyrical.
Ebro also posts a picture of the original tweet on Instagram, saying that he did not intend of dissing anyone.
“Word choice is NOT word play,” he writes in the caption. “Telling stories that are cohesive is difficult too!! Stories that rhyme is Rap. Flipping the meaning of words is more than just rhyming. THIS NOT SLANDER stop being basic.”
For additional Nas coverage, watch the following DX Daily:
Memory Lane, Life’s a bitch, The World is Yours, Take it in Blood, etc
Black republican on hip hop is dead album with Jay z…. classic! Favor for a favor with scarface! Murder!!! Ebro gotta be on sum meth
Here we go…the disrespect the greats are getting these days is pathetic. Kid Cudi to Lupe, Bronson to GFK, and now Ebro to Nas… What happened to cats getting smacked in their mouths for talking reckless? But I digress…smh.
From the dude that plays hip pop on the radio, I expect nothing less
You probably listen to Z100. You listen to nothing but pop shit.
Nas is a washed up hasbeen. Illmatic was nearly quarter century ago.
washed up? nigga you crazy nas would rap cirlces around any nigga in the game right now including hov excluding em
Lol the man just dropped a classic like 2 years ago
Wrong.
“We Made It” shits on “Life Is Good” off its lyrical strength alone.
LOL good joke.
Lloyd banks one of the best lyricist! Kool g rap too!
Forreal!
Another JayZ d**** rider.
Basically….
Basically.
who is ebro? nigga im from the south, we dont listen to him.
so “i gave you power” is not wordplay? “it ain’t hard to tell” is nothing but word play. “money is my bitch” is an awful song but it’s based on word play. just because the song is formatted as a story it doesn’t mean that word play is not being used. i’m entertained by the ebros and the charlemagnes but please, don’t take yourself so serious as a critic. you have no creative talent that’s why you make a living interviewing people who do.
Money is My Bitch awful song? That’s one of my favorite Nas tracks.
too many ppl allowed to have an opinion these days
early has was nothing but wordplay. story telling evolved later
I think he said this just to add on to the, facade of the tension that’s going on in hip hop right now. What he said is stupid, everybody knows it and Ebro knows it himself. There is know difference between lyrical and lyricist except for spelling.
Told y’all, Nas is just some guy that raps. Hov is the master of wordplay and is way more lyrical than Nas. Hov got double and triple entendres for days, Nas just spits basic shit. Lol, y’all Nas stans got your panties in a bunch.
You’re dumb if you believe that.
No’s he not. Dude is completely right and you butthurt Nas stand resort to simple name calling just like your idol. Yall dudes can’t argue the point Ebro made. Nas is no lyricist, the meaning of his lyrics is fucking obvious, there’s virtually no wordplay or any signs of lyrical wit. Jay’s “D’Evils” is so superior from a pure lyrical standpoint to anything Nas could ever attempt to write.
Andre 3000, Lupe Fiasco, Jay-Z = lyricists.
Nas = good narrator.
the sun revolves around earth – Jayz
We make the world go round with Chris Brown Game and a Nas? Hero….? yall cats wilding!!!
This guy said 2pac and nas were both just ‘rappers’. His definition of a lyricist is skewed. This dude needs to do some research before he speaks.
I know. Lyricists mean that your lyrics are impactful, and if any 2 rappers fit that description, it’s Pac and Nas, not the pop rappers he’s referencing that were more into constructing party anthems based on a book of how to emcee. Pac and Nas are 1A and 1B on the G.O.A.T. scale for that reason alone since they had something to say and were great at doing it.
Nas got punchlines,he rhymes plus he got too many rhymes and story telling too so what tha fuck this nigga talking about
This Ebro guy is an idiot. It Was Written destroys his entire argument. I hate how niggas who lived in the 90s think they know the absolute most about hip hop when it’s apparent they’ve listened to less than half of an artist’s work they may be discussing. No disrespect to the old hip hop heads out there, but shit like this…smh.
Just RapGenius any of Nas` first few albums. Tell me he ain’t a lyricist. Look up the original double disc version of I Am… The Autobiography. Tell me he’s worse that Jay. Look up Nas` nineties freestyles that he didn’t use as verses later (the foulness, better than gold, etc) . Look up the song Deja Vu!!!!! That’s all there is to say. And
Oh yeah, I guess that makes meek mill a serious lyricist. Fck outta here, wouldnt know hip hop to save his life.
This nigga don’t know shit, Jay z still a camel
This guy seems to be confused. Wordplay is not what makes you lyricist; substance and lyrical depth is what make you a lyricist. Ghostface is a lyricist to me, Nas is a lyricist to me, Lauryn Hill is a lyricist, Mos Def is a lyricist. Flow and worldplay acrobatics have nothing to do with lyricism. If that were the case rappers like Bone Thugs and Nelly would be considered the most lyrical rappers, which is obviously retarded. And it’s not like Nas isn’t capable of different flows, he has used multiple rhyme schemes throughout the years. He just chooses to make what he’s saying a priority, instead of catchy flows or trying to fit as many syllables into a bar, like certain other rappers. I’m not impressed
That’s Ethernet
Couldn’t have said it better myself…
Right on point, which is what bothers me the most about the people who always bring dumb shit like this up to criticize rappers with substance. They’re in here with books and shit to explain to us what is the proper way to rap instead of focusing on what these people are saying in their rhymes and how many people it affects. And these people are tasked with commenting on hip hop and having an opinion? It’s why I didn’t get up in arms about the Rake shit because this is exactly what they’ve been pushing to the forefront along with the pop side of making hits as opposed to rappers having something to say. If that’s not your emphasis over everything, why do you give a fuck that Drake’s writing with 10 people…that’s obviously more important to “flip words,” have a “hot line,” and all this other stupid shit that has nothing to do with what is your message in a song. Lyricism means your songs moved somebody and are rememberable. I don’t think this dumbass knows the difference though.
