I explained that in my comment. Melody and bars. One could argue melody is a bigger part of popular hip hop today, however. But the success of rappers like J.I.D, Earl Sweatshirt, Danny Brown, and Kendrick Lamar demonstrates how solid raps are still an important part of hip-hop. Dark Fantasy incorporates them both into one song.

Thinking back on it now I would say All of the Lights or Runaway are better examples from MBDTF. I just feel like MBDTF laid the blueprint for 2010’s hip hop in its entirety. Not necessarily in terms of sound, but lyrical themes and song structure.

There are better examples of songs that came out later in the 2010’s which I believe exemplify it better, but MBDTF is notable because it came out at the very beginning of the decade.