It’s one thing to shit on all these over-the-hill MC’s that need to put down the mic, but what about the flipside of the equation? The fact is, there are a rare breed of rapper dudes who didn’t peak on their debut and have actually developed into better lyricists over the years. Crazy talk, right? Not at all….
Rap’s Most Improved:
Sean Price – P was solid in his Heltah Skeltah days when he was just Ruck, but let’s be honest – he didn’t really stand-out amongst the crowded Boot Camp Click roster back then compared to the way that Jesus Price demands your attention ever since he returned as a show-stealing soloist.
Edo G. – As much as ‘I Got Ta Have It’ is a certified classic, Edo has evolved throughout his long career from a promising freshman into a seasoned veteran without missing a step, and has continued to prove that he’s currently capable of recording far superior verses to his early output.
Phife – The 5 Footer was fuckin’ awful on the first Tribe record, apparently due to the fact that he spent too much time running around in the streets while Tip was hard at work in the studio. I guess he realized that his rhyme game was lacking when he listened to People’s Instinctive Travels and hit the pen and pad hard in an attempt to get his verbal weight up. Low End Theory is proof that he stepped up to the plate and knocked it out the cot-damn park.
Masta Ace – His first album with Marley Marl was pretty good, but when he dropped Slaughterhouse he managed to combine parody with lyrics of fury to produce something that’s virtually impossible – a rap concept album that actually knocks! He also laid down the blueprint for some guy called Marshall Mathers to develop his flow technique.
Jay-Z – Went from tongue-twisting nonsense to the most influential of our time. Some say he’s lost his focus but BP3 will decide that.
Kanye West – I do my best to ignore this character, but word on the internets is that he’ll murder you on your own shit if you let him do a guest spot. I’ll admit that he sounds slightly less retarded than he used to though.
Cormega – From a slightly awkward delivery in his early days, Mega now commands your ear whenever he steps into the booth with a mixture of brutal honesty, impressive vocabulary and an air of QB nonchalance.
Ghostface – As great as Ironman is, something happened between then and Supreme Clientele that elevated Starks from Raekwon‘s partner in crime to certified genius, as evidenced on ‘Nutmeg’ and ‘Mighty Healthy’.
Who did I miss?
Sean Price >
Big Pooh has improved since “The Listening”
Solid list, Robbie.
I think Lil Fame and Danze (Fame especially) improved a lot as emcees in the time between “To The Death” and “Warriorz”. They got a little better at rapping each album.
In terms of newer emcees, Black Milk was a much better emcee by the time he put out “Tronic.
P!
kimbo price mixtape,
mic tyson album 2010 !
P!
good post. kanye is still not the top notch rapper people make him out to be, but he has shown progress. kurupt got much iller over the years. havoc got better though he’s been slackin lately. fat joe is funny cause he got better in the late 90s and then spiraled down way lower after loyalty. styles p was dope in the bad boy days and got crazy dope on the solo tip but again, hardly any hot verses in the last 2 or 3 years. it’s like he forgot how to spit, his delivery supersloppy right now.
Freeway – He defintely got 100x better.
Lil Wayne? From the 90’s till now he’s changed his style, everything.
hate him or love him: lil wayne
Terrible post, i can tell ur not a real hip hop fan.
I know this isnt the blog to say this, but Rick Ross improved a lot from Port Of Miami over Trilla to Deeper Than Rap.
Lil Wayne improved his ability to pick ghostwriters a lot….so yeah you missed Lil Wayne
i dont think Cormega’s improved to me he sounds more repetitive then ever….remember when
“ayo guns and roses, sons and soldiers drug game cocaine ac’s and range rovers snakes plan a way to set they own man up for grams when they bag up cristal white at night pistols might lift you like heat seeking missles”
Nah man dont get it twisted now every rhyme out is mouth is “Illest, Realness, Feel This” etc.. I’m tired of that shit man. Back in the 90’s he was killin it I had the bootleg, and his new shit is good im not sayin he’s wack, but he’s gotten more repetitive then anything else, and the basketball player comparisons been goin on for years he need to come up with a concept album or something
and you make Jay Z sound wack back in the day….Reasonable Doubt is his best album, nothing he’s done since can compete, although he’s still got it he dont do it justice these days, he knows he’s better, but he writes clever to get more cheddar…thats that bullshit rhyme
i fuck wit jay a little bit but knowing he’s better then what he’s spitting and saying it in his rhymes is wack
“Truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common sense, but I did 5 Mill, I aint been rhymin like Common since”
I fully agree with Sean P but kanye is not a nice mc and mega has always been nice in my opinion :)
2pac..
