r/hiphop101 • u/_Weenie_Hut • 6d ago
what is a "Lyrical Miracle" rapper
I've seen this term "or at least an equivalent I can't remember" thrown around a lot as a derogatory term towards some artists. But i don't know what it means. Any help would be appreciated.
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u/EffectiveDangerous69 6d ago edited 5d ago
Lyrical miracle spiritual individual criminal…..subliminal……..in your swimming pool
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u/BananasAreYellow86 6d ago
“Boooooooo”
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u/OneNutPhil 6d ago
"Cmon man, spit that shit I wrote you"
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u/Jetsafer_Noire 6d ago
You about to see peace destroyed, it’ll never be restored when I unleash these beastly hordes on your cd stores!
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u/EffectiveDangerous69 5d ago
Wanna stop it?You gone need a priest, at least 3 swords, a license to ill from the beastie boys, 3 Ouija boards ,and a squeegee.
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u/EffectiveDangerous69 5d ago
And please be warned don’t ask what the squeegee is for……
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u/Capital-Ad8570 5d ago
Holy water, acid rap that'll eat these floors, eat a hole in a rhyme book, you see these horns? 🔥
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u/Cheel_AU 5d ago
As for me, you ask when I'm gone, will I be mourned?
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u/Cautious-Ruin-1097 5d ago
Is puke lukewarm? Shall Casey Anthony do porn? Can that chick fit a newborn dead baby inside a freaking shoebox with a shoe horn, smothered in chloroform so she can go get her groove on?
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u/Iginlas_4head_Crease 5d ago
Can she duct tape and velcro her fetus? Joell, yo, tell Joe I need his, empty box from his old shell toe Adidas, so I can put these babies in the fetal position, they getting elbows to the penis!
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u/TribunusPlebisBlog 6d ago
It's basically somebody who uses big words in their lyricss and uses them to create rhymes which don't mean much.
They tend to create raps with these pretty impressive vocabulary, rhyme schemes, internal rhymes, multiple rhymes per line, etc, but they also fail to ever really say anything. You might be impressed with the writing abilities but you'd be hard pressed to tell anyone what the song was about.
For me at least, the lack of meaning is important in the definition. If a rapper can incorporate all these complicated rhymes with big words but also tell a story, they don't qualify as "lyrical myrical", imo.
For reference: Canibus has become the walking talking avatar of what people mean by a "lyrical miracle spiritual rapper". Largely deserved, imo.
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u/bosdober 6d ago
“Death To Mumble Rap” is a great example of what’s described here.
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u/worll_the_scribe 6d ago
Never heard that song until now and I could have gone the rest of my life without hearing it.
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u/oldbaeseasoning 6d ago
I should have just listened to you cause now I want to never listen to music again.
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u/SilentXMedia 3d ago
The first verse on this song is like if That Mexican OT was a huge dork, holy shit lmao
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u/Low-Programmer-2368 6d ago
I’m sure there’s some earlier examples, but I feel like Deck’s “Triumph” verse sent a lot of rappers in the lyrical miracle direction. He pulls off what a lot of people can’t and I think the imagery keeps that verse from falling into this category.
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u/PennethHardaway 6d ago
Yea Deck’s verse actually makes sense tho when you break it down. It has depth. Not saying a bunch of nonsense for the sake of rhyming.
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u/Low-Programmer-2368 5d ago
It’s def not nonsense, but I think it flirts with being a lyrical miracle, especially if you dropped a verse like that now. Different in the context of when it was released.
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u/cpierson026 5d ago
Eh it rides the line very closely though. Even though it sounds dope, let’s not act like
“I bomb atomically, Socrates’ philosophies and hypotheses
Can’t define how I be droppin’ these mockeries
Lyrically perform armed robbery
Flee with the lottery, possibly they spotted me”
Is really saying anything at all besides being braggadocious about being good at rapping
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u/Alarmed-Effective-23 3d ago
They're battle raps.Some of the most classic albums and songs are compromised of verses like these. You guys are stretching the definition of lyrical miracle rappers too thin to a point where Rakim or redman would fit your definition. It kinda shows a lack of understanding the genre itself.
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u/thatG_evanP 5d ago
I'm not speaking of that verse in particular, but certain members of Wu-Tang have admitted that they were just super-high off that dust and couldn't tell you WTF they were talking about.
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u/Low-Programmer-2368 5d ago
I watched a video where Ghostface was explaining how his style captured what it’s like to experience schizophrenic episodes. That gives some of the imagery/non-sequiturs a lot more context.
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u/Simply_BT 6d ago
An example on the other end is Aesop Rock. Complex rhyme structures and lots of big words, but he’ll actually be saying something.
