Which rapper uses the widest range of lyrics in hip hop?

Here’s an interesting use of big data. Matt Daniels, a New York-based designer, analyzed the vocabulary of hip hop artists in a bid to find out which one has the most diverse word base of all.

Daniels says he dug through the first 35,000 words of a range of top rappers, using Rap Genius, and pulled together data and the following chart.

Aesop Rock, one of the lesser known artists who Daniels analyzed, came out on top, with Wu Tang Clan founding member GZA ranked second and Kool Keith third. DMX sits bottom of the pile, but Daniels has praise for his “raw energy and honesty.”

A wider range of lyrics doesn’t mean better rapping, of course, but it’s interesting to see that a lot of artists placed higher than Shakespeare — that’s something you might not expect.

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➤ The Largest Vocabulary in Hip Hop

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