Common….can i borrow a dollar he was talking nonsense
Andre 3000 – whether you start with the TLC “What About Your Friends” remix, or Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, he went from good to one of the best out there.
I agree with Lil’ Fame. Sounded a lot like a Kool G Rap biter until Firing Squad and then kept getting better.
young chris has really stepped up his game since state prop existed.
to a degree, so has u-god. “dopium” was actually listenable. his imrovement probably isn’t enough to warrant a spot on this list, butit’s still considerable
12 O’clock from Brooklyn ZU
T.I. – I’m Serious – Paper Trail-Crazy
Bun B – Sideline to Pimp C – Rap legend
Busta Rhymes
I would say Busta Rhymes and Pharoahe Monch. They both came out lyrically dope but have impressed over time.
Also, Eminem and M.F. Doom have made some astonishing comebacks after inventing an alter ego.
Big L was getting better by leaps and bounds before he died. My friend and I used to talk about how wicked he was getting and then RIP. The whole style that Lord Finesse and him were coming with back then was butter, straight butter…Like if Premo did rhymes instead of beats thats the vibe Finesse had on the mic. Sorry for the OT but yeah L went from good to grrrrreat! and it was awesome!
ED O G???? WHAT?? What song has he even put out since the early 90’s?? Jesus.
I’d have to say Jeezy. From those early mixtapes to now he’s grown by leaps and bounds. The early tapes were all about his adlibs and now, while he still uses the adlibs, he doesn’t hide behind them and he has a lot more shit to say.
Wayne needs mentioning as well. Also Gucci is becoming much better.
What? Kanye was at his best on College Dropout, his first record. If anything, he is on a decline. And Reasonable Doubt is easily Jay’s best record. That “tongue-twisting nonsense” contained his best verses lyrically.. Guess you’re part of the audience he decided to dumb it down for.
I think kweli has actually tightened up alot since his rawkus days. Writing isnt much different, but his flow definitely seems less rushed and he stopped the 20 syllable lines
Rick Ross. Dude sounds like ’96 Nas is his ghostwiter.After he single hadedly destroyed G Unit in a weeklong war of wordz, he is a feared man on the M-I-C! Check one of his mixtapes , he can go outside of the coke aisle too.
can’t believe no one mentioned Fat Joe, the improvement from Flow Joe to now is crazy
At the risk of incurring your scorn and hatred, the most obvious example is Lil Wayne. Hate him or love him you have to admit he’s evolved incredibly since his “wobbly wobbly” days.
Also T.I. Gets better with every album.
And E-40. Say what you will about his recent albums, but lyrically he gets better with every passing year. And when he first came out he was on some pretty corny shit. Now he sounds as hungry as any freshman out there, and he’s really picked his punchline game up.
Royce gets my vote. He has always been nice but in recent years has really stepped it up. That ‘blackout flow’ that he does on the Bar Exam mixtapes is incredible, one of the best flows out there now I think.
Yeah, Edo and Ace are the ones I have been saying this about for years. I can’t wait for their A & E album, it’s going to be a classic.
I think you hit the nail on the head with Tony Starks. His verses on Enter the 36 are sort of so, so. Think about that record, he doesn’t really stand out… then Ironman was pretty good (maybe great?) and Supreme Clientele is really pretty great.
Anyway. I agree.
i would have to completely disagree with Sean Price and Ghostface. if you didn’t know that he was ridiculous with it back before he changed his name you have no clue. only thing he does differently now is say “P!” so it’s like he has his own little trademark thing like jadakiss’ corny baby cry/laugh thing he does.
and ghost? you like his ravioli-ziti-nutriment-strawberry-kiwi nonsense lines better than his OB4CL raps????????? you serious????
Prodigy sucked in Juvenile Hell then turned into a rap god and has regressed since.
kanye has always been good but he has improved.
fat joe was the worst ever on his first album (although the beats were crazy) and he improved a lot but whether it was a result of his own pen has obviously been debated.