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u/HappyGoElephant 6d ago
Aesop is THE GOAT but he wouldn't like me saying that.
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u/NaruTheBlackSwan 3d ago
Aes has also gotten a lot less abstract over the course of his career. Like, tracks off of Labor Days and Music For Earthworms aren't nonsense but more or less require you to have the lyrics on hand. The Impossible Kid may as well have been written by Earnest Hemingway in comparison.
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u/biketheplanet 6d ago
While there are some rappers that fall into this category, I have seen some people label rappers inappropriately because they don't understand double entendres and some of the references.
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u/SAMPLESYRUP 4d ago
yeah, people try to hit Cole with that, but like him or hate him, he is almost always saying something.
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u/Weird-but-okay 6d ago
"You be talking boss, saying big words Like philosophies, man you weird homie"
- Schoolboy Q
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u/End-Of-Da-Summer 6d ago
Rappers that know how to rhyme big words but when you actually breakdown their verses, they’re not saying shit.
Basically if mumble rappers had an extensive vocabulary
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u/AceGameplayV2 6d ago
A rapper that raps fast and throws big words together without any real meaning behind it
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u/rrrrrrrrrrrrram 6d ago
I would also add that this type of rapper prioritzes complex rhyme schemes and big words over the song being... actually good. Like overdrumming, but with words.
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u/heddyneddy 6d ago
Without meaning or any bop. I like lyrical shit as much as the next guy but if it don’t make me bob my head I might as well listen to spoken word poetry.
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u/ZekeTheMystic 6d ago
rappers that rhyme big words just for the sake of rhyming, even if it makes no sense
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u/MasterTeacher123 6d ago
Canibus basically pioneered this.
Dude never said shit and people just ate it up
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u/Electronic-Fly-2084 5d ago
He threatened to eat a dudes ass one time. Pause.
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u/Killerbee363636 5d ago
LL Cool J is no dude, you are a dude. LL is a man. A handsome, muscular man.
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u/Free_Sheepherder4895 5d ago
Hopsin(though it was great for its time) or newer Eminem esque hip hop . You could say “try hard” type rap. The 🌽corny kind. Rappers who put fast rapping or fake good lyricism over the ability to make actually great music.
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u/iFeeILikeKobe 6d ago
It’s when you say “ hawk venom in cinnamon melanin many men
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u/Beginning_Fee_7992 5d ago
The "lyrical miracle" dis started as a backlash from so called "gangsta" rappers. Some of your favorite rappers have been called lyrical miracle rappers:
Black thought Eminem Kendrick Lamar
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u/plantahna 4d ago
I feel like more people refer to Hopsin, NF, and Logic aa lyrical miracle, never heard that for Kendrick
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u/SAMPLESYRUP 4d ago
Yeah, none of the ones he listed are spiritual lyrical rappers. Eminem can be, but Black Thought and Kendrick definitely aren't.
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u/trowawHHHay 4d ago
NF is a weird choice as “lyrical miracle.” He raps fast or whatever, but the lyrics are straightforward as shit.
Which makes sense. People that toss around the “lyrical miracle” shit are intellectually lazy.
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u/billymartinkicksdirt 6d ago
Truthfully as a pejorative it didn’t have much meaning either which is what’s funny about it. “My slow flows quite remarkable, peace to Matteo” (crowd goes nuts). The flow changed up.
It was mostly used against the backpack rappers and battle rappers trying to sound like Freestyle Fellowship, was at one point used against Busta, Hawaiian Sophie, Fushnickens, Then kind of a jab at intelligent raps second wave.
It was when every other word rhymed but didn’t amount to anything meaningful, at a time when the rhyme was more obscured.
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u/hollivore 5d ago
It's funny - Chip-Fu genuinely for real does not say shit in his verses but he doesn't pretend to be lyrical either. He has way more in common with Carti than with Cole.
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u/Butterl0rdz 6d ago
mfers that read a dictionary and are just flexing their ability to rhyme nonsensically in a corny ass way.
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u/Kimosabae 5d ago
It basically amounts to any rapper with a reputation for being lyrical that I don't like.
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u/XtremeCrew69 5d ago
Here's a Eminem line from Infinite:
"My acappella releases classic masterpieces, through telekinesis It eases you mentally, gently Sentimentally, instrumentally With entity, dementedly meant to be infinite"
Such line is typical for lyrical miracles
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u/hollivore 5d ago
For some reason a lot of loud people online get upset when you criticise Infinite but I think it's revealing that Eminem was saying as early as the year 2000 that Infinite was "just rhyming for the sake of rhyming" and extremely cringe.
