The Most Random Analogy Ever (feat. The 2015 Broncos)

There is always this weird connection between beats and lyrics in hip-hop that I couldn’t quite put into words for a long time. This sprung up again after I re-listened to Nas’s albums with Hit-Boy and I realised how important it is to have great beats on an album. Like, Nas will always be Nas and spit some fire s**t, but he has been really lacking in the beats department from 2006 – 2020 (there have been obvious exceptions like Life is Good and some of Nasir, especially “Cop Shot The Kid”). But, once Hit-Boy supplied him with what felt like an unlimited supply of fire instrumentals, Nas went from a hip-hop fossil to one of the hottest rappers in the game at 50+, and an artist who’s new work I am actually looking forward too. 

So, what is the real connection between beats and lyrics? Why did Nas’s music suck for so long even though he was still the greatest rapper of all time? And for that, I want to take you back to the year 2015. 

That year was trademarked for a lot of things in sports: LeBron’s return to Cleveland, The Royals winning the world series for the first time in 30 years, the emergence of Steph Curry and the Warriors dynasty, Cam Newton having the greatest dual-threat QB season ever. But the most important for this article comes by way of the Denver Broncos. Peyton Manning was one of the best players in the league, but around late 2014, there was a noticeable decline waiting to happen. He knew that he had one more year left in him before he could call it quits. And, man was that year ugly. He threw for 9 touchdowns and 17 INTERCEPTIONS. But, while the offense was terrible, they had one of the greatest defenses ever – with players like Demarcus Ware and Von Miller (even if you don’t know football, those names just sound scary). And yet, with that god-awful offence, they still won the f**king superbowl – giving Manning his fairytale ending. 

So, in the case of hip-hop – the lyrics are the offense and the beats are the defense. You could win a Superbowl with a mid to terrible offense, but you can’t with piss-poor defense.