Hip-Hop Word Count™
The Hip-Hop Word Count is a searchable ethnographic database built from the lyrics of over 40,000 Hip-Hop songs from 1979 to present day.
The Hip-Hop Word Count describes the technical details of most of your favorite hip-hop songs. This data can then be used to not only figure out interesting stats about the songs themselves, but also describe the culture behind the music.
How can analyzing lyrics teach us about our culture?
The Hip-Hop Word Count locks in a time and geographic location for every metaphor, simile, cultural reference, phrase, rhyme style, meme and socio-political idea used in the corpus of Hip-Hop.
The Hip-Hop Word Count then converts this data into explorable visualisations which help us to comprehend this vast set of cultural data.
This data can be used to chart the migration of ideas and builds a geography of language.
The readability scores are on a scale from 0 (illiterate) to 20 (post-graduate degree). The following songs are featured:
Rakim: Microphone Fiend
50 Cent: I Get Money
Lupe Fiasco: Superstar
Kanye West: Big Brother
Lil Wayne: I’m Me
Pharrell: Everybody Nose
Jay-Z: Dead Presidents 2
Tupac Shakur: Trapped
Barack Obama: A Serious Energy Policy
John Mc Cain: On Energy Security
Notorious B.I.G.: Warning
Da Brat: Funkdafied
Next up: Da Brat. See the Hip-Hip Word Count Archive here.
miss al boogz said,
so what’s the highest score a song can get? we’re not considering use of metaphor and it’s depth?? double entendre??
de la ish is post-grad.
Tahero said,
We calculate the final score by averaging the syntax (readability measures) and semantic (artistic sophistication) scores of each rhyme. The top end of the scale is 20.
CufRock said,
I would be REALLY interested in the score that “Lyrics of Fury” would have gotten…
Pharrell said,
Wow, that is pretty damn cool!
Edwin said,
Haha nice program. Keep it up.
If you do requests, where does Common - The Corner stand?
Governor Slugwell said,
This is a brilliant idea!!!!
Tahero said,
Thanks!!! We Take Requests.
Sickillah said,
He needs his ghostwriter back from Get rich or die trying, fucking terrible, catchy song tbh.
Kev said,
Yeah, Edwin, The Corner would be a good one to measure..
Tahero said,
Everyone asked for a Lil Wayne wordcount, thinking he would score low. He actually has a lot of 3 syllable words in this song.
Tarnin said,
Would it be possible to request “My Melody” by Rakim? That song is INSANE. That or “Living In The World Today” by GZA/Genius would be dope!
noah said,
hi i was wondering if i could request nas-memory lane
OBALLER said,
Hey i was wondering if you could do “Mastermind” by Deltron 3030.. it has to get the highest score of out of any rap song.
SPxKC said,
put every song from:
the infamous- mobb deep
illmatic- nas
paid in full- rakim
follow the leader- rakim
stillmatic- nas
reasonable doubt- jay-z
only built 4 cuban linx…- raekwon the chef
36 chambers- wu-tang clan
liquid swords- GZA/ Genius
straight outta compton- N.W.A
ameriKKKas most wanted- ice cube
supreme clientele- ghostface killah
and you should have yourself a classic and useful hiphop website
ps
great idea, but you need more songs
Tahero said,
We agree, we need more songs. And we are currently working on that very idea. Thanks for the critique. Stay tuned.
dinkyla said,
This is a great idea, but the implication is that big words = big mind, and that is simply not true. For instance, anyone can use the word “counter-intuitive,” but a better test of any big word usage is whether or not the speaker is using the word correctly. An even better indicator of intelligence or comprehension is whether or not the speaker is saying something new, profound, or multi-layered. Shakespeare is full of short, little words, but there are lots of big ideas contained therein. Hell, Shakespeare disproves my first point: his incorrect word usage (turning nouns into verbs and creating neologisms, i.e. “Unsex me here!” in _Macbeth_) shows an innovative approach to word meanings that show super high comprehension and intelligence, not a super low version of same.
