Study Confirms Eminem Has Widest Lyrical Vocabulary, Six-Minute Freestyle Disses Caitlyn Jenner [WATCH]
Eminem has been hailed a musical genius and dubbed one of the greatest artists of all time. Rolling Stone crowned him the King of Hip Hop. He is one of the world’s biggest selling artists, having sold more than 155 million albums and singles, and now, a recent analysis of the vocabulary used by top-selling artists confirms that Eminem is a lyrical madman, beating out artists such as Kanye, Tupac, Bob Dylan, and the Beatles for having the widest vocabulary.
Varun Jewalikar and Nishant Verma, who conducted the research for Musixmatch, analyzed the vocabulary used by 99 biggest-selling acts. According to the Guardian, the team used the 100 lyrically densest songs of each of the artists to conduct their research. Their study determined that Marshall Mathers has over 8,000 unique words in his repertoire, almost double Bob Dylan’s (4,883) and over four times more than the Beatles (1,872).
On average, Eminem uses a word he has never previously used every 11 words. He beat Jay Z (6,899 words), Kanye (5,069), The Who (1,794) and Tupac Shakur (6,569). Eminem’s adoration for Shakur was detailed in a recently discovered letter that he wrote late rapper’s mother, a previous Inquisitr article details. Despite being forced to exclude artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Journey, the Beach Boys, and the Doors, (they did not have permission to use their lyrics), Jewalikar and Verma concluded that hip-hop is the most lyrically diverse genre overall.
“When I started the research I was expecting that the hip hop musicians would come out on top but what I was not expecting that artists like Julio Iglesias and Andrea Bocelli and Gloria Estefan, who all sing in different languages as well as English, would be so close behind,” Jewalikar admitted.
“This analysis should not be interpreted as saying that one musician is better than the other, it is just another insight into the work of these amazing artists… It gives us a peek into the minds of different songwriters, some tear your heart with just a few words while others paint an intricate picture with a thousand words.”
Eminem proved he’s worthy to be crowned lyrical champion with a six-minute freestyle that he dropped on Sway in the Morning, dissin’ Bill Cosby, Donald Trump, and Caitlyn Jenner with a pearl-clutching lyric that some are calling transphobic: “I see the bi**h in you, Caitlyn,” rhymes the rapper. “Keep the pistol tucked like Bruce Jenner’s d**k.” Check out video of Em’s freestyle below.
Jake Gyllenhaal recently revealed that he stepped up to play a boxing champ in the movie Southpaw after Eminem dropped out due to scheduling and work conflicts. The role was originally meant for Mathers, who had approached the screenwriter about remaking The Champ. Eminem’s life growing up in Detroit, his struggle with the death of his best friend, and his close relationship with his daughter were used as inspiration for the story. He remained involved with the project by writing songs for the soundtrack. In related news, a rep told Rolling Stone that despite previous reports, Eminem will not be filling in for Eazy-E on a possible N.W.A reunion tour.
[Image via Pierre Andrieu / AFP / Getty Images / LA Times]
