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Hip hop on top as Kanye West beats Bob Dylan in breadth of lyrical vocabulary Hip-hop on top as Kanye West beats Bob Dylan in breadth of lyrical vocabulary
(about 5 hours later)
He has been hailed a genius,and described as the greatest songwriter America has ever produced. But new research pitting the lyrical breadth of Bob Dylan against some of today’s most successful rap artists suggests the times they are a-changing. He has been hailed a genius and described as the greatest songwriter America has ever produced. But new research pitting the lyrical breadth of Bob Dylan against some of today’s most successful rap artists suggests the times they are a-changing. Analysis of the vocabulary used by 99 of the biggest-selling artists has revealed that the lyrical vocabulary of hip hop’s finest, including Eminem, Jay Z, Tupac Shakur and Kanye West, features hundreds more words than that of Dylan.
Analysis of the vocabulary used by 99 biggest-selling artists has revealed that the lyrical vocabulary of hip hop’s finest, including Eminem, Jay Z, Tupac Shakur and Kanye West, features hundreds more words than that of Dylan. Eminem was found to have the widest lyrical vocabulary of all, using 8,818 different words – almost double Dylan’s 4,883 and over four times more diverse than the lyrical content of the Beatles. He was closely followed by Jay Z, whose musical vocabulary encompassed 6,899 words, and West, who has 5,069 unique words in his repertoire, ensuring that hip-hop overwhelmingly emerged as the most lyrically expansive genre overall, greatly exceeding the average lyrical vocabulary size of 2,677 words.
Eminem was found to have the widest lyrical vocabulary of all, spanning 8,818 different words – almost double Dylan’s 4,883 and over four times more diverse than the lyrical content of the Beatles. West’s high rankings in the analysis could prove particularly interesting in light of a backlash against the rapper about the worth of his music. “He can’t write, sing, or play. At all,” tweeted David Crosby of Crosby Stills and Nash last month, describing West as “dumb as a post – he creates nothing”.
He was closely followed by Jay Z, whose musical vocabulary encompassed 6,899 words and West, who has 5,069 unique words in his repertoire, ensuring that hip-hop overwhelmingly emerged as the most lyrically expansive genre overall well exceeding the average lyrical vocabulary size of 2,677 words.
West’s high rankings in the analysis could prove particularly interesting in light of a backlash against the rapper about the worth of his music. “He can’t write, sing, or play. At all,” tweeted David Crosby of Crosby Stills and Nash last month, describing West as “dumb as a post, he creates nothing”.
In order to level the playing field between artists whose careers have spanned only a few years and those who have been writing songs for four decades, Varun Jewalikar and Nishant Verma, who conducted the research for Musixmatch, used the 100 lyrically densest songs of each of the artists to conduct the research. They were also forced to exclude Bruce Springsteen, Chicago, Def Leppard, Journey, the Beach Boys and the Doors because they did not have permission to use their lyrics.In order to level the playing field between artists whose careers have spanned only a few years and those who have been writing songs for four decades, Varun Jewalikar and Nishant Verma, who conducted the research for Musixmatch, used the 100 lyrically densest songs of each of the artists to conduct the research. They were also forced to exclude Bruce Springsteen, Chicago, Def Leppard, Journey, the Beach Boys and the Doors because they did not have permission to use their lyrics.
Jewalikar first got the idea for the comparison after reading a piece of research conducted last year by data scientist Matt Daniels, who pitched the vocabulary diversity of hip hop artists against the works of Shakespeare and Herman Melville to see who used a wider range of words. Jewalikar first got the idea for the comparison after reading a piece of research conducted last year by data scientist Matt Daniels, who pitched the vocabulary diversity of hip-hop artists against the works of Shakespeare and Herman Melville to see who used a wider range of words. Jewalikar admitted that it had thrown up certain surprises, including the high rankings of artists including Julio Iglesias, Andrea Bocelli, Gloria Estefan and Celine Dion.