RP said,
I agree with OBALLER…I think Mastermind by Deltron 3030 would be the highest scoring of any rap song and I think it would be cool to see how a rap song would get on your scale.
Tahero said,
Dinkyla. That’s a very good point.
In addition to syntax and semantics we are currently working on adding more types of intelligence to the rubric to have a more complete analysis.
You sound like you’re in education, we will be looking for beta testers once the new site is launched - you interested?
chitown player said,
hey what about “My Philosophy” by BDP and also X-Clan.
I think they made words up eh? Yeah did you ever say how you can quantify wit via double entendre? How is this project going? Any responses from hip hop artists, labels, producers, academics? anyone? anyone?
tahero said,
The Project is coming along well. Our method is proprietary but I can tell you that creative language use is a weighted function according to our scale. We are still in Beta mode while finishing up some deals. News to come soon.
isis said,
love the idea! ran across some postcards at frank white’s…how can i get/purchase some more?
Temple3 said,
If you ever get around to scoring, “Who is God?” by Rakim, it’s going to tip your scales. Thanks for this. Excellent work.
BANKS said,
Yo this is a cool idea! I’m digging this. Y’all should rate a Big Pun verse though. I’d like to see that.
heyay said,
i’m interested in the score of some aesop rock songs.
anti-elitist said,
Here’s a better idea…stop trying to measure the level of education needed to understand the components of something that is in fact an art form. I mean come on, how do you determine what is considered “artistic sophistication”? If this were applied to poetry, say Langston Hughes’ “Mother to Son”, what would the score be? “Artistic sophistication” is qualitative and highly subjective, and I truly question how it’s been implemented. Although I don’t believe it’s your intent, this tool can easily be used (as I’ve already seen on grandgood.com) to compare Rakim’s vs. 50 Cent’s lyrics. Huh? What’s the purpose in that, on a site that despises Lil Wayne and 50 Cent and worships KRS-One and Immortal Technique? Reads like hip hop elitism rearing its big a–ugly head again! This rubric is being used to indicate that hip hop should be communicated in only a particular way in order to be considered more legitimate than others, and it appears that its results are used to devalue the use of slang, jargon, colloquialism in lyrics.
The hip hop community has been divided enough by record labels and media that have manipulated fans into factions of so-called purists that worship “intelligent” or “conscious” hip hop versus so-called commercial hip hop that is more for dancing than anything JUST to sell records! I don’t even need to drop the quote but f— it, don’t believe the hype! Honestly, using a string of SAT words in your rhymes does not correlate to requiring a higher education level to understand them, just as possessing degrees in higher ed. will not dictate whether the lyrics are intellectually astute. Most of Rakim and Wu-Tang’s lyrics are cipher-based, and if you’re not 5 percent, the isht doesn’t make any sense, I don’t care if you’re a PhD in English Literature! But when translated into normal every day English - not even slang, just common English - the concepts are just not that deep. I’m a Bay native and a lot of Del’s and Hiero’s early stuff made absolutely no sense, but was loaded with what I guess you are considering “artistic sophistication” such as alliteration, metaphors, similes, etc. Which, I must comment on, I learned about figurative language in the 6th grade in the hallowed halls of “ebonics”-central — Oakland Public Schools!! So I’m not sure about how you can weigh “artistic sophistication” given that!
Instead of focusing on trying to apply mathematics to an art form (which, as a writer and performer, is an idea that I absolutely abhor!) , a better idea would be to run one of George W.’s or Gov. Palin’s speech through it! I would rather know how much education is required to understand the answers in the upcoming debates to see which candidates actually can reach across the spectrum of American voters!
