Ok, Now We Really Know Who Has The Largest Vocabulary In Hip-Hop

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This past May, we covered The Largest Vocabulary In Hip-Hop, a data visualization project by designer and coder Matt Daniels. As the title suggests, Daniels sorted through a huge collection of bars, rhymes, and flows and through token analysis he determined which rappers used the highest number of unique words in the first 35,000 lyrics of their studio albums.

"It still isn't perfect," wrote Daniels at the time, "Hip-hop is full of slang that is hard to transcribe, compound words, featured vocalists, and repetitive choruses." Regardless, it was a creative effort that shed light on which rappers have chomped through their rhyme dictionaries. Today, however, Daniels has updated his project with some interesting new tidbits about some of our most beloved wordsmiths.

In version two, Daniels "decided to add rappers who are known for their word-obession," and included a few others who were "noticeably" missing from version one. Now, Danny Brown, Action Bronson, Immortal Technique, and (for laughs?) Rick Ross, among others, are part of the chart. Also, he collaborated with Pop Chart Lab to make a beautiful illustrated version of the new map. Here's the full list of new MC additions:

Danny Brown

George Watsky

Childish Gambino

Jedi Mind Tricks

2 Chainz

K-Rino

Murs

Mac Dre

Action Bronson

Immortal Technique

Del the Funky Homosapian

Atmosphere

Sage Francis

Kendrick Lamar

J. Cole

Mac Miller

Jean Grae

Rick Ross

Trick Daddy

As Daniels expected, the list changed a lot. Jedi Mind Tricks, Action Bronson, Sage Francis, and Del The Funkey Homosapian are now in the top tier—though Aesop Rock still leads the pack with 7,392 unique words. "Boy was I (and the Internet) right," the designer wrote.

He also added that notoriously fervent online hip-hop mafia commenters should take the project with a grain of salt. "Think of this as a data-point that sparks interesting discussion about hip hop and word-usage, and absolutely not a conclusive argument for rapper x is better than rapper y."

Well, glad that settles things. For a second we were worried people would start thinking Jedi Mind Tricks were actually worth talking about again. See the original chart below, and support the project by buying the poster over at Pop Chart Labs.

See the former chart here:

via MF'in Daniels

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