Do you have to have freestyle abilities to "be" Hip Hop?

[Amara]

Last night, I watched a dope documentary on freestyling, there were alot of sick footage of performances/cyphers/battles and it featured the likes of Supernatural, Mos Def, MC Juice, Notorious B.I.G and alot of other lesser-known NY artists.
All of these artists that were interviewed, were saying that rappers that only write there shit, are not and never have been real Hip Hop. Personally, I think Hip Hop as expanded now, to more than just freestyling and battling. I think an artist that dosn't freestyle is just as Hip Hop as an artist who solely freestyles and dosn't write a thing. This wouldn't of been the case 10 years ago.
What are your opinions on this? Discuss.

Watched that too. What struck me was when someone, dunno who, said, one of the differences about writing lyrics as opposed to freestyling is the fact that people care about what they say, therefore, it takes time to think and say it right - they want something that is lasting. So I guess, as much as freestylers should be respected for their quick wit and ability, there's still a lot of worth in creating "music" with the intent to express messages within it.

 

[LAZARU$]

yo you gotta have freestyle skillz cus niggaz get burnt on the mmic trying to prewrite

 

[malek_5]

Yes. MCs, true MCs, not rappers, can freestyle to get the crowd going. But written shit is usually 'better' when you listen to it over and over again. I don't want to hear a whole album of freestyle, but a true MC can do it. In the words of 8Ball:

"Freestyle, not great, but if you wait for a second
I could write some shit down that could get a gold record
Thought about not the first thing that I think about
MJG and Eightball and hard is how we comin out"

Rappers who can't freestyle, and just know how to put words together to sound good, aren't true MCs. The best shows i've been to have been the shows where the MCs freestyle between songs about their surroundings. The bitches in the crowd, the event, or other shit. Freestyling is what hip hop is all about in it's purist form.

 

[Pacaveli-T]

now the degree of hip hop has changed its not so narrowminded before you had to freestyle write your own shit and compose to be respected now it goes from beats to just who can make a hit....freestyling is a casuality and one who writes his own is a luxury now IMO. so its a question of taste and opinion on what it takes to be hip hop,or anyother ''standard''