I don’t know if this list extends to west coast new schoolers, but I’d put Thes One from People Under the Stairs on my “most improved” list. He’s been nice for a while, but the incredible leap he made from their first album to their sophomore one was just amazing. Oh and by the way, much love to the Extra P but Thes hooked up that loop from “Queens Lounge” on their joint “Earth Travellers” waaaaay better than Large Pro did.
“Kanye West – I do my best to ignore this character, but word on the internets is that his ghostwriters will murder you on your own shit if you let him do a guest spot. I’ll admit that he still sounds afflicted by down syndrome.”
Fixed that for you.
Rick Ross fucking sucks. Always has, always will. I will agree overall Jay-Z has gotten better over the years, just by changing his delivery. Fat Joe had sharpened his shit from flow joe to don cartagena, but I don’t know about recently. I also think that Black Thought made that leap from good to great. But Rick Ross still sucks.
mf doom got better than his KMD days, i like tame-one better than when he was in the artifacts, not many have gotten better than they used to be and i agree with your list robbie aside from jay-z, who kinda peaked 4 or 5 years back imo
Devin the Dude went from “that guy that does hooks” to one of the most individual rappers out there. Jay went straight from “Big Pimpin” to The Blueprint, so he deserves it, even if he’s not coming back.
Elzhi: Seriously carved his own niche and stepped outside of the shadow of SV. I didn’t anticipate him reaching these heights when if first heard him on Trinity.
Hell Razah: Another dude who’s come from a group setting and made a name for himself.
MJG: On Comin’ Out Hard he was pretty much 8ball’s sidekick, by In Our Lifetime Vol. 1 he was clearly the better half of the duo.
I meant pre-RD Jay obviously.
Agreed about Royce, Talib and Common (who improved but later fell off).
Fat Joe. His lyrics in the Flow Joe- era to now. Even thought now I wouldnt call him NICE. He is a lot better
RIP, but anyways, Scientifik- His first album he was okay for the times. But by the time he dropped ‘Lawtown’ off the ‘Criminal’ album, he had his own off and on flow down. Damn shame how he went out. If you ever heard ‘Lawtown 96’, you’d see he tightened up even more with the style and was ready to drop a classic, IMO.
“Prodigy sucked in Juvenile Hell then turned into a rap god and has regressed since.”
whoah there cowboy… rap god?
Posdnous sounds more amazing with each album.
AZ comes better each time.
Spice 1 went from talented to fuckin talented.
Wise Intelligent was dope from day one, now he’s pure bolivian.
I missed Busta… who got MUCH better with time, just like Wine. But then he vinegar’ed and now sucks worse than ever.
Jeezy. The Recession was super dope.
Rick Ross. From his first album to now, he’s been really good.
and Big Boi was slightly hit or miss early. Now he’s batting 100
I agree with Andre 3000, Common, T.I.
Kool Keith! When he was with ultra, he was pretty good, but he really took it to another level 10 years later with Dr. Octagon and Dr. Dooom.
rapwise Fat Joe, unfortunately his beat selection suffered since “Jealous Ones Envy”…
U God! he went from sucking horribly to just sucking!
And RZA went from awkward to dope flow with amazing lyrics.
Tech N9NE – gets no respect but a fantastic rapper.
Juicy J and DJ Paul – they used to SUCK but now are listenable.
Devin the Dude
i would def have to say T.I.
notable mention: The Alchemist
Kweli got better then got worse.
For all the heads that don’t recognize, the reference to Jay-Z’s “tounge-twisting nonsense” were the verses he dropped pre-Reasonable Doubt. Go dig up some Mic Gerinomo or some Big Daddy Kane or Jaz LPs and u will understand what he’s talking about. Jay-Z has been around a long time before Reasonable.
I’d have to add Royce the 5’9!!! He went from being Eminem’s hypeman who I never took too seriously to one of my all time favorites!!! ‘Malcom’ is when I started to notice that he was in no way a mediocre emcee … and he’s just improved with age like fine wine!
i was bumping some heltah skeltah a while ago and i dont think sean p actually got much nicer lyrics/flow wise i just think his voice sounds a lot nicer now hes older.
nice topic n good list.
i go for rugged man. r.a.’s ‘new and improved’
flow is insane.his delivery and live appearance
is outta this world.and tall sean is killin it.
