What makes him/her your favorite artist?
 

Think about your your favorite rapper, what makes him or her your favorite? Is it the lyrics? Is it the fact that he uses dope beats? Or maybe they always seem to have a catchy hook, “Toot it and boot it.....” Or maybe it’s like me and Kanye where above all else you appreciate his creativity. Another question is, why do some artist get more respect than others. In some cases its clear why, but in other cases it’s a little harder to identify what separates one artist from the next as far as respect.
Take for instance Drake and J. Cole. Drake had Wayne to co-sign him, Cole had Jay. I think Cole is lyrically on par with Drake blow for blow. The only difference is that Drake is a little more punch line heavy. So the question comes about, why has drake seen so much more success than Cole? What is it that people appreciate about Drake that they can’t find in Cole. Is it something measurable? Is it something we can pinpoint exactly? Or is it something that’s intangible? I’m dying to know this.
So what is about a rapper, or an artist in general for that matter, that makes you fall in with him? What is it about that makes you say, I’m gonna go out and BUY his cd and not just download it? I’m gonna support this artist. I’m gonna listen to his music everywhere I go? I could go on, but I think you guys can see the gist of what I’m trying to find out here.

P.O.S. is quite possibly my FAVORITE artist.

In my opinion, he's never released TERRIBLE material. He's very diverse with how he can sound (he's a rapper, and a vocalist in the punk group, Building Better Bombs). His production is out of this world, and even when he doesn't produce his own stuff, it's usually produced by one of the other amazing producers in Doomtree.

He's just an all around terrific artist.

Okay Kirby. Good insight man. But any artist can have a quality string of songs and good production right? So would you say that it's his versatility that makes you appreciate him more than others?

Simple Lil Wayne thats just me I jus like the fact that he just spits it right off the top of his head no paper or nothin lol thats the only reason I like em.

DoseOne. I don't know why I should have to explain the amazing level of talent this man possesses. It's readily apparent - he's rapping like no one else out there, with Themselves, he and Jel are a superb team, he's a brilliant lyricist...

Also, I'd like to see a lot of the other rappers out there rap in such bizarre time signatures.

With Aesop Rock, I dig his multi-layered stream-of-consciousness lyrics. Love the way he spits them. Love his voice when he's spitting them. And love everything about the beats. This applies to at least 91 percent of his discography and collabs.

I love me some MF Doom (and all his other aliases) too. It's more about the way he rhymes and his voice. His lyrics are fun too, and I like the light side of them the same way I like the deep side of Aesop's lyrics, but I can't relate to them as much as I do Aesop's. Doom's beats are hit and miss with me, but I enjoy them overall.

I could go on about a lot of other artists, but those two are my top fave.

Doesn't Doom make his own beats whereas Aesop doesn't?
I absolutely love both of these artists but I think Doom's laid-back 70s soul beats deserve a lot of credit. He at least made them himself.

Aesop is a great rapper (maybe my favorite) but owes a lot of production credits to others I think. Blockhead especially.

Aesop Rock produces his own beats sometimes, but yeah, he raps over Blockhead's beats a lot. Why does that matter? It doesn't take away from him as an artist.

I agree with everything you said. All of the Doomtree collective are super talented. It's where I think hip hop should be at this point.

Nas is my favorite artists for a lot of reasons. He's the best lyricist there is. His rhyme schemes are amazing, he always mixes it up. It's never predictable. He's an amazing story-teller, and does it really creatively. His DJ Premier beats that he uses is amazing.

Basically I love everything about Nas. Em is really the only guy I put near his level in basically any category.