When I think of Dylan, I think of lyrics more than music, and his lyrics not only tell a story, but they ebb and flow and go in a million directions, they challenge traditional rhyme schemes but still rhyme, and they manage to express things in a roundabout way that is somehow more direct than just saying what you mean. They are clever and insightful and structurally they stand in a class by themselves.
I have to say, though I have far more respect for rock than for rap in general, and am a fan of far more rock music than rap music, Dylan’s lyrics were/are poetic, they could have been spoken instead of sung (and at times you can’t reallly call what Dylan did “singing” per se). I feel that his lyrics have far more in common with the cream of the crop in rap, because rap is such a lyrical form of musical expression, often times the music is simply a clever re-mixing and as such does not require the melodic talents or the virtuousity of rock and roll. And to me, Dylan’s music is very much a simple mixture of things that have worked in the past, I don’t feel as though his tunesmanship has much to do with his fame…if you were to listen to instrumental tracks of Dylan recordings, I suspect it would be rather boring.
As such, I have to say, now that I’ve laid down my caveats, that Eminem, love him or hate him, is about the only “MC” whose lyrics I appreciate on the same level as Dylan’s. Now obviously Eminem is not nearly as prolific as Dylan, but if you look at the way he can turn a phrase, it’s really quite impressive. Now rock has and has had great lyricists, I’m thinking Jack White is a great lyricist as was Kurt Cobain, and in many ways I like their music even better than either Dylan or Eminem, but it’s that almost stream of consciousness, flowing, rambling sort of vibe that both Dylan and Eminem share.