Rap Genius: The top 5 lyrics of the week — BET Awards cypher edition
RAP GENIUS - The BET Awards featured five incredible cyphers, with some of our favorite -- and least favorite -- rappers appearing (we'll leave it to you, dear reader, to guess who is who)...
Easily the most exciting hip-hop moments of the week took place, for once, on television. Â The BET Awards featured five incredible cyphers, with some of our favorite — and least favorite — rappers appearing (we’ll leave it to you, dear reader, to guess who is who). Â Every gathering had plenty of highlights, and we couldn’t include them all. Â Below are five of the top moments from all of the rhyming.
5.  “Dope fiend wrist covered in packs, multiple rocks/Step inside my garage, I can disappear multiple tops” — Trae Tha Truth, ‘Grand Hustle Cypher’ lyrics
The South rose again with the Grand Hustle cypher. Â Great performances from T.I. and B.o.B. were nearly overshadowed by a fantastic turn from H-town veteran Trae Tha Truth. Â Trae’s verse had a flow and individuality that many of his cypher confederates lacked. Â He also had this super-hot line, which sounds even better when delivered in the rapper’s inimitable voice.
4.  “You may not see me on the TV channel/But in the hood I’m still hot like the left sink handle” — E-40, ‘The West Coast’ lyrics
Bay Area pioneer E-40’s verse was a highlight of the West Coast cypher — though props should be given to the always-incredible Kendrick Lamar and Snoop, the only rapper on the show who bothered to actually freestyle. Â But E-Fizzle’s joke was both funny and pointed, as it pointed out that, for all his hip-hop respect, he still lacks the mainstream looks he has long deserved.
3.  “This be the preview of primeval hip-hop retrieval/I hold illegal like ’em coppers hold weasels to squeal” — Joey Bada**, ‘Man With the Iron Fists’ lyrics
Young phenom Joey Bada** has taken rap by storm lately. Â His turn on the big stage did not disappoint. Â This couplet sounds as impressive as it reads (“primeval”!), and the final touch of turning “squeal” into a two-syllable word won us over big-time.
2.  “I ain’t never lie/I ride with cats that got tats of tears under they eyes, but they never cry/And they’ll let it fly/Disconnect your head from your body, have you looking like the lowercase letter i” — Cassidy, ‘The Ruff Ryders’ lyrics
Cassidy has been one of our favorites since the beginning of his career. Â His insane punchline-heavy freestyles still get burn from us, and hearing he would show up on the awards show got us very excited. Â Cass didn’t disappoint, stacking his tough talk with his patented clever jokes and threats.
1. Â “Praying so much, Spanish friends call me Lourdes/Quarter Loch Ness, 75 percent Chuck Norris” — Jean Grae, ‘The True School’ cipher lyrics
Leave it to Jean to fly right over our heads. Â When she says “Spanish friends” here, it is meant to sound like “Spanish France”. Â In this way, she nods to both meanings of “Lourdes” — the French city where a 14 year old famously claimed to see the Virgin Mary in 1858, and Madonna’s daughter, who is Cuban on her father’s side — thus the “Spanish”. Â The “Loch Ness” line is, as Jean told us in a recent interview, a nod to the fact that far too many people are amazed at seeing a great female rapper, and doubt that such a creature could possibly exist. Â And only Jean Greasy is bad-ass enough to make a comparison to Chuck Norris seem realistic.
Groaner of the Week: Â
“We striped like Adidas, and we bang like speakers/’Bout to cop a couple houses and have more spots than cheetahs” — YG, ‘The West Coast’ lyrics
Well, not everything on TV can be great. Â YG falls into the trap of relying on painfully obvious, predictable similes and metaphors here. Â Undoubtedly, he’s also hot like the sun.