It depends what you listen to drum & bass for!
there are so many different types of drum & bass people need to realise!!!! dnb is like house music, look how many different types there are. For me its not what music or 'beat' its what style. Even heavy a lot of heavy metal has 174 BPM DnB Beat structure, but a different style, i think thats a realy important way of lookiong at music.....
For me when it comes to mc's of course i like to know that the mc in front of me has loads of lyrical skill, but at the end of the day it doesnt come down to that unless your listening to a tape. MCing didnt come from people trying to say the most technical lyrics in the most technical way. it came from DJ sets needing that little bit extra to keep the gurning crowd in check, to keep them interested in whats goin on. when an mc gives you joke on the mic youll remember it and it will engage you that bit more, when an mc says his best lyric youll either hear it and forget it or youll be to fucked to tell what he's saying! And if there are people out there reading this thinking WTF! look at any of the top MC's, not many of them are writing new lyrics all the time, most of their lyrics suck, but we still love em. Take MC FEARLESS for example "iVE GOT MORE FLAVOUR THAN A PACK OF GOLDEN WONDER" or BOOM BOOM BOOM say ' BOOM SELECTA'. i mean if you were to write that down youd probably chuck it in the bin! ITS NOT WHAT YOU SAY ITS HOW! YOU SAY IT!!!!!
when making lyrics get the crowd hyping in, fluent flow and dont worry if you think it sounds crap, just get all your ideas on paper and see what happens. What i do is i have a fat smoke on my own, stick on a heavy tune on repeat (so as not to mix up the style of the lyric) write down litteraly whatever comes into your head keep going for half an hour or so, more if your getting into it..... by the time ive finished its usualy a bit dodgey, but try and do it whaever you can, (everyday) after a while you'd built up loads of stuff, incorporate all ya rhymes together and you'll find you've got a lyric to rival anyone!
peace & luuuurve!