Rapsody hits “Rate The Bars” to drop knowledge on J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, and yes, Bhad Bhabie.
A purist to be sure, and no stranger to the art lyricism, Rapsody came through to hold it down on BET’s excellent “Rate The Bars.” Given her own aptitude for the written word, her validation holds more weight than the average scribe. Off the bat, Rapsody shows some love to King Mez‘ bars on “MF+G,” a bonafide banger to be sure. “I don’t know who wrote this, but I’ma give this a 5,” she says, before moving on to Petey Pablo’s classic “Raise Up.” Though amusing enough to merit a laugh, Rapsody isn’t quite moved by Pablo’s lyrical stylings. Next up is DaBaby‘s “Suge,” which finds her ably breaking down his “convertible” metaphor. “It’s a different way to say I’ll push your wig back,” she muses. “Nothing there. I wasn’t wowed by it, but it’s cool.”
She eventually lands on some bars from her former collaborator J. Cole, particularly his AC-DC Adaptors scheme on “Album Of The Year Freestyle.” “Man, this is ill right here,” she says. “I gotta say, this a Cole line? I ain’t gon’ try to guess right now. This is in the four-five area. That’s how good these bars are.” Sadly, Bhad Bhabie’s bars aren’t quite up to Rap’s personal standard. “I ain’t gon’ give you a one, but I’ll give you a one and a half” she says, upon receiving a few choice lines from “These Heaux.” “I ain’t gonna try to break that down. Who wrote that! Yeah, that’s bad.”
In a breath fresh air to follow, Rapsody receives some fire from Kung-Fu Kenny, immediately identifying some his “Power” bars. “The best thing about Kendrick is his rhyme schemes,” she explains. “How he plug his words in like them joints be falling…Let me tell you something! You could teach a course on these lines, that’s how in depth they are. It’s like you searching for water, there ain’t no water there. If you just chasing emptiness, it’s like sand. You get it in your hand, it run right through. That legacy is water.”
For more wisdom from Rapsody, be sure to check out the full episode below.