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Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations
The Graduate School
2006
A Language in Transition: The Creation of
Identity and Culture in the Poetics of Hip
Hop
Alejandro L. Nodarse
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THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
A LANGUAGE IN TRANSITION:
THE CREATION OF IDENTITY AND CULTURE
IN THE POETICS OF HIP HOP
By
ALEJANDRO L. NODARSE
A Thesis submitted to the
Department of English
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts
Degree Awarded:
Fall Semester, 2006
The members of the Committee approve the Thesis of Alejandro L. Nodarse
defended on Monday, October 2, 2006.
Andrew Epstein
Professor Directing Thesis
Amit Rai
Committee Member
Christopher Shinn
Committee Member
Approved:
Kathleen Yancey, Interim Chair, Department of English
The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named
committee members.
ii
Para mamá y papá,
Who not only gave me my life, but theirs as well.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to thank the Almighty for his countless blessings.
I would like to thank the members of my Thesis Committee, Andrew Epstein, Amit Rai,
and Christopher Shinn, for all of their patience, support, guidance, interest, and advice
during this process.
I thank my parents, Fabio Nodarse and Dr. Maria Margarita Nodarse, my sister
Victoria, my girlfriend Jeannine Nordelo, my grandparents, Ignacio Pérez, Zaida Pérez,
and Marta Nodarse, my cousins Sergio Pérez, Gilbert Pérez, and Cris Pérez, my homeboy
Willy Rodriguez, my friend Niles, The SouthSide (Daniel, Ryan, Dexter), and the
Members of the Board (Chris, Jason, Chi, Lou, Rod) for their support as I completed this
project.
Last, but certainly not least, I thank my good friends and fellow scholars
Jordan J. Dominy, his wife Jessica, Amber Pearson, Bailey Player, Jennifer Van
Vliet, and Tara Hostetler for putting up with my rants on Hip Hop throughout this
endeavor.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract
......................................................................................................vi
INTRODUCTION: A LANGUAGE IN TRANSITION .....................................1
1. CHAPTER 1: POETICS AND THE EMCEE ................................................10
New Poet, Old Traditions ...........................................................................12
A Tale of Two Poets: The Emcee and the Rapper……………………….14
2. CHAPTER 2: ENGAGING THE LANGAGE……………………………25
Freestyle: Inspired Rhyme……………………………………………….26
Freestyle vs. Rehearsed Rhyme………………………………………….27
Rhymes and Reasons: The Anatomy of the Freestyle Battle………….…28
Critical of Illiterate Literacy: Oral Poetry on the Page……………….….39
Sweet Sixteen: Hip Hop’s Poetic Form……………………………….…42
Sixteen Bars: Form or Formula..................................................................43
New Flow for the New Emcee: The Poem in Action…………….….…...47
An Escape or A Cage: What to do with Sixteen Bars………………..…..48
3. CHAPTER 3: ENGAGING POETING CONVENTION...……………..…..50
Word Invention…………………………………………………………..51
Rewriting Rhyme………………………………………………………...51
The Art of Storytelling: Images and Narrative……………………….…..56
4. CONCLUSION………………………………………………………….…..66
ENDNOTES........……………………………………………………………...68
REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………….……..71
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ………………………………………………….75
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ABSTRACT
This thesis examines the way in which Hip Hop affects language, communication,
and the way it reshapes meaning. The poetics of Hip Hop document variations in slang
and colloquialisms and other innovations in language. Through the textual analysis of
select poems, this thesis demonstrates that the emcee has a unique understanding of
poetic conventions, such as rhyme, metaphor, and simile, and uses them to produce a
poetry that is carving its own niche in American Literature and popular culture.
Furthermore, this thesis analyzes some of the various methods that Hip Hop uses
to interact with language, including the freestyling, the freestyle battle, and writing
rhymes. By exploring the interaction between the poet, the word, and the world, this
thesis seeks to bring to light the many contributions that Hip Hop makes to poetics and
how these contributions affect not just the Hip Hop community, but the world at large.
vi
INTRODUCTION:
LANGUAGE IN TRANSITION
The ability to reinterpret and recontextualize language, meaning, words, and
symbols is innate in Hip Hop. What makes this so noteworthy is the malleability and
adaptability that the genre possesses in terms of its poetics. Its use of language is in a
state of perpetual flux; it is constantly being rewritten. In the early 90’s, if one were to
ask for Uptowns in New York, you would receive a pair of Nike sneakers. If you were to
ask for Uptowns in St. Louis, you would receive a blank stare. Nike’s Air Force One’s, a
staple of Hip Hop fashion, can be referred to in many ways.
