I’m not the biggest fan of R.A. The Rugged Man, I certainly appreciate his talent but his style, for the most part, just isn’t to my particular taste, outside a few songs, Learn Truth with Talib Kweli and his verse on Hallelujah for example, his multi-syllable rhyme schemes, maniacal flows and tongue and cheek delivery just don’t capture me beyond the moment hearing them. His verse on Uncommon Valor though, well, that’s a different matter!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGZsGX3B_BY

Here’s the lyrics.

Call me Thorburn, John A., Staff Sergeant

Marksman, skilled in killin', illin', I'm able and willin'

Kill a village elephant, rapin' and pillage a village

Illegitimate killers, U.S. Military guerrillas

This ain't no real war, Vietnam shit

World War II, that's a war, this is just a military conflict

Soothin' drug abusin', Vietnamese women screwin'

Sex, gamblin' and boozin' — all this shit is amusin'

Bitches and guns, this is every man's dream

I don't wanna go home where I'm just an ordinary human being

Special Op, Huey chopper gun ship, run shit

Gook run when the minigun spit, won't miss

Kill shit, spit four-thousand bullets a minute

Victor Charlie, hair-trigger, hit it, I'm in it to win it

Get it, the lieutenant hinted, the villain, I been it

The killin', I did it, cripple, did it

Pictures I painted is vivid, live it

A wizard with weapons: the secret mission, we 'bout to begin it

Government funded, behind enemy lines

Bullets is sprayin', it's heatin' up a hundred degrees

The enemy's the North Vietnamese, bitch please!

Ain't no sweat, I'm told be at ease

Until I see the pilot got hit, and we 'bout to hit some trees

Tail rotor broke, crash land

American man in Cambodia, right in the enemy hand

Take a swig of the Whiskey to calm us

Them yellow men wearin' black pajamas

They wanna harm us, they all up on us

Bang bang, bullet hit my chest, feel no pain

To my left, the Captain caught a bullet right in his brain

Body parts flyin', loss of limbs, explosions

Bad intentions, I see my best friend's intestines

Pray to the one above, it's rainin', I'm covered in mud

I think I'm dyin', I feel dizzy, I'm losin' blood I see my childhood,

I'm back in the arms of my mother I see my whole life,

I see Christ, I see bright lights I see Israelites,

Muslims and Christians at peace, no fights

Black, Whites, Asians, people of all types

I must've died, then I woke up, surprised I'm alive

I'm in a hospital bed, they rescued me,

I survived I escaped the war, came back

But ain't escape Agent Orange: two of my kids born handicapped

Spastic, quadriplegia, micro cephalic

Cerebral palsy, cortical blindness — name it, they had it

My son died, he ain't live

But I still try to think positive, ‘cause in life, God take, God give

Here’s the full version with Jedi Mind Tricks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmIH8Sua0Yw

R.A.’s verse has literally everything you could hope for in a Rap verse, complex multi-syllable rhyme schemes that aren’t forced at all, an amazing delivery that he manages to keep up for a full three minutes and that never sounds awkward, interesting and thought provoking content and well mixed vocals that sit beautifully on a fairly calm but poignant instrumental that carries an emotional feeling but allows the lyrics to shine.

‘’There’s nothing more influential than Rap music’’ to quote Kendrick Lamar and since the birth of the genre we’ve been blessed with many legendary Hip Hop verses, off the top of the head, Kendrick Lamar’s Control verse, Eminem’s verses on Renegade and maybe Wretch 32’s verse for his Fire in the Booth or Ghetts’s Grime Daily verse spring to mind, there’s more than I can think of in the moment but R.A.’s Uncommon Valor verse is definitely up there!

What’s your favourite Rap verse of all-time?