Black Thought from the Roots. First album he was a little out of control. But by their third album Thought stepped up his rap game and kills it on BOOM!where he spits some ol’ Daddy Kane, Kool G rap flow.
are you forgetting ghost’s opening verse on enter the wu tang…that is classic…the mere fact its ingrained in ya memory means its classic…and can it all be so simple-hes always been smashing it…he just went more abstract and did story telling-but hes always been ill just switched up styles…
possibly frukwan…smashed it with stet but really shone on gravediggaz…beatnuts kept improving lyrically every release too i reckon.
For the guy getting upset about the perceived dis towards Jigga re: the “tongue twisting shit” This is the pre-Reasonable Doubt Jay-Z, whose whole style was like Das EFX on speed and although he was good at it Reasonable Doubt is the point where he stepped it up and became a notable emcee…
I’d like to put forward the case for Mobb Deep on this one here. Juvenile hell >>>steaming turd of an album, The Infamous>>> certified classic.
You heard the new sean joint on the honda album? easily the best joint on there… :)
Freeway by a lot … i never cared much for him, Free At Last album was top 3 of 07/08 …just raw hugry rhymes
Lil’ Dap. He had to chance to have Primo to produce all of the first Group Home album but the rhymes were elementary. Now I dont’ know ’bout Melachi but Dap improved a lot on the mic after that.
Jay-Z most definitely. Kanye has been good throughout his entire career and album wise, I prefer his older material.
Gotta go with Royce, Brock, and Patrick and say Royce. The guy goes to jail and when he comes out he sounds straight SADISTIC!
Hmmm… Joe Budden comes to mind. T.I. and Big Pooh also improved greatly.
Yeah Sean P and Ace were the first 2 that came to mind for me.
Royce
Reks
Evidence
Phonte
Elzhi
Buff1
Kam Moye (aka Supastition)
One Be Lo
Joe Budden
Lil Wayne (I hate to admit it but it is true)
Copywrite
Black Milk
Geologic (from Blue Scholars)
Knonam
and many more…
are artists who have evolved over the years…
T.I. has never been wack but he keeps getting better.
Dres of Black Sheep has always been great but he’s even better now than he used to be.
I used to find Royce Da 5’9″ almost unlistenable, now he’s one of the kings.
Elzhi was all right in Slum Village, then went solo and started crushing everybody.
P!
Kanye? Are you fucking kidding me? On the College Dropout he was technically unskilled, but at least had something to say and a decent had with a rhyme. He’s gone steadily downhill. He’s only able to murder anyone on their own shit because he seems to keep jumping on songs where nobody else involved is bringing any heat whatsoever. Mostly he just raps about his poop and makes horrible jokes that aren’t funny. “This is bad, real bad, Michael Jackson” Abject fucking failure. I cannot understand how anyone who knows anything about rap can think he’s anything but shit at this point – he doesn’t even bring it behind the boards any more, going by “Run This Town.”
808s and Heartbreak has some of the most uniformly embarrassing lyrics in the history of rap.
And calling Jay-Z’s verses on Reasonable Doubt “tongue-twisting nonsense” is goddamn ignorant.
The definite winner in the most-improved category is Weezy, going from basically insignificant Cash Money gremlin to free-associating madman on Da Drought 3.
Supastition!
Although, I don’t know if he can ever top Revolutionary Vol. 2 on an album level, Immortal Technique has consistently developed in terms of the component skills of a rapper.
I think Royce actually took a step backward before taking a step forward. Most of Detroit Rock City and his work in that era was inferior to his early shit with Em, IMO. Since that, he’s gotten really good again though.
A.G.
how can you all not get it, except for don king. he is talking about jay-z stepping his rap game up so he was great on RD.
Elzi took it higher. Prince po shined on his own. Price and the two Ghosts carved their own thing out. I think Roc Marciano can do the same. Everlast never fell out of grace with me personally…diamond is dope.
Well here`s my list:
Del
Ghostface
Method Man
M.F Doom
Tribe
Beatnuts
Sage
Eminem
Ice Cube…I`m sure theres lots of others but thats all I got right now…
definitely Sean Price…now some names left off the list that have evolved Royce, Kam Moye, Hell Razah, Wordsworth, Elzhi, Ro Spit (formerly Octane), Big Pooh, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, and more
Ghost had much better rhymes and tracks on Ironman than Supreme Clientele… not even close. Ghost went too far to the left on Supreme and even admitted that some of his lines were pretty much meaningless jibberish that he used to see how far he could push the envelope. He has better verses and tracks on Bulletproof Wallets and Fishscale too.