Jewalikar admitted that it had thrown up certain surprises, including the high rankings of artists including Julio Iglesias, Andrea Bocelli, Gloria Estefan and Celine Dion. “When I started the research, I was expecting that the hip hop musicians would come out on top, but what I was not expecting that artists like Julio Iglesias and Andrea Bocelli and Gloria Estefan, who all sing in different languages as well as English, would be so close behind,” he said.
“When I started the research I was expecting that the hip hop musicians would come out on top but what I was not expecting that artists like Julio Iglesias and Andrea Bocelli and Gloria Estefan, who all sing in different languages as well as English, would be so close behind,” he said. “And for some reason, I had also completely underestimated Celine Dion, because I was not expecting her to be number 10 – though my knowledge of her songs really only extended to Titanic before.” He added: “I also presumed that those big rock bands, like Pink Floyd and the Beatles and the Rolling Stones would at least make it into the top 20 – but turns out they can really get by without using very many different words.”
“And for some reason, I had also completely underestimated Celine Dion because I was not expecting her to be number ten – though my knowledge of her songs really only extended to Titanic before.”
He added: “I also presumed that those big rock bands, like Pink Floyd and the Beatles and the Rolling Stones would at least make it into the top 20 – but turns out they can really get by without using very many different words.”
Dylan at least used more expansive language than his contemporaries including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones (2,794 different words) and the Who (1,794).Dylan at least used more expansive language than his contemporaries including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones (2,794 different words) and the Who (1,794).
Jewaliker did not restrict the definition of vocabulary to words found in the dictionary. Jewaliker did not restrict the definition of vocabulary to words found in the dictionary. “In certain kinds of music, the slang is a very big part of the music and how people connect with it, so it would be wrong to follow the dictionary written by someone who decides what does and doesn’t count as English,” he said. “In the end, these are words that the musicians use, words that we understand and words that, over time, do get included in the dictionary.”
“In certain kinds of music, the slang is a very big part of the music and how people connect with it so it would be wrong to follow the dictionary written by someone who decides what does and doesn’t count as English,” he said. “In the end, these are words that the musicians use, words that we understand and words that, over time, do get included in the dictionary.” Pop ranked 11th out of the 25 genres studied in terms of lyrical range, proving that there was little correlation between the range of vocabulary and the commercial success of pop tunes that dominate the charts. The Spice Girls, who had sales of 41.1m, were ranked among the lowest for lyrical breadth, with only 1,497 words used, while Taylor Swift stretched to 2,524 words and Michael Jackson’s 100 densest songs featured 2,503.
Despite being pop being the most represented genre in the data, with 24 artists among the bestsellers, it only ranked 11th out of 25 in terms of lyrical range, proving that there was little correlation between the range of vocabulary and the commercial success of pop tunes that dominate the charts. Bruno Mars, whose pop songs feature only 1,489 different words, was beaten to last place by saxophonist Kenny G, who used 809 words across all his music, which is often purely instrumental.
The Spice Girls, who had sales of 41.1m, were ranked among the lowest for lyrical breadth with only 1,497 words across all their songs, while Taylor Swift stretched to 2,524 unique lyrics and Michael Jackson’s 100 densest songs featured just 2,503 different words. However, Jewalikar and Verma were keen to point out that the vocabulary size of musicians in no way correlated with their musical worth. “This analysis should not be interpreted as saying that one musician is better than the other. It is just another insight into the work of these amazing artists,” wrote the pair. “It gives us a peek into the minds of different songwriters. Some tear your heart with just a few words, while others paint an intricate picture with a thousand words.”
Bruno Mars, whose pop songs span just 1,489 different words, was only beaten to last place by saxophonist Kenny G who used 809 words across all his music, which is often purely instrumental.
However, Jewalikar and Verma were keen to point out that the vocabulary size of musicians was in no way a correlation to their musical worth.
“This analysis should not be interpreted as saying that one musician is better than the other, it is just another insight into the work of these amazing artists,” wrote the pair. “It gives us a peek into the minds of different songwriters, some tear your heart with just a few words while others paint an intricate picture with a thousand words.”