Battle Rappers VS Songwriters

[Imani T. Misfit]

Ive heard the school of thought that a real rapper knows how to battle... and MUST be able to battle. Fuck that... If BIG aint have to battle nobody, I aint battling. There are other people in my crew that do it. I aint condemning them, but it aint my thing.

I consider myself to be a songwriter, you will never catch me in a battle becuz

1. Battle beef is not real

2. Battle records dont sell

3. I will never have another man insult me, my family and everything I stand for... to my face... and Im supposed to come back with a rhyme after that? fuckouttahere

This battle hype is entertaining, but I dont buy into it... I myslef think it is more of an upnorth thing... like NY and Philly... MD/DC dont really be into that shit...

Statiscally, songwriters have always been more sucessful than battle rappers. Why waste time putting all your work into this shit, when some of the best battle rappers out there will never be known because they suck at writing songs.

[champimpion]

Ive heard the school of thought that a real rapper knows how to battle... and MUST be able to battle. Fuck that... If BIG aint have to battle nobody, I aint battling. There are other people in my crew that do it. I aint condemning them, but it aint my thing.

I consider myself to be a songwriter, you will never catch me in a battle becuz

1. Battle beef is not real

2. Battle records dont sell

3. I will never have another man insult me, my family and everything I stand for... to my face... and Im supposed to come back with a rhyme after that? fuckouttahere

This battle hype is entertaining, but I dont buy into it... I myslef think it is more of an upnorth thing... like NY and Philly... MD/DC dont really be into that shit...

Statiscally, songwriters have always been more sucessful than battle rappers. Why waste time putting all your work into this shit, when some of the best battle rappers out there will never be known because they suck at writing songs.

Jin........

[MobbAction]

word but sometimes u gotta clown acouple of niggas to get ur name poppin

[Heavily Weeded]

I'll always respect a song writer more...but to be a truly dynamic lyricist it helps to know how to write battle bars...

I say the more things that expand your creativity the better.

[champimpion]

^^ i have to agree with the two above this

[sktr4life]

battle rappers are doing their thang...and song writers are doing theirs. so its all good.

[Inept]

A song writer is at least a little bit well read and intellegent and much more likely to blow up in the game compared to an uneducated neanderthal punchline babbler



yes babbler

anyone who battles/punchlines as their main part of they career better be makin some fuggin record deal gwap when they win cuz they not goin nowhere'


any rapper can battle tho mayne its just some that aint good at it much

but battling is one of the main aspects of todays and back in the days hip hop its a key thing in the hood n such, so knowing how to at least rip a cat a little bit is a GOOD thing I encourage all emcees to not just say "oh well im not good at it so I don't battle" and try a little bit

i aint a battle cat AT ALL not one bit of me is a battle rapper yet when a kid come up to me in the street n go "ayo i heard u spit lets battle" i dont go "naw mayne i cant battle" or "naw i dont battle" thats on some bullshit

naamean!?

[Bloods & Crips]

If BIG aint have to battle nobody, I aint battling. .

sorry nigga, Biggie did battle, there is a video of him when he was 17 battling on the streets of new york on the youtube website

[MC Vypa]

lets see.....

50 cent - songwriter
canibus - battle rapper

see the difference?

battling only gets you so far. if you can combine the two, like a cool j or eminem, you might be successful. but how many battle rappers do without being good songwriters nowadays? jin, serius jones, mook, millz etc..what are they doing? not much, thats what.

[Edge]

battle rappers get reputations
songwriters get money

so to certain people the difference between tha 2 is taking different
totally street rappers would probably choose battle rappers
commercial rappers would probably choose songwriters
not saying i aint street but i like money=songwriters
just my opinion

[Imani T. Misfit]

if Im not mistaken Lil Wayne aint never battled nobody either... Yet he is considered one of the best in the game.



BLUE PILL MIXTAPE COMING SOON

[Inept]

song writers get reputation as well Edge, there are hood song writers that the hood loves for what they do


and wayne could probably say some funny shit to a cat but he dont need to battle for reputation

[MC Vypa]

don't forget, you'll make a lot more ghostwriting for someone like diddy or dre then you will battling for years on end. so it pays to be a writer, quite literally.

[penrino]

It's two completely different things. Battling and song writing. You can't really compare the two.

[Tightest Titan]

I'm more of a song writer. But I do like to battle. I think a battle rapper have to think more on has feet and be a lot more resourceful. They also have to consolidate more into lines and focus on deliveries. It only get you so far because it gets tiring after awhile. Look at Big L. There is a reason he never got big. The reason is because his entire album sounded like one big freestyle. I think Big L is pretty ill, he is funny, damn good rapper and all. But the problem with Big L is that he couldn't make a song to save his life. His songs were narrow in focus, and didn't have very much insight and vision. All of his songs sound like one big snap fest. There are a few notable examples like Fedup With The Bullshit, Da Heist, and Casualties Of A Dice Game. But I think compared to some songs out there, they were weak.


A songwriter does have to have vision, a concept and an idea. He has to be abstract with his reasoning, and really mesh his lyrics with the beats. I think they are more grand orchestrators, while a battle rapper may be a skilled musician.

In rock and roll, we compare the two. They call one a Jam session band. They are really good at sounding good, and can generally play well in this setting. The second is a band who writes songs, and they structure them a bit better. Both are good, but you can't have one without the other.

[TC123]

It's two completely different things. Battling and song writing. You can't really compare the two.

that sums up everything.

[Wisdom Itself]

all bullshit aside fam...say what u will but gotta have both to be truly dynamic...cats who only write songs an cats who only battle can be summed up by da following

ONE DIMENSIONAL...

[Tightest Titan]

all bullshit aside fam...say what u will but gotta have both to be truly dynamic...cats who only write songs an cats who only battle can be summed up by da following

ONE DIMENSIONAL...

Straight up. That makes a lot of sense right there. That is why I like to battle, because it helps my song writing abilities, and it makes me a more refined writer as well.

[Joey Bootleg]

biggie did battle. eminem battled and won grammies, rhymefest battled and won a grammy for cowriting "jesus walks", jay-z was known to battle in the streets with the big names at the time. black thought and pun had a lil battle, but it was more about being able to out freestyle. Every mc should know how to do it, it's actually bigger in underground scene in the bay area than in ny. NY doesn't really have a scene except for the street battles, but it's not a lot. Versatility IS key. You should be able to write songs, but sometimes you have to earn your stripes and battling helps. If you do it too much than you will get labeled a battle rapper, so if anyone should battle they should have songs made before hand to show they can do both. I would say also that most people don't truly freestyle either. I would recommend watching "Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme", it has biggie's clip. Songs are important if you want to get signed....you can't take what people say serious when you're battling otherwise shit will pop off when they shouldnt because it's a battle

[sac-townnigga]

U gotta be very versitle with it. Jay, Nas Biggie, Em, Common, Budden, KRS-1, Cassidy, Chamillionaire, Luda can all battle and songwrite. Most rappers that are 1 dimensional aren't versitle enuff. U gottta switch it up if u want to b mainstream.