Renowned Ghanaian rapper and music producer, E.L, has finally revealed his top five lyricists in the Ghanaian rap scene, sparking a conversation about the art of lyricism in rap.
In a conversation on the ‘Street is Watching’ podcast with DJ Slim, E.L addressed his social media outburst in response to being ranked lower than expected on the Daily Graphic’s list of top Ghanaian rappers. E.L stated that he was a bit perplexed when he did not find his name in the compilation. As the conversation progressed, the host asked him to compile his top five rappers in the country. However the “IDGAF”rapper proposed to list his top five lyricists instead.
“Let me list five of my most respected lyricists, not rappers, because anybody can rap. Rap is just putting words together, making them rhyme, and making them make sense somewhat. That is rap,” he said.
Explaining his preference for lyricists over rappers, E.L described lyricists as artists who convey meaningful rap messages through beats and rhythms in a coherent and artistic manner, often requiring multiple listens to fully grasp the depth of their lyrics.
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“Anybody can rap, rap is just putting the words together making them rhyme and making it make sense somewhat, and people might love that. But when it comes to lyricism, it is a different conversation, it is an art, its almost a science,” he said.
EL listed his top 5 lyricists in Ghana. 🔥
Sarkodie and LJ are missing.
pic.twitter.com/FrC0arbIlh— EL-DAD (@ChristDeKing) August 4, 2024
According to E.L, his top five most respected Ghanaian lyricists were Kojo Cue, Omar Sterling (formerly known as Paedae), Manifest, Kev the Topic, and Tradey, with a special mention of Obibini. E.L stated that these artistes write lyrics that require multiple listens over time to fully decode and appreciate.
“You have to listen a couple of times to get the whole thing. You might get one line the first listen, sometimes you get the meaning of the line later. And that is what hip-hop is about; it about digging deep,” E.L told DJ Slim.
He stated that that the list was in no particular order, as he considered all the mentioned rappers to be active industry peers and competitors in terms of lyricism.