Bjune21 said,
1st off this is a great idea…..
it shows the art hip hop is imo…….
check these songs out…
they are all “extreme lyricism”
cee-lo- big ole words
cee-lo-one for the road
mf doom-kon queso…..or almost any other doom song
blackalicious-alphabet aerobics
blackalicious-my pen and pad
if you all ever compose a program for this please let me know..i’d love to put a few of my songs on there and see what level i write on…
also…i dont know if it already test songs for this…but try to add something for internal rhymes….i found that almost every song…hip hop or otherwise has them….
Fixda said,
I think Eminem would score big
Tahero said,
good points - anti-elitist. I’m at lunch right now but as soon as I’m done with my arugula salad I’ll respond in detail. Until then have a look at our Word Count’s of McCain’s and Obama’s speeches on their respective energy policies.
Tahero said,
Bjune21, Temple3, BANKS, Fixda & heyay all of those artists and more are covered in our next version.
ccluskin said,
Tahero -
First, I love the idea of analyzing the artistic sophistication through similes/metaphors and the verbal traits of a given rap song. Brilliant. I do have a few questions though. First, let me preface my questions by saying that I understand that your method is proprietary, and so some questions can’t be answered. I believe the general nature of my questions, but more importantly the general natures of the answers they call for will alleviate any real risk of divulging your “secret sauce.” (no homo?)
I see that you included rhyme patterns in your list of analyzed traits, and I wanted to ask whether this is limited to rhyming words, or incorporates the meter and stress patterns of the entire line. This, to me, is a clear indicator of how developed (please note that I don’t conflate development with quality) a given verse is. Meter and stress patterns can also give verses a signature, by correlating to regions, time periods, and even whether something is a freestyle or a written. For example, one regional signature could be Simple and fixed (lots of Texas Screw); or a period-identifier could be fast-rapping (Big Daddy Kane). This is not to suggest how to expand your shit, which I love, but rather a justification for the suggestion of meter and stress over each line of the entire song.
Soul Assassins Fan said,
PUT B-REAL ON THIS!!!!
Go Ahead, Lick The Rapper… « LUVIN SPOONFULS said,
[...] by the rappers depicted in semi-sweet and dark. They are an extension of Staple Crops’ Hip Hop Word Count: a rubric developed by Staple Crops to estimate the education level needed to understand certain [...]
Kev Kruz said,
If anyone cares to know ( I do ) …Prince Poetry ( Organized Konfusion ) is in the process of a graphic novel type of movement with his writing. I just saw the cover art over the weekend and it is quite impressive. Thankfully the art is not the typical animation that “black” cartoon projects seem to get stuck with…..The point?…Prince Poetry writes rhymes that will be Entirely enjoyable to READ….I for one am grateful and believe that our most clever MCs should make reading material every now and then…..
adii said,
wow!
Staple Crops Offers up provocative Design, Debauchery and Dissidence « NBC Chicago Street Team said,
[...] to his creative enterprise with a line of rap chocolates. They are an extension of Staple Crops’ Hip Hop Word Count: a rubric developed by Staple Crops to estimate the education level needed to understand certain [...]
Tahero said,
To give an update: we have over 40,000 songs analyzed. We’re currently finalizing the private Beta launch. Regular commenters get first invites. Stay tuned and thanks for the feedback.
subatomicpro said,
very interesting!! i have to agree with bjune21
cee-lo - one for the road
gotta be a 20!!!!
Tahero said,
The Hip-Hop Word Count Beta v1.8 is up and running. Email me your names and I’ll send you all beta logins for participating in the early part of the conversation.
Woofers said,
Anti Elitist just killed oyur little data viz project with what he wrote, you guys need to consider other stuff as parameters to be meassured.
Jared Wade said,
Would love to see what Ras Kass’ “Nature of the Threat” scores.
Tahero said,
Send me your email address, I’ll send you a login/password & you can do the search yourself.
S.D. Rockswell said,
yo. linked.
Robert said,
any way i can get involved in this project? i recently got my phd in rhetoric and composition and wrote my dissertation on hip hop culture.
holla… robert.tinajero@tccd.edu
Lawsonhimself said,
Great concept, keep it up.
