Can any of you tell us at Old School Scholar, what makes these four specific rap lyrics so different from one another?

1. “Commentating / illustrating / description giving / adjective expert / analyzing some by the musical mix / seeking people of the universe / this is yours!” – T La Rock
   
2. “I came in the door / I said it before / I never let the mic magnetize me no more / but it’s bitin’ me / fightin’ me / invitin’ me to rhyme / I can’t hold it back / I’m looking for the line” – Rakim
   
3. “It’s nothin’ to a big dog / and I’m a Great Dane / I wear eight chains / I got so much ice / they call me Skate Wayne / She wanna f**k weezy / she wanna rape Wayne” – Lil’ Wayne
   
4. “Ya tryin’ to copy my technique on your album / it’s time to crank it up / let’s turn up the volume / The rap game? / Don’t get me started / my lyrics get recycled / but yo lyrics just garbage” – Soulja Boy
   

Just in case you can’t figure out the answer, allow me to tell you what it is. The first two are historical. The last two are hysterical!

Let us come to grips with the fact of the matter; we may never again hear another historical rhyme. However, the blanket of blame is not to be laid upon the sounds of the Dirty South, or any other region for that matter. How about trying this theory on for size, “can it be said that the dumb down rap lyrics of today are a major reflection of our US Educational System?” For those who have moved from the Tri-state Region (New Jersey, Connecticut, and New York) to places such as Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida would know exactly what I’m talking about.

I, too, have personally experienced both the North and the South side of the US Educational coin with the South being the weaker of the two. Apparently, each state has its own budgets for education; therefore they will only spend an allotted amount of funds for text books and academic resources. Because of this budgeting, the US Educational System is never the same nationwide for any student.

Can you honestly say that a straight ‘A’ high school graduate’s knowledge from the South is identical with their counterpart from the North? If your answer is yes, then how come the emcees from the North often write better rhymes than the emcees from the South? Or better yet, can anyone say that the emcees from the West write so differently than the emcees from the Midwest?

Keep in mind that this is just a theory one can think about. We all know that creative diction and vocabulary is a huge component to the art of emceeing. The more words you know and understand, the better the rhymes you write. Malcolm X was a prominent speaker because he studied Webster’s dictionary like ministers do with their bibles.

You see, words have power. There are some who believe words are even better than bullets. Any emcee that’s true to the art knows, not only must you have something worth hearing; you must also have something worth saying!

In my opinion, that piece of information is what some Southern emcees seem to lack. Dumbing down rap lyrics for all intents or purposes just simply makes your character look and sound as dumb and stupid.

So if you’re down with the sounds of the Dirty South, be sure to always bring your ‘A’ game with the rhymes you write. Never bring you’re ‘D’ game; ‘D’ as in dumb.