Out of ignorant curiosity, what makes him awful (in the negative sense)?
His main problem is the simple rhyme schemes. His lines are basically long sentences that rhyme at the end. He also frequently makes long pauses (a criminal offense in hiphop, IMO).
Allow me the use of a simple example to show you the difference between him and an amazing MC (rhymes are marked as -):
> Macklemore:
I call that getting tricked by a business, that shirt's -hella dough-
And having the same one as six other people in this club is a -hella don't-
Peep game, come take a look through my -telescope-
Trying to get girls from a brand? Then you -hella won't-
> Nas:
It ain't hard to -tell-, I -excel- then -prevail-
The mic is contacted, I attract -clientele-
My mic check is -life or death-, breathing a -sniper's breath-
I exhale the yellow smoke of buddha through -righteous steps-
Deep like the -Shining-, sparkle like a -diamond-
Sneak a Uzi on the -island- in my army jacket -lining-
Hit the Earth like a comet –invasion-!
Nas is like the Afrocentric -Asian-, half-man, half--amazing-
Cause in my physical I can -express- through -song-
Delete -stress- like -Motrin-, then -extend- -strong-
I drink Moet with Medusa, give her shotguns in -hell-
From the -spliff- that I -lift- and -inhale-, it ain't hard to -tell-
---
Also note the abundance of alliterations in Nas' quote.
EDIT: fixed formatting
EDIT2: couldn't resist doing the whole verse for Nas. Illmatic is so good...
IMHO, the mark of a truly great rapper is the ability to become an instrument on the track while still communicating a great deal in a small number of words. Flow and presence are as important as lyrics and rhyme schemes, and a great rapper is one who has at least 3 out of those 4 qualities at a high level, with the 4th not bad enough to detract from the others.
Dressed in all pink, 'cept my gator shoes, those are green
Draped in a leopard mink, girls standin' next to me
Probably shoulda washed this, smells like R. Kelly's sheets (Piiisssssss)
But shit, it was ninety-nine cents! (Bag it)
Coppin' it, washin' it, 'bout to go and get some compliments
Passin' up on those moccasins someone else's been walkin' in
And honorable mention for this: Your grammy, your aunty, your momma, your mammy I’ll take those flannel zebra jammies,
Saying "it's awful because it's not Illmatic" makes no sense; plenty of people would say Illmatic is the best hip-hop album of all time. So not living up to that standard doesn't make it awful.
I initilly had just 6 Nas lines (which were comparable in number of words to Macklemore's 4). Regarding cherry picking, I honestly picked 4 random lines. I don't have the time to do a full statistical analysis, although that would be really interesting.
> Saying "it's awful because it's not Illmatic" makes no sense; plenty of people would say Illmatic is the best hip-hop album of all time. So not living up to that standard doesn't make it awful.
Fair enough. In my defense, I did upgrade from "awful" to "average".
However, I find the Macklemore song more enjoyable precisely for the reasons that make him a bad rapper stylistically. Looking at the lines from each you've quoted, other than the 3rd line from Macklemore I immediately get exactly what he's communicating in the song. Nas's song is much more like a poem, I understand the metaphors and get the general gist of the song after reading your lyrics, but on a quick listen I wouldn't have much of an idea of what the song is even about.
Maybe it's just a storytelling vs. poem artistic difference. Or maybe Macklemore is just more approachable for casual listeners who aren't really that connected to hip hop.
Maybe I just don't understand rap. :)
I find Macklemore's flow to be much closer to a prose spoken word style of flow than someone like Nas, Eminem, or Jay-Z. It's tough, perhaps misleading, to compare given that.
IMO that's what great about the song... thrifting is a complex balance between "value" on the one hand and straight-up "cheapness" on the other and he walks the line the whole song with one funny zinger after another. The touch of sincerity at the end ensures that we know it's not just typical rapper "I'm richer than you" mockery and we close it out with a little fun. In this song, I just don't know what you're seeing.