[thebigredjay]

The trick about this concept, and this strategy, is that you have to consider just what exactly you are practicing. I took a peek at his MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/sickabodsane) and honestly, he is not the most technically adept rapper. His rhymes and rhyme schemes are usually fairly simple and his topics aren't particularly striking. He has good cadence and breath control, he is easy to follow, and his stuff is catchy though.

I would argue that in this process his key outcome was not improving his rapping ability. He learnt about stage presence, handling a microphone, interacting with a crowd, picking suitable topics to entertain that crowd, and probably more. As a result of consistently performing and being in this place he has likely built a network of people doing similar things and of fans. For someone who wants to succeed in a rap career these are all important things, but my question is did his rapping actually improve?

It's all a question of metrics and of knowing exactly what you want to get out of your project.

[dgreensp]

It sounds to me like you are just debating the semantics of "good rapper" in a way independent of the article.