Music in Our Schools Month: Vocabulary: A Rapper's Delight!

Data scientist Matt Daniels examined the vocabulary of several rap artists' lyrical output and found them to be quite extensive, rivaling in size the vocabularies of some of the greatest authors who have ever written in English. Here is the list of the top 25 rappers, in descending order of vocabulary size (as demonstrated by their lyrics). Let's celebrate the ingenuity of the rappers highlighted with this list of 25 great turns of phrase which contain memorable vocabulary!
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. allure
    the power to entice or attract
    So when a dogfight's hog-tied prize sort of costs a life
    The mouths water on a fork and knife
    And the allure isn't right
    --None Shall Pass, Aesop Rock
  2. extortion
    unjust exaction, as by the misuse of authority
    He move into a new world, and seek this fortune
    And suited himself to the times with extortions
    A hustle that was ruled by men and murder
    He earned enough his daily bread and wanted to move further
    --Path of Destruction, GZA
  3. vexed
    troubled persistently especially with petty annoyances
    That's word to hoss, animal heads, stupid fly gorilla
    I get pros vexed, on ghetto clicks I get iller
    --Get Off My Elevator, Kool Keith
  4. arcane
    requiring secret or mysterious knowledge
    I'm a hypo-lyrical spontaneous alchemical
    Elite neo-liberal child of the indigo
    Drilling holes through the Faraday cages of your brains
    Then I implant the arcane image of Saint Germaine
    --Fraternity of the Impoverished, Canibus
  5. stanza
    a fixed number of lines of verse forming a unit of a poem
    Lookin' for answers, seekin' the chance ta
    Make up for time that got lost in these stanzas
    The click of my heels ain't takin' me to Kansas
    Thinkin' bout Tuck got me stuck in these transits
    --Don't Leave ( When Winter Comes), Cunninlynguists
  6. infiltrate
    pass through an enemy line in a military conflict
    Devils only come amongst you, if you allow them now
    Do to trading, they infiltrate with persuasion
    That desire to rob and steel and make slaves of all
    --Booby Trap, RZA
  7. flamboyant
    tending to attract attention; marked by ostentatious display
    Crazy flamboyant for the rap enjoyment
    My clan increase like black unemployment
    --Protect Yo' Neck, Wu-Tang Clan ( RZA's verse)
  8. forsake
    leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch
    Yo, yo, lost generation, fast paced nation
    World population, confront their frustration
    The principles of true hip hop have been forsaken
    It's all contractual and about money making
    Pretend to be cats, don't seem to know their limitations
    Exact replication and false representation
    --What They Do, The Roots
  9. cower
    crouch or curl up
    Can't stop my reign or terrorize the power
    Tony Starks, new king of this crown, y'all better cower
    --I Declare War, Ghostface Killah
  10. sovereignty
    government free from external control
    Is it the prophecies of Deuteronomy
    that drove us to this poverty?
    Trapped with starvin seeds
    Fightin for sovereignty
    --Hard Times, Killah Priest
  11. complacent
    contented to a fault with oneself or one's actions
    I don't try to stay here
    I just fly away here
    Out of my oasis
    I am not complacent
    --Nowhere Fast, Blackalicious
  12. clique
    an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose
    Yall know G Rap got it lock down
    Whole clique put a lot down get found with a hot round
    --Fight Club, Kool G Rap
  13. vacate
    leave behind empty; move out of
    Yo, security pattin my legs and waist
    but if I vacate the place, it'll be ... "stay down!"
    --Let's Get Dirty, Redman
  14. timid
    showing fear and lack of courage
    Luther Vandross couldn't make a home out of this house that we smooshed
    Smashed, pushed to the limit! Smash and turned it timid!
    --The Rooster, OUTKAST
  15. trickle
    run or flow slowly, as in drops or in an unsteady stream
    He don't make it rain he make it trickle (trickle)
    Me I'm a hustler I make it triple (triple)
    --Red Cup. E-40
  16. truancy
    failure to attend, especially school
    Don't make 'em have to get cutting like truancy
    Matter fact not for nothing right now you and me
    --One Beer, MF Doom
  17. prognosis
    a prediction of the course of a disease
    I rap divine, Gods check the prognosis, is it real or showbiz?
    My window faces shootouts, drug overdoses
    --Memory Lane (Sittin' in Da Park), Nas
  18. cynic
    someone who is critical of the motives of others
    It's not how you play the game it's how you win it
    I cheat and steal and sin and I'm a cynic
    --Shadrach, Beastie Boys
  19. recollect
    recall knowledge from memory
    Twenty-something years ago as I proceed to recollect
    A newborn shorty had to 'ford cheques off Bushwick
    --Can't Have Nuttin', Das Efx
  20. stagnate
    exist in a changeless situation
    YouknowhatI'msayin? Let's not think like we gon' be stagnating man
    Let's keep movin ahead man, keep our head up man
    Take care of our families man
    --Striving for Perfection, Raekwon
  21. culprit
    someone or something responsible for harm or wrongdoing
    You have created a monster. - Wake up and call out the culprit!
    --Phenom, XZIBIT
  22. devious
    characterized by insincerity or deceit
    It sit deep in my chest, so let me express
    Grew up on 868, oh y’all don’t need the address
    It was ‘round CVS, we were so devious
    The city never sleeps, it be needing some rest
    --Seven Deadly Sins ( Nobody's Smiling), Common
  23. ballistic
    of the motion of objects moving under their own momentum
    ... cause I'm a sandwich short of a picnic,
    cause you ain't equipped with the sickening style
    blowing up the spot like ballistic missiles
    --Meth vs. Chef, Method Man
  24. prerogative
    a right reserved exclusively by a person or group
    Answering any other service,
    Perogative praised positively I'm acquitted
    Enemies publicly shame my utility
    After the battle they admit that I'm with it
    --Plug Tunin' ( Last Chance to Comprehend) De La Soul
  25. diction
    the articulation of speech to be intelligible to an audience
    And it's hard to be focused going around all these women
    I tell her I'm much deeper, that don't mean I'm much different
    More like the writing, Iceberg Slim with better diction.
    --Change Up, Wale
Created on Mon Sep 08 11:38:48 EDT 2014 (updated Mon Mar 25 17:18:50 EDT 2024)

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