The same can be said for many things. For example, the term “Pimp” no longer
refers specifically to a person who prostitutes women for financial gain. The more
common use of the term refers to one who lives a flamboyant lifestyle and is successful
with women. If some one were to ask you what size your “kicks” are, they could be
referring to your shoes or the rims on your car. If you were in need of “dough”, “bread”,
or “cheese”, you might go to the supermarket or to the bank, as the terms are commonly
used to describe money. In the South, if you were to say, “What up, Jew?” you are asking
a friend of yours how he is doing. The word “Jew” is used as a term of endearment, not a
reference to the religion. In South Florida, the same word is used in two ways, one use
does in fact refer to the Jewish people while the other mimics the broken English used by
many Hispanics when they say the word “you”.
Hip Hop poetics not only document these variations in slang or colloquialisms,
but it creates them and spreads them, making the words and ideas available to those in
different areas that can identify with them. Nowadays, asking for a pair of Uptowns in St.
Louis is not such a ludicrous request.
So what does all of this mean? What is so important about Hip Hop poetics, slang,
and different ways of referring to everyday objects, events, and individuals? Now more
than ever, the Hip Hop community has a large pool of resources, cultures, languages,
experiences, and ideas from which to pull inspiration, motivation, and creativity. The
ability to manipulate language in order to represent and describe the realities of diverse
groups of people is what provides Hip Hop poetics its strength.
1
Hip Hop is in the business of “wiping soiled words or cutting them clean out,
removing the aureoles that have been pasted about them or taking them bodily from
greasy contexts," (Williams, "Marianne Moore" 1920). Although this quote was
originally intended to describe what, in William’s estimation, Moore did to and for the
English language with her poetry, the quote exemplifies what Hip Hop does to language.
Hip Hop’s recreation and subsequent use of “degreased” words is what makes it one of
the most influential and important poetic and musical genres.
From its inception, Hip Hop has constantly been reinterpreting and reinventing
language. As a result, it reinterprets itself. Hip Hop, in essence, was birthed by
recontextualizing the music of others. By briefly examining Hip Hop’s formative years,
its ability to assimilate and reinterpret its environment will become apparent.
A Brief History: Hip Hop Back in the Day
Hip Hop’s first DJ’s manipulated the popular music of their era to create music
that better reflected the mood of the crowd. The environment from which Hip Hop arose
was one of limited opportunity and abundant marginality and poverty. Block parties
offered an escape. Although everyday life was full of harsh realities, Hip Hop’s early
DJ’s created an environment where the focus was to have a good time, dance, and listen
to the music that DJ’s were creating. Tricia Rose notes that DJ’s “supplied the break
beats for breakdancers and the soundtrack for graffiti crew socializing. Early DJ’s would
connect their turntables and speakers to any available electrical source, including street
lights, turning public parks and streets into impromptu parties and community centers”
(51). DJ’s and the youth had a symbiotic relationship: DJ’s provided a place to escape
and party-goers provided DJ’s with an audience to listen to their music.
By extending the breaks, or sections of a song in which the music literally breaks
to highlight the rhythm section, DJ’s like Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, and Grand
Master Flash recontextualized the popular music of the day, putting their own spin (pun
intended) on it in order to create a form of music that was appealing to those who sought
a place to detach from their everyday troubles.
Throughout the ‘70’s, DJ’s in New York continued creating break beats by
looping the instrumental portions of songs to extend the amount of time that was
2
danceable in order to keep their crowds moving. Soon after, the MC (Emcee), or Master
of Ceremonies, would act as a hype man for the DJ, introducing his sonic creations. Until
the introduction of the emcee, Hip Hop’s innovation had little to do with language. It did,
however, set the stage and a precedent in terms of how emcees would interact with the
crowd and with language.
