If u want lyrical enlightenment, Eminem is always a good choice. There are other great rappers out there .. they have so many different styles u gotta choose according to your own preference
Eminem fans are in full force. I don't think Eminem is really the type to have some deep songs... he is a good rapper, it has some meaning but it is not wow. Over all, there are good rap songs. I can even say that compared to Eminem.. the guy who had a rap battle with him(forgot his name, the tall blonde guy), has deeper & more meaningful songs. In certain countries, rap is used in a more meaningful way. For e.g. they keep the 90s style but they rap about corruption, social issues that lead to gangs, suicide, drugs, health, age & so much more. It feels like US rap is commercialized... in fact, it has become predictable & only about sex, drugs, tough guy & other shallow things. (meaning exists in rap but it is obscured by the popular rap about sex & stupid shit)
Rap is good and just like all music, you got shit that is good and shit that is bad. Its just a matter of effort and time to sift through it all to find stuff that you like.
While I disagree with your take on Eminem I will say that England especially has some phenomenal Lyricists with good meaning to their songs. Some of the YouTube rappers have some good ones, NF has many songs relating to depression and if I remember correctly he doesn't curse in much of his music. Rap can be extremely poetic and laced with double entendres unfortunately most popular rap is club music at best and garbage at worst.
I like this song because it reminds me of my youth. I wanted to be independent, free, to grow up, be cool & myself.. I rushed, I listened to friends, peer pressure to find my own place & then ended up doing stupid things because of it. Here, it is in Romanian:
I don’t listen to rap too often, but one artist I love listening to that incorporated rap into his music was Nujabes. Something about the rap really adds more flavor to the music; they are like musical notes instead of simply words.
There's plenty of good rap outside of what the billboard likes to show to the mainstream. Check out artist like Mick Jenkins, Denzel Curry, JPEGMAFIA, and Big Krit for modern day rappers.
Obviously Machine Gun Kelly is the best. NF is great, I like that he tries hard not to cuss in his raps, it's honestly kinda classy.