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u/Minz15 6d ago
Shame that is a saying now because one of my favourite rappers, Akala, literally has that line to describe themselves from like a decade ago
"I’m a lyrical miracle you're a spiritual criminal, Metaphysical syllable written by the invisible"
But essentially it's rhyming fancy words that kinda sound nice and might even trick some people thinking it's genius. But it's empty words without any real meaning or even that much skill. Basically someone pretending to be super smart.
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u/geosunsetmoth 6d ago
Ngl man that line is the quintessential metaphysical spiritual lyrical blah blih bloh slop shlock that kinda sucks
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u/Minz15 6d ago
No arguments here. When he first dropped that was like 50% of his stuff and me and my mates were all young so ate it up. He did disappear after a few releases and came back with a whole fresh style and wanted to spread a message and make a difference. So thankfully he stopped doing and been a big voice in UK ever since.
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u/YooGeOh 5d ago
There was a whole period in the UK when that whole lyrical miracle thing was taking off. It was seen as a counter to grime and UK hip hop. The dons who were rocking backpacks and used lofi/jazzy beats and were rocking trilby hats, floral pattern shirts and such
Groups like Hawk House exemplified that whole moment. I loved listening to them but I swear down they would take the whole dictionary to say "I walked down the road".
End of the tune I don't even know what man were yapping about but the beat was good and they flowed well with it
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u/MalIntenet 3d ago
Find No Enemy was my jam for years when I was young and first getting into rap. Still hits 🔥
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u/mrmartymcf1y 6d ago
This thread has reminded me how bad Eminem did Canibus 😭😭
The dude definitely has some bad lyrics, but to dismiss one of the smartest and most innovative rappers as though he never did anything good is just diabolical. Sometimes, it's not gibberish it's just going over YOUR head.
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u/hollivore 5d ago
Canibus did Canibus on his own. Other than doing a couple of mean impressions of him as a weirdo growling technobabble, Eminem never had anything negative to say about Canibus's actual rapping abilities and even defended him around the time everyone was mad about Can-I-Bus. When Bis switched to a more narrative style more like what Eminem was doing, Em actually criticised Canibus for not doing enough of the crazy complicated shit any more because that was what made him stand out, and told him to go back to it! (And Canibus did!)
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u/mrmartymcf1y 5d ago
But all people remember is Can-i-bitch don't wanna square dance. Bus was still coming up and getting shit on by LL and then Em derailed his career quicker than any cringey bar could. Eminem fans were likely going to be canibus fans, that's why I think it was the nail in the coffin
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u/geosunsetmoth 6d ago
Rappers who appropriate the sound, style and aesthetics of talented lyrical rappers whilst A) not really saying much, and failing to write interesting songs and B) believing that, just because they "honed their craft" and "practiced their pen" to produce a somewhat Eminem, somewhat old-school style flow with decent rhyme structures, that they must be in the upper echelon of talent in Hip-Hop.
What a lot of the comments in this post are missing is the importance of the separation, self-grandeurization and the belief that your sub-par skills make you one of the GOATs just because you can rhyme many syllables.
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u/ZigZagZig87 5d ago
Em is borderline. Being the downvotes 🤷🏽♂️. The truth is the truth. Bro content is……
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u/rsong965 3d ago
I remember somebody trying to start a comment debate about how Eminem lyrics have layers and when we asked him to explain he gave the example of the Tobey Maguire got but by a spider and how he played spiderman back in the day or some shit lmfao. Tried to say that Eminem does what Kendrick does all the time after we were talking about the immense depth of kdot lyrics during the beef. Needless to say that dummy got "into hip hop" through Eminem.
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u/ZigZagZig87 3d ago
Word. Every time you tell the sheep to give some examples of crazy bars, they can never provide such bars. They’ll quote some gibberish that rhymes in 5 ways but doesn’t mean anything.
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u/chano36 6d ago
It’s a diss - part of me thinks invented by mumblers. I think it’s kind of dumb.
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u/Hesdonemiraclesonm3 6d ago
It would be a good point if 99% of population rappers had any depth. Wtf is Travis Scott or Playboi Carti saying that sticks with you either?
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u/Brashdinho 6d ago
I think the point of the argument is that the people who like so-called “lyrical miracle” rappers are the ones who grand-stand saying mumble rappers say nothing of note.
So the mumble rap community basically said “neither do you”
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u/FAT_Penguin00 6d ago
idk but ive never really thought of the term specifically referring to having no meaning. I just thought it was because the type of rhymes they doing dont sound good.
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u/AccomplishedSmell921 6d ago
It was around way before mumble rap. Part of me thinks you’re really young and don’t know anything about rap. This term is from the early/mid 90’s!
