The 10 Best BET Cypher Freestyles Ever
Award shows aren't generally designed for hip-hop fans. The biggest award shows like the Oscar's and the Emmy's seem to barely acknowledge the impact of the culture. For hip-hop heads, the most consistently thrilling moment in any award show around remains the BET Cyphers shown during the annual BET Hip-Hop Awards. The cyphers are a true showcase for hip-hop's most lyrically gifted, allowing rappers to do what they do best - rock the mic.
After the brief 15-second snippet of Kendrick Lamar's upcoming cypher hit the internet two weeks ago, anticipation has never been higher for the BET Hip-Hop Awards. Speculation is rampant that Kendrick and the rest of Top Dawg Entertainment is dropping "Control 2.0" on the industry and everybody - fans, rappers, industry-folk alike - are waiting to see if the self-proclaimed King Of New York is ready to snatch the throne.
In anticipation for tonight's annual round of freestyles, XXL is looking back at 10 of the best BET Cypher freestyles dropped since the BET Hip-Hop Awards' inception in 2006. Check it out.
Black Thought
Mos Def
Year: 2009
Illest Line: “Road to Central Avenue, Cooper House, Cypress/And live from Bedford-Stuyvesant/The livest high flyingest pilot bombardier from Pyrrhus/Stationed live and direct, Medina mastermind set.”
XXL: Mighty Mos Def a.k.a. Yasiin Bey delivers a lyrical tour of his hometown of Brooklyn as he produces an alliterative, alphabetical slaughter of BK's most famous neighborhood.
E-40
Year: 2012
Illest Line: "You may not see me on the TV channel/But in the hood I'm still hot like the left-sink handle/Mobster like Marlon Brando or should I say Tony Soprano?/I hit you with the heel of my .40 Caliber handle"
XXL: In a cypher that included West coast rap legends like Snoop Lion, Kurupt, Xzibit and DJ Quik along with relative young bucks like Kendrick Lamar and YG, E-40 stole the show with his twisty, loose flow and punchlines.
Yelawolf
Year: 2010
Illest Line: "Yelawolf, Yelawolf enter the internet/Google my music soon as I finish this intersect/I grab a pen and set/Records and then I check/
Come Julie Records only because you been in a wreck"
XXL: As a relative unknown in 2012, Yelawolf took stage and delivered one of his trademark tongue-twisting lyrical assaults.
Joe Budden
Year: 2009
Illest Line: “You past your prime, I ain’t speak ether yet/You need a major, I just need an Ethernet/Word on the streets I make the OGs be upset/’Cause I’ma student of the game, not a teacher’s pet.”
XXL: Joe Budden has consistently been one of hip-hop's most fearless emcees. He is completely unafraid to go out at the necks of rap's most celebrated stars. In 2009, he came for Jay Z and Method Man with a series of subliminal bombs aimed at the rap legends.
Fabolous
Jadakiss
Royce Da 5'9
Year: 2011
Illest Line: "I'm do or die dope and you can make the sticker sitting on the door of that Phantom, your suicide note/Hi Rihanna.. is Nicki living with you?
Let me know so I can buy binoculars and telescopes"
XXL: Royce's infamous "Hi, Rihanna" verse from the celebrated "Shady 2.0" cypher transformed the line into a meme.
Nicki Minaj
Year: 2009
Illest Line: “Mac and cheese, steak, fried chicken, the guts/And I’m killin’ these bitches, Mike Vickin’ it up.”
XXL: In a verse that can be seen as a prelude to her show-stopping appearance on "Monster" the next year, Nicki Minaj out-shined every rapper in cypher including veterans Buckshot, Joe Budden and Wale in 2009 with this verse. Sometimes all it takes is one verse to prove that you are a star.
Eminem
Year: 2009
Illest Line: "I hit you as hard as barbiturates in the ribs with a switch/and stitch you at the same time before you can flinch to it"
XXL: Five years after Eminem made a virtual disappearance from rap, Eminem returned to deliver a blistering freestyle that answered the question "Remember Me?" for himself.