I make a post that's more than 2 paragraph's long maybe once a year. So this may be worth reading
I've included links to back up things that I feel need backing-up.Okay, before I say anything, I need to make it perfectly clear that I will be speaking from a non-bias point of view. I've never considered myself a "Technician", only someone who deeply appreciates Tech's take on lyricism and more specifically the art of rhyme. But for the sake of argument, I will be speaking as someone who has no specific interest in any artist more than any other.
The first thing you need to understand, is that
Tech is almost never just rhyming for the sake of rhyming. And when he is, it's pretty easy to notice, since he doesn't try to hide it.
He is very precisely aware of every single syllable in every single bar.(PS: The 2 links above are supposed to direct you to 21:40 & 40:17. But if you're using Google Chrome it may bug out and send you to the same time twice.)
What I've noticed separates major Tech fans from the ones who simply don't get it, is the ability to mentally split the sentences in his bars. Because Tech loves to end a sentence mid-bar and start a new one with the 2nd half of it, without ever stopping to indicate that the sentence ended there.
The reason for this is for the sake of flow. And Tech's crazy lyrical pieces start to become a lot more clear when you understand that often, flow is his #1 priority. And in this sense you'll see that he's actually using the words as instrument notes. The syllables fall perfectly into place like Tetris, and
while the bars he's spitting sometimes don't correctly follow our language's rules of grammar, because of it you're able to rock to that shit like no other. And you still know what he's describing because of his word choice.
There's a writer/author by the name of Cormac McCarthy who likes to do the same thing in his writing. However Tech is the only artist that I'm aware of who does it to this degree with lyrics.
Once you're able to grasp what I said in the above paragraph, his super hardcore lyrical shit gains a whole new layer of talent (I'm using 'talent' due to lack of a better word, but you get what I mean).
Now, NoColor, under that pretense, I'm going to explain the lines you don't understand by putting them in sentence form, with proper punctuation. This should make it easier for you to not only understand what he's saying, but to be able to have the right state of mind when listening to Tech from here on. Which I think will help a lot of people if they just give it a chance.
Ugly Duckling - "Now your chick wanna hug me and smash and look lovely in cash instead of muggy. And clash? you'd act like we was buddies in class."
See how it's suddenly clear what he's saying? Let's move along.
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"Got my painted face. Aint it great? Really illuminated, made it within a tainted space. Better to bring it straight and gain it late then aim at fake; famous for my brain, it's fate."
Tech has been around so long that he's done music with Tupac. On top of that, the dude does 2 albums and 200 shows a year for the last 11 years. And that's before we even get to the mixtapes and features. Yet Tech is still fairly unknown. But he's happy with his music regardless, and that he has kept it so real for so long. That's what he's referring to here.
Worldwide Choppers - "You with it, you get it, you never lost the apostle. He's sick, he can give it the Poe and toss in Picasso. Killin everybody off is the motto, and I be the only chopper that's tossed in the brothel. You said it's pathetic? My head is off in a taco. I sped and you bled, and you in the coffin when I go."
It's funny that you used this quote. Because he's saying that if you'll get it if you're with it right there haha. Anyway, the apostle being him. And he's talking to his fans. Stating that he's never gone anywhere.
Next line he's saying that he possesses artistic talent to the point that he's able to throw things as advanced as Poe and Picasso's work into his lyricism with ease. Next line, as we all know, Tech likes to be extremely sexual at times with his work, so bare that in mind when he says "my head is off in a taco"
Technicians - "and don't know what I mean when I say elbow macaroni bitch"
He's referring to
this skit from 2008's Killer.
Who Do I Catch - "Better pay attention, cause if ya simpin ya get froze, and I'mma leave you with a wet nose when im rippin. They catch colds"
Okay, the fact that you don't understand this is what makes it so great. He says "better pay attention" because he wants you to fucking pay attention. Which apparently you still do not do. Because
right after he goes into explaining it, he says "they be like ah.. ah.. CHA". Followed by him laughing at it. The "CHA" there, is the exact same "CHA" that he puts over most of his breaths
when he finishes laying down a verse. He does this to make the his breath control seem seamless when performing the material live. But it also happens to be the same noise you make when you sneeze.
When Tech's rippin, that "CHA" is all over his verses. And it has been for like 20 years. Get it now?
You're used to people like Em making punchlines and that are very easy to spot (for the most part). And the ones that aren't so easy to spot, like on Recovery, he goes out of his way to point them out. Which is not uncommon in hiphop. Tech's punchlines however are unbelievably well-placed and worded.
So much so that the majority of them go right over your head. And he gives no fucks about explaining it to the "simps"
Hope this helped
understandable and relatively accurate but quite boring.
its vivid, its true and it has alot of "educational" commentary attached to it.
its a klusterfuk of vividness and creativity and intricate lines yet there is an "elusive obvious" message that u will be able to take from it. And IMHO, its the most creative and artistically superior.