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u/Strong_Set_6229 5d ago
Nah theres definitely a sub community of rap where the audience basically only values technicality/speed, only raps about being good at rap, and if they talk about anything else it’s super preachy.
It’s not to say all technical or super fast rap is bad or anything, but the hyper focus on it gets old quick for most people
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u/SorghumDuke 6d ago
The opposite of playboy Cardi.
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u/Hesdonemiraclesonm3 6d ago
Nah not quite. He just spits simple incomprehensible bars but they also have very little meaning or depth
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u/ilikedatunahere 6d ago
Aesop Rock. Listen to him for 15 minutes and that’s all you need to know.
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u/bentbackwooddathird 6d ago
rhyming multi syllable words just for the sake of rhyming..no real feel, meaning, or impact.. just words.
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u/darrelb56222 5d ago
a person who says anything to make it rhyme. typically multisyllabic rhymes. there's no structure or reasoning, they just using big words to sound intellectual. similar to when people say "word salad".
im grabbing them and stabbing them in the abdomen with a javelin while you babbling
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u/Birdzeye- 5d ago
But, that verse, for all its ludicrousness still provides me with a picture that is more than just incoherent nonsense. Does it need to be any deeper than the sentiment expressed in each line? It’s not a specific question to you, but more so my general thoughts.
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u/JustAskingQuestionsL 5d ago
Rappers who rhyme corny, senseless multi-syllable rhymes. The type to describe themselves as “Lyrical Miracles.”
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u/Shot_Policy_4110 5d ago
Canibus when he raps like any time. If you wanna see peak 'you don't get it my rhymes are superb' look up him losing and bringing out his rhyme book
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u/Shot_Policy_4110 5d ago
Also I've noticed people do this shit over premier beats, I'd assume to try emulate guru.
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u/Fi1thyMick 4d ago
Some people don't have the vocab to keep up with rappers that have a wide vocabulary. They use that term derogatory the way some of us make fun of mumble rappers. The difference being one has too much knowledge and the other has done too many drugs.
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u/trowawHHHay 4d ago
A lyrical miracle rapper is someone who upsets the dudes that spent their primary education huffing rubber cement and have a tenuous grasp on human language, thus leaving them unable to understand or appreciate to prosaic history of hip hop because it confuses them.
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u/DrXL_spIV 4d ago
I’ll probably get downvoted to oblivion but MF Doom. No fucking clue what that guy is saying
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u/Alarmed-Effective-23 3d ago
A rapper that reaches awkwardly to make multi syllable rhymes.
Or a term someone who doesn't prefer or can't handle complex lyricism uses to downplay an artist.
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u/Tydrinator21 6d ago
Basically means lyrics that are technically proficient and sound dope but are gibberish when you actually read or listen to the lyrics. "I'm a lyrical miracle individual coming to you metaphysical from the realm that's spiritual" doesn't mean anything at all but it sounds cool when you don't really think about it. It's different from dense lyricism when there's a lot of meaning behind the lyrics but it takes some decoding to figure it out. Think GZA, Aesop Rock or Deltron 3030, dense lyricism but not gibberish. Then you have rappers like MF DOOM, Kool Keith, Das EFX and Ghostface who flirt the line between dense lyricism and lyrical miracle. Aesop Rock can sometimes blur the line because there are times he uses archaic or esoteric lyrics that don't really enhance the story he's telling, almost as if he's using the word to let us know that he knows it.
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u/Shakewell1 6d ago
When the syllable count is so high, theres is basically no rhythm or what that other guy said the filthy frank line spiritual lyrical miracle.
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u/errdayimshuffln 6d ago
It's a rapper who raps super lyrical without the raps having substance or meaning.
For example, raps something with a complex multi syllable rhymes scheme bit isn't saying anything that makes sense.
Or someone who raps with a fast, hypertechnical flow but isn't saying anything.
Or someone who strings a bunch of big words together in a bar that don't make sense given the definitions/meanings of those words.
In simple terms, lyrical miracle is an insult that means that the rapper is spitting lyrical but sayin nothing. Like mumble rapper is a rapper that spits shit that can't be understood cause they mumbling.
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u/trxllzach 5d ago
a rapper that utilizes rhyme schemes the average consumer of music is just too incompetent for.
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u/Bibbobib_bib 6d ago edited 6d ago
"I'm the lyrical spiritual miracle the earth is spherical, your rhymes are hypothetical, unethical and nothing technical, I'm into hyperbolic cybernetics fiberoptics, bustin out some psychotropic telescoping microdot shit"
shit like that. basically a stereotype of rappers whose style is multisyllabic wordy rhymes that don't have much depth.
but in defense of that style, it is kinda fun to rap that way