A day out from releasing the first of three acts from his upcoming album TA13OO, Florida spitter Denzel Curry sat down with Zane Lowe on Beats 1 on Apple Music to get into the nitty-gritty details of crafting a three-arc project. 

During their conversation, Curry admitted that Dreamville MC J.I.D’s pen game is so sharp on their collaboration, "SIRENS | Z1RENZ," he was possessed to go back to the drawing board and re-write his verse.

“He’s the only person in this game that got me to write,” Curry said. “His verse was so hard on that shit, I was like, ‘I’m going back in, I’mma do that…’ He’s a lyricist.”

Damn right he is. From his impressive debut, The Never Story, last year, to his recent appearance on the 2018 XXL Freshman cover, J.I.D has proven that he is the leading lyricist of the new school. 

As his label boss J. Cole recently explained, J.I.D is teeming with "potential GOAT status," both because of his work ethic and his writing chops. J.I.D’s ability to inspire a fellow artist to step their game up is just another nod at his projected star power.

While Curry is talented enough to weave themes of mortality and death (“CLOUT COBAIN”) into his material with an impressive level of finesse, as we know, hip-hop thrives on healthy competition. If an artist with a tight delivery like Denzel Curry can be inspired to continue upping their writing skills, then we will be having a much more interesting conversation about the best lyricists of hip-hop’s new wave in the months and years to come.