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Albatross wrote:Fair enough, I just don't see them as a 'top 5 favourite artists' band... not sure why. I suppose I can put it down to fact that I can't get away from my perception of them as a Damon Albarn side-project, and not a band 'proper', if you will.

But anyway, we've been down this road before - no good can come of it!

What, in your opinion, makes Del a better rapper than say, a Pharoah Monche or Mos Def? Just out of interest?

For the most part its technical skill. Del raps fast and uses quite a few tongue twisters in his rhymes but he still manages a lyrical flow that is representative of rap as a form of musical art rather then an exercise in rapidly stated poetry. Del is also somewhat free from the gangster rap trappings of continuous (and annoying) self referential songs and though he isn't totally free from the stereotype of that or glamorizing street culture he has shown in his releases that he's more then happy to conquer more whimsical ground (ala some of his Gorillaz albums or his own personal work such as deltron 3030). Most rap is samey gak about how great the rapper in question is and how much money they'll get or how people shouldn't mess with them. Del raps about science fiction stuff and pretends to be a ghost. The previous best rapper (eminem) escaped such trappings with singles like "stan" proving that there is an artist beneath the bluster, but he wasn't a stable enough personality to hold the title forever.

Of course this is all just my personal opinion.


As an example of what I mean by technical skill heres population control by company flow. Danger explicit lyrics.