Long read warning

I was thinking about writing in music, and I started to realize everything is about themes . What really makes writing captivating is this eternal struggle to correlate words with meaning. How you use your words to reach this infinitely small thing called meaning is what makes your writing interesting.

Level 1: nonsense

This is hard to define, but basically level one writing is when you literally have no meaning to your words. This creates a sense of disorientation that ultimately provides little to nothing of value to the listener. Level 1 is like some random 11 year old freestyling acapella, it's hard to listen to because it is inherently disorienting. Your brain literally quits trying to make sense of the words. This is true for some lil b songs and other artists like viper.

Level 2: elementary

Level 2's shining example is lil pump. This is writing where there IS a theme, there IS meaning, however, it is delivered in such a simple fashion that it lacks all nuance. These are your party records from LMFAO or Chainsmokers. You can find success writing on this level however it is inherently shallow. Also at this level the themes are generally base and do not require much insight to fully appreciate.

Level 3: coherent yet disorganized

At level 3 you've finally become a writer of sorts. You can string together words well enough for someone to listen and not only know what you're trying to say, but also appreciate your usage of literary devices. This term "literary devices" is very important from here on, because now we are using metaphors, a***ogies, and other tools to make our writing more interesting. Level three is the industry standard, it's using enough skill to convey meaning that the words become interesting. However, level 3 writers are plagued with inconsistency or an inability to focus on themes. Level 3 writing is still too simplistic to be regarded as exceptional, or too unfocused to be digested easily. Many rappers are on this level especially talented yet new artists. My example here is Dababy (or slump6s if ur into that scene)

Level 4: the storyteller

I call level four the story teller because level four writers are experts at correlating words with meaning. Every bar has something to do with a story or theme presented. Level 4 writers are skilled enough to be considered exceptional by most people. This level requires a lot of skill to achieve and artists like j Cole and Drake live here. There are deficiencies in level 4 writing but they're hard to notice unless you are familiar with extremely good writing. The key here is relating your words to a theme or multiple themes even. If you can captivate listeners with a continuous storyline then you've reached level 4.

Level 5: the scientist

To be a level 5 writer you have to go beyond storytelling, you have to create entire projects that revolve around interesting themes WITHOUT making it obvious to the listener what your exactly trying to say. Lupe fiasco is my example for a level 5 writer. Lupe can create an entire album that's telling one long story, and the entire time you have no clue that he's really telling one story. This works so well because there are so many layers of meaning behind the words that every line has multiple meanings. A scientist has to decipher what you're really saying. All while coming across so coherently that you enjoy the lyrics even if you don't understand the full meaning

I made this post to sort of organize my thoughts. Had this idea earlier and I wanted to flesh it out into words. Hope someone finds this interesting. Would say more but I gotta run

Great read @op

Thread idea solid, needs bolded titles and paragraph breaks tho

Go to harvard to be a lupe stan

Yes

level 6:

Thanks

I disagree

So Lupe makes mysterious music got it

This s*** is garbage good lord. Beat is terrible also

@op I'd argue that Kendrick is at level 5, specifically with DAMN and Mr Morale

Level -1

Just wanna say that I don’t think being esoteric is necessarily high level writing

real rap

cool read. every rapper should strive to make that level 5

If that's ur description of level 5 then cole would be in level 5 instead 4 just off 4yeo

Kendrick too for gkmc/tpab

I think Nas would be a high level 4, 3K would be level 5, Rocky would be level 3, those immediately jumped to mind

I feel like you made this to praise Lupe but he deserves it so great post op

Level 5

Put some mainstream artists into each category

I like the read but I rank songwriting differently, unless your ranking it based on just rapping. My level 5 would be drake because he has mastered the skill of writing a hit record consistently and he can do it out of thin air. If your talking storytelling rap wise I would say lil Wayne

Is this gonna be a new way for yall to arbitrarily categorize rappers