Ghanaian rapper, Elom Adablah, also known as EL, has listed his top five lyricists in Ghana while snubbing Sarkodie and other rappers.
He listed Kojo Cue, King Tradey, Kev the Topic, Manifest, Omar Sterling, formerly known as Paedae, and Obibini, as his top five lyricists in Ghana.
Explaining who a lyricist is in an interview with DJ Slim, the award-winning rapper said that unlike rappers, who are able to produce and recite words to a rhythm and a beat, a lyricist is able to convey a message in a very artistic and complex manner, such that listeners must listen a couple of times to understand the message being communicated.
He said: “Let me list five of my most respected lyricists, not rappers. This is because anybody can rap.
“Rap is just putting words together, making them rhyme, and making them work, and that is rap.
“People might love that, but when it comes to lyricism, it is a different conversation; it is an art. These are songs you have to listen to a couple of times to get the message. Sometimes you get the meaning of one line, wait, and then unconsciously get the meaning of the next line another time.”
EL maintains that his list is not ordered and that the list of his top five lyricists in Ghana was generated from rappers who are still active and relevant in the music industry.
He said he could make a different list of the top five lyricists from the rappers of old.
Meanwhile, EL’s list of top five lyricists in Ghana has sparked conversations as most netizens questioned why the likes of Sarkodie, Strongman, and Lyrical Joe were missing from his list.
While others agreed with him on his list, they believed that EL was just mentioning the names of his friends who are rappers or rappers who rap using the English language.