Ebro is trying to be charlamagne Tha God Ebro needs to shut tha fuck up on the real.
Where do icecube bun b fit in at?
Yeah really though, Ice Cube is one of the top lyricists
This from a muthafucka that cant and dont rap. who gave him the power to classify what rap is anyway? Nas is both obviously. this nigga corny.. seen that shit on that reality show he had..
This is what happens when you let all these cornballs in the game with their theorems, charts, and graphs and shit about what is an emcee or a lyrcist. Nas like Pac are poets on the mic and know how to execute that shit better than anybody else who’ve done it from Grandmaster Cas to these lames doing it today. It’s as stupid as somebody criticizing an R&B writer in relation to a rock n roll song writer. Obviously, there are 2 different ways you write those kinds of songs, but if it’s great, it’s great, and Nas and Pac are the greatest at this shit.
hes 100 percent correct
um…he’s correct, and this isn’t even controversial 😐
um…no he isn’t AJ.
Hell NO! Nas is a lyricism at its finest, one of the best writers EVER in “Hip-Hop”. If anybody thinks different they know nothing about this culture. By the way, every Nas verse is not a story.
ebro i got love for you before cause i taught yo ass knw hip hop . 2pac and nas are not lyricist??? but rapper ? fuxk u ass hole just do your research before you jump on legends shit like you is why its difficult to learn and appriciate real hard works its coz u got followers dnt trash sm1 hard work !!!
Go ahead, Nas stand and do something all seem to be incapable of: prove hin wrong or GTFO!
Fuck Ebro..
Cnn named nas the best lyricist in the fame ever last year. Ill rather believe them. It seems some ppl just like to diss nas to get attention, thats it.
If it’s not coming from DJ Akademiks, The Negrotiator, I don’t even want to here it. That’s the only real voice in Hip Hop.
Ebro is an “E” DIot !!
Ebro is the same dude that fucks with Makonnen. Can’t take his shit serious
Ebro trolling again smh
nonsense stop smoking crack – this isn’t the periodic table
“I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death.” That line alone goes down in lyrical history.
Simple ass association. Only thing missing was a weather analogy to make it completely tumblr wack.
Ebro out here getting his troll on. Nas has countless verses that demonstrate his wordplay but all you need to do is refer to “Verbal Intercourse” and the “Hip Hop’ joint he did with Scarface. He’s a radio personality so I wouldn’t expect much from him anyways.
Eho needs to listen to more Nas. Nas has been spoken about as a great lyricist since day one and he is one of the few who disagree and calls other people basic.
Nas was responsible for my new found appreciation of the artform. He made it more than just a “beat”, and for that he’ll always kinda’ hold a special place in music with me. (*pause)
But, BIG and Jay, are different. They had/have the ability to flip the words and give it a whole different meaning and remain within the song’s context. Everyone has their preferences, and all named were/are great artists, but some of ’em their talents were-/are a bit more 3 dimensional than others.
It’s just my opinion.
What’s up niggas, ayo, I know you ain’t talking ’bout me, dog, you? what?
People that talk for a living always have to find new controversial topics. Ebro STFU and just listen to the music.
look at all the nas stans creeping out of the woodwork to defend someone who doesn’t give a shit about them….. y’all are probably the same people who diss jay, drake, and ross stans for coming up with “excuses” yet everything you guys say is the truth!!!!!! HAHAHAHA
this is the most retarded shit i have ever seen. i hate it when oldheads try to act like hip hop is some complicated science or that rapping is some other thing. “oh he’s a rapper but he’s not a lyricist” fuck off they are the same things and everyone knows it, it’s just that some rappers suck. could you imagine if some asshole tried to pull this in other genres? “yes well there’s guitar players and then there’s guitar maestros.” people should point and laugh at this shit.
Couldn’t have said it better. Nas is the truth on that mic, that’s all I know, and he still could lay down a verse and embarrass any of the young ones who want to get on a song with him.
How can u call someone who sets the bar for lyrical anything but a lyricist? Wordplay and lyrical are two different types of ways to use words. He act like they’re one in the same..FOH! with this hogwash.
this nigga aint a old head. he got family in the game and has always been a lame. The reason NYC sounds like Atlanta. fuck him he would know hip hop is Rosenburg fucked him in the ass with it!!!!
his opinions are on purpose to piss people off now that he is in a position of power
He just making himself look dumb. Lil Wayne uses hella wordplay but he is not a lyricist. Wordplay alone does not equate to lyricism.
I love when people with no talent try to tell the greatest of their geenration something. Tell this clown to have some seats. Nas is the truth. True Street poet on the mic with the skills to execute that shit.
Who cares who’s lyrical and who’s not, who’s a rapper and who’s not… Blah, blah, fucking blah. Either way, hip-hop/rap culture (whatever is left of it) is becoming less and less cool by the day. Too many fruitcakes running around in the game now with purple hair, skinny jeans and extra small sized shirts.
This guy is an idiot. Nas does use wordplay, just not all the time. Do you think some of the most acclaimed poets of all time were like “oh let’s see how I can flip words”? Fuck that.
Nas the GAWD uses Wordplay11!!!!
“She ain’t a politician, honey’s a pole-o-tician.”
Dude is a lyrical genius out of this world!!!
Nas birthed lyrics, he breathes lyrics, he is lyrics!!!!
I give this trolling effort a generous 2/10. Try again.
These radio hosts would Do anything to gain ratings, Im sure They would take it up the ass too if they have too
i never land like michael jackson’s crib
Folks, This is Ebro. Have you heard him speak? Not a very bright fellow so stupid statements like the one he just made are expected from him.