"Competition is none!" -Rakim

Competition has been long been part of Hip-Hop culture. The music of that culture is no different. From Rakim's No Competition, to I'm Still #1 by KRS-One, cats that felt like they were that deal, said so on the mic. Hell, even Nelly attempted to have his say on whose the best. That's why I was happy after hearing the Big Sean song, Control that featured Jay Electronica and Kendrick Lamar.

Vomitspit - Rakim

Eric B and Rakim
I Ain't No JokePaid in Full 










"I hold the microphone like a grudge
E'll hold the record so the needle don't budge"


From a time when it was unthinkable for an MC to not have a DJ with them. Also not unusual for the DJ's name comes first on the marque.

Vomitspit - Rakim

 Eric B & Rakim - You Know I Got Soul, Paid in Full






"I start to think, and then I sink
Into the paper...like I was ink
When I'm writing I'm trapped in between the lines
I escape....when I finish the rhyme"

Vomitspit - Rakim

"It's only one capable, breaks-the unbreakable,
Melodies - unmakable, pattern- unecscapable,
A horn if want the style i posses,
I bless the child, the earth, the gods and bomb the rest,
For those that envy a MC it can be,
Hazardous to your health so be friendly,
A matter of life and death, just like a etch-a-sketch,
Shake 'till your clear, make it disappear, make the next" -
After the ceremony, let the rhyme rest in peace,
If not, my soul’ll release!
The scene is recreated, reincarnated, updated,

I’m glad you made it,
Cuz your about to see a disastrous sight,
A performance never again performed on a mic:
Lyrics of fury! - Rakim, "Lyrics of Fury"

Umm, yeah, Rakim being Rakim! For you young guns, bear in mind that not there was nobody with flow, delivery, and content like this in '88. 

"I'm booby trapped by the capitalist/tryna subsist..

...sometimes happiness is hot grits and catfish...or a bowl of cookie crisp..." The Rza as Bobby Digital

I got a text from my man the other day that simply read, "It's a Black Rob morning". While I don't ever remember us having a long convo about Rob, but I knew EXACTLY what he meant.

Some rappers voices, deliveries, lyrics, songs, are like comfort food. Warm apple pie, mash potatoes, and mac and cheese.

Here are a few other rappers that evoke that feeling for me...

Black Rob



G-Dep



Too Short
"...I was only 14 when I first ..."




Scarface
"...I wanna die but it aint for me/I try to talk to my dad but my old man ignores me..."



Rakim
"Planet Earth..."



Buckshot
"Check the dialect from the diaphragm my man"

"...now that's 21 MCs ate up at the same time" - Rakim

"You see 8 MCs/I see one pizza/Them 8 slices that come with a free 1 liter" - Grafh

"Eat a rapper for lunch, and spit out the chain" - DOOM

Rappers spitting about how nice they are on the microphone is nothing new, and a number of them have pushed it to a whole different level in recent years. However for me, there is no more enduring theme of "i'm-nicer-than-you" type rhymes than the "eating" MCs theme.

The whole idea is just so primitive and primal but for some reason I love it. Think about it. In any form of competition there is nothing more demoralizing than being "eaten up" by an opponent. Yeah you can say you'll "school" someone, shoot someone or out-battle someone, but none of those can hold a candle to the concept of "eating" someone for lunch.

Many MCs have taken this theme and flipped it crazy different ways, DOOM, Sean P, just to name a few. But Grafh took it and freaked it on his song Chew 'em Up featuring Slaughterhouse's own Crooked I.

FTR, Crooked I's verse goes waaay harder overall though.

Grafh - Chew Em Up feat. Crooked I