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 Ah...the weather's cooling off. and nothing beats curling up by the fire with some rap music in the background.
Hey, wait a minute! Rap music? What's that got to do with fireside snuggling or even poetry?
The answer just might surprise you. 
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After my last poetry newsletter, a couple friends and I had a little discussion about rap and its poetic merits. Initially, I sort of smiled and nodded, but the more digging I did, the more I realized there was truth to this idea. The real fun began when I started looking for examples to feature in a newsletter to be read by all ages.  Before you cue up the theme from Mission: Impossible, let me say that I did find some things I could share with people of a variety of ages. For example, here's a verse from "Champion" by Kanye West:
You don't see just how wild the crowd is?
You don't see just how fly my style is?
I don't see why I need a stylist
When I shop so much I can speak Italian
I don't know I just wanted better for my kids
And I ain't sayin' we was from the projects
But everytime I want it, layaway or a deposit
My dad'll say "When you see clothes close your eyelids"
We was sort of like Will Smith and his son
In the movie I ain't talkin' 'bout the rich ones
'cause every summer he'll get some
Brand new hare-brained scheme to get rich from
And I don't know what he did for dough
But he'd sent me back to school with a new wardrobe and hey!
There's actually plenty of poetic fodder in this little verse. Let's take a closer look at a few of the lines.
 I don't see why I need a stylist
When I shop so much I can speak Italian
Here we have an example of slant rhyme. Okay, it's a bit of a stretch, but it's still there.
ˈstī-list
ə-ˈtal-yən, i- also ˌī-
Simply put, the "list" and "yən" have similar (but not the same) vowel sounds. They're both considered to be "high" vowels, which means they're formed right behind the teeth when you say them (as opposed to a long O sound, which is formed in the back of the throat). To explain that more precisely would require a crash course in linguistics, but I'm not going to bore you with that.
I don't know I just wanted better for my kids
And I ain't sayin' we was from the projects
Here's a better example of slant rhyme. It's much easier for most people to observe the similarity of the 'D' and 'T' sounds and understand they're not the same. On top of that, the 'S' in 'kids' is pronounced more like a 'Z'. With 'projects', the 'S' isn't so slurred.
And I don't know what he did for dough
Hooray internal rhyming! Some people who aren't into rap may find stuff like this annoying. Perhaps they loathed Mother Goose rhymes as a kid. I say that because this internal rhyme is reminiscient of Mother Goose rhymes, both in rhyme and meter. In particular, this line reminds me of Little Jack Horner.
He put in his thumb,
And he pulled out a plum,
And I don't know
what he did for dough
Both lines are predominantly iambic with occassional anapest thrown in for spice. *watches everyone collapse in shock as I discuss meter*
Not big on Kanye? I can understand. When I was at an age more inclined to listen to rap music, I was exposed to Tupac, Biggie Smalls, Naughty By Nature and Bone Thugs n Harmony (E. 1999 Eternal, anyone?). Here's a verse from "Tha Crossroads" by Bone Thugs, a good example of rap music tackling topics other than bling and hedonism.
Lil Eazy's long gone
Really wish he would come home
But when it's time to die
Gotta go bye bye
All a lil t*** could do is cry, cry
Why they k*** my dog and man
I miss my uncle Charles y'all
and he shoudn't be gone, in front of his home
What they did to Boo was wrong
Oh so wrong, oh so wrong
Gotta hold on gotta stay strong
When the day comes
Better believe Bone got a shoulder you can lean on (lean on)
Aside from various types of rhyme (particularly slant) and strong iambic meter, you also see an effective use of repetition throughout this verse. Repetition reinforces a particular mood in rap, in this case melancholy. Not only that, but repetition can be easier to allow for metrical adjustments in a rap.
After looking at these and other rap songs, I found that most of them use more poetic elements than other types of songs, especially those from the rock and pop genres. They take more chances with rhyme, and the nature of rap meter is more suitable for iambic pentameter to flourish. If you think about, rap is less sung and a bit more spoken. Thus, more natural patterns of speech come into play. true, you'll hear some iambic in other types of songs. Generally speaking, though, it's not as frequent as in rap. To explain exactly why this is the case requires a little bit of music training. In a nutshell, though, many contemporary songs have strong beats on counts one and three (assuming the song is written in 4/4 meter, which is normally the case). Strong beats on one and three are more privvy to trochee, which has a strong accent at the beginning of the foot. As for rap, well, I have yet to see it transcribed to sheet music. Still, if I had to guess, it would look like a technical challenge with mixed meter and thirty-second notes. If anyone has seen rap transcribed to sheet music, let me know. I'm curious to see what it looks like. 
I'm glad my friends brought up rap and poetry. The research I did while working on this newsletter really opened my eyes. On top of that, it brought back some good memories as I remembered the rap music of my youth. Okay, I'm still young, but Kanye doesn't ring quite the same chord as Tupac and Bone Thugs did back in their heyday. I know. That must make me into an old lady. It could be worse, though. I could have waxed poetic about Run DMC or Q-Tip. Actually, that's not a bad idea.  In any case, I hope I've opened your eyes to rap and showed you it's not all violence and selfish desires. To me, rap is an interesting and often overlooked art form that hearkens back to its poetic roots most than just about any genre today. It might be an unexpected place to find poetry. However, the unexpected venues tend to hold some of those most provocative and intriguing verses around.
Until next time,
(sig by terryjroo) |
From rap to internal rhymes and all sorts of other poetic devices, I made variety keep with my picks.
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*-Note: This is intentionally bad poetry written for one of Pita's Anti-SLAM contests. If you like this poem, please rate it one star. Intentionally bad poetry is written to get one star ratings.
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So what happened the last time I took the reins of an issue of the poetry newsletter? Most people ran in the opposite direction. However, I did receive some comments, and I'd like to share them with you.
From Mark  : I can't help being drawn to teh talents that pull off rule breaking with style. As a (utterly amateur) poet, I love when the expression means more than the form - more than the rules. When this happens, it always seems (to me) that the melody of BOTH the music and words enhance each other. It is really engrossing, and only a few can do this. Queen (as you've pointed out)were masters of this, and while I could name others, I'd LOVE to hear favorite examples of other members. Great newsletter - absolutely keeps my mind ticking, thank you.
*puts the grammar obsessed part of my conscious to bed* Anyway, pulling off rule breaking with solid style is much easier said than done. A lot of teenagers like to think they can do it, but it takes a lot of writing before you can really work it. In lyrics, it's even more challenging. Speaking of Queen, what are your thoughts on "Stone Cold Crazy" (other than Metallica botched it big time)? I ask because of the current topic. Though not rap, it's rapid in speed and requires precise articulation like rap does.
On that note, who would would like to step up to the challenge and share examples of poets/lyricists who break the rules with style that works? I'll be sure to guest edit at least one more newsletter to share them.
From monty31802: A very enjoyable Newsletter.
I'm glad you liked it. I took a chance with discussing lyrics, and I know I'm taking a bigger chance with discussing rap. I hope you enjoy this newsletter as well.
From _Lillie_Mia_ : I Liked the poems
They were all great!
With poetry, there are so many choices on the site, so it can be hard finding just the right ones to feature in the newsletters. Glad to see someone besides me liked my choices! |
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Poetry: November 28, 2007 Issue [#2084]
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