The Best Rap Verse Of All-Time? R.A. the Rugged Man - Uncommon Valor

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!

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.

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?