RayyanR said,
Hey, i really like this idea and was wondering if i was able to look at some of those “40,000″ songs that you have?
Dani said,
fascinating project, I’d just highlight a few hiphop sophisticados you could include:
Roots Manuva
KRS One
Saul Williams
Life MC
::: and I know this is a tall order but couldn’t you look into comparing male/female writers? not that I could list all that many female lyricists offhand (PhoebeOne, Wildflower, Selena Saliva, Yarah Bravo …) but I know there must be plenty out there.
keep it real.
D
Tahero said,
Dani. There are 2,500 artists in the database. I’ll keep this Login: hhwc / Password: guest2010 live until the end of the year. Try it out and let me know what you think: http://hiphopwordcount.com/v1.8
Dani said,
hey T, thanx, I had a look
now I’m not sure what some of those parameters are (eg smog and flesh scores) but I guess what I’d be very interested to see is the introduction of a gender parameter or two. where you now have person vs group, could be male female or group, or possibly a different parameter altogether (I don’t knowabout the technicalities). hiphop lyrics are as massively sexist as any devised by manor woman, it just seems like a logical thing to go for 
anyways, a very impressive database, statistics are a mystery to me but this looks promising.
cheers
D
Tahero said,
@Dani That’s funny we’re currently doing a gender data collection to identify rap groups as Male, Female or Mixed Gender. It’ll be done before the Rap Research Group on Femininity: http://bit.ly/rapresearch
Dani said,
awesome! so you’re workin for me now (o:
big up
D
Step said,
Hugely fascinating. Would it be possible for me to get beta access?
I wonder how you determine words, particularly with the many sounds that don’t qualify as language (or at least english)?
I liked the 50-cent visualization (I’m mainly interested in visualizations and statistical trends, ie word count across time, albums, chart position), but if the colors of the lines changed from album to album (or better from song to song) it might have been more clear. The preview from the post seemed to have this characteristic, but the blown-up version did not.
zignorphous9 said,
… a lot of Great names have been mentioned for inclusion to the Hip-Hop Word Count not to mention those already honored w/ inclusion… personally i would <3 to see The Roots included because after much soul-searching Black Thought has become tied w/ Posdnous as my Favorite MC of all time… but i’m sure digesting the discography of a group like De La Soul has unique challenges… how does one separate individual from group stats as far as Lyrics & Wordplay not to mention some of the incredible dynamics that can be achieved when 2 ( or more ) Great MCs are pushing each other & themselves for Mic Domination… not to mention a group like Beastie Boys who all but define Multi-MC Lyrical Wordplay where the rhymes of one can lead into & out of every MC’s rhyme & back again <3
… my nominees for your thoughtful consideration:
De La Soul
Beastie Boys
The Roots
Black Star
LinearBeat said,
Really cool idea.
I think that it would be really useful to use this database to analyze how the influence of the internet changed the geographical spread of rap styles and motifs, and apply that to how the internet is changing the spread of other art forms. In order to look at something like this it would be cool to see analysis of more current, “digital age” rappers like OFWGKTA. Also, I wonder if this database could be used in conjunction with Google Trends, another tool that can be used to track the language and intrests…
AE Starr said,
When is this database is going to be released online? Its a interesting idea so I had a fruitless adventure searching for the database.
jonnycooper92 said,
Awesome idea, I’d like to have a look is there a guest account I could use to log in on the site?
Alex Jefferson said,
Would it be possible to analyze anything by MF Doom or Cannibal Ox?
cody said,
this is a good idea but there is no kid cudi
Big G said,
I am teaching a course at the University of Baltimore in the Spring of 2012 and would like to utilize your database. Is there a login/password for it?
Gracesspirit said,
Man! this is a really a genius addition to hip-hop as a whole!!!
I am with the Listen 2the Lyrics and would love to learn if we could showcase database within our sessions as well as our after school program? The youth could gain so much from this
RSS feed for comments on this post · TrackBack URI
