Inspired by the fact that Shakespeare used 28,829 different words in his works, data scientist Matt Daniels decided to analyze the vocabulary of various hip-hop artists.
Matt used token analysis to analyze various artists’ first 35,000 lyrics. Various forms of a word are counted as multiple words, such as “pimps, pimp, pimping, and pimpin”. He used lyrics from Rap Genius as his official source.
Wu-Tang Clan dominated the list, both as a group and in their respective solo careers. Here’s the list of the wordiest rappers and the number of words in their vocabulary:
1. Aesop Rock: 7,392 words
2. GZA: 6,426
3. Kool Keith: 6,238
4. Canibus: 5,991
5. Cunninlynguists: 5,971
6. RZA: 5,905
7. Wu-Tang Clan: 5,895
8. The Roots: 5,803
9. Ghostface Killah: 5,774
10. Killah Priest: 5,737
Nina Ulloa covers breaking news, tech, and more. She also runs West Coast Fix. Follow her on Twitter: @nine_u
that article “ain’t nuthing ta F wit”
No Beastie boys in this analysis? They are pretty wordy
Wha??? No El-P??? I’m speechless….
i’m not connecting the title of this article with being #7 on the list
eeeeh… the title…