The introduction of the emcee is the point where Hip Hop first reinterprets itself.
The emcee, whose witty introductions, use of word play, and ability to captivate and
move an audience through his call and response, reinterpreted not only his place and role
in Hip Hop, but how the new form of music would speak. It was not long before the
emcee was the main attraction. While the graffiti artists painted and the break dancers
moved to the rhythm created by the DJ, the emcee gave voice to the art form known as
Hip Hop, and it was not long before the rest of the world caught on to this phenomenon.
It also did not take long for emcees to compete against each other for supremacy.
From its inception, Hip Hop has always been highly poetic and highly competitive. Aside
from who was the best DJ, break dancer, and graffiti artist, who could entertain a crowd
best with lyrical prowess and flair was a constant point of contention. Battling, Hip Hop’s
original lyrical sport, pitted emcees against one another to determine who could be
wittier, more spontaneous, and verbally superior. Even the cypher, or a congregation of
emcees huddled to exchange verses, improvisational word play, and rhythm and flow,
can become a battleground for verbal sparring (The Art of 16 Bars).
Hip Hop’s use of and interaction with language has yielded some important,
innovative, and noteworthy poetics. This thesis will focus on the poetic contributions
made by the emcee and explore the emcee’s interaction with language. Furthermore, it is
imperative that lyric-based analysis be conducted in order to explore the intricacies and
detail of the emcee’s wordplay. In essence, this thesis will focus not only on the poetic
that emcees produce, but how they engage and interact with language in order to reshape
it.
The repercussions of using language to reshape the world are just as important as
understanding where Hip Hop comes from. Drawing on poetic convention, African
traditions such as signifying, and poetic traditions such as call and response, emcees
engage in all manner of verbal activities. In the process, the emcee was and is responsible
3
for ushering in a new era of poetics, one that was highly dependant on its orality, but just
as proud of its ability to forge stories and rhymes with a pen and pad. Freestyling, or the
ability to spontaneously compose and deliver an unrehearsed oral poetry, is a vehicle for
those who enjoy the form’s unpredictable and reactive nature.
Battling, studio recording, and the desire to speak to the rest of the world are
platforms from which emcees deliver their carefully crafted, lyrically precise, and often
innovative poetry. By seeking to introduce his DJ to a crowd as creatively as possible, the
emcee introduced himself to the world as a poet with the eye of a journalist, the
theatricality of a master raconteur, and a flair for innovation that was capable of
launching a culture (The MC).
The Aftermath
Hip Hop has experienced many manifestations, incarnations, and variations since
the ‘70’s. The East Coast originated the form with its break beats and lyricism, the West
Coast gave birth to Gangsta Rap, and the Dirty South blows up your speakers with its
Crunk stylings; seemingly every musical province in the United States, as well as
countless international participants, provide their own variation and reinterpretation of
the original sound that was created in the Bronx in the 70’s.
What separates these different styles is a complex combination poetics and sonic
creation. The music and beats often vary form region to region. The colloquialisms,
accent, and lyrical content often indicate where an emcee is from. However, these
subgenres serve more to represent the area in which they originated rather than represent
a specific emcee or producer. Because Hip Hop often assimilates and reinterprets what is
available, it is not uncommon to hear an emcee New York rapping over a Southern beat.
However, none of these variations and incarnations of Hip Hop would have made any
strides without the ability to use language to describe the different environments and
experiences.
Yet the poetry of Hip Hop is sometimes overshadowed by the often violent,
misogynistic, and otherwise controversial lyrical content and is drowned out by the loud
sounds and pounding of the bass. Hip Hop achieves an incredible level of creativity by
taking a bad political, social, and economic situation and reinventing it by rewording it in
4
order to subvert, destabilize, and challenge its enemies. By using language as a form of
agency, emcees were able to use language to communicate with those who understood
and identified with their message. As poets have done for years, Hip Hop takes language
and forges new meanings to interpret a world that cannot be adequately explored and
described with conventional language. Since there were no words to describe some of its
unique, often harsh realities, Hip Hop invented them using the existing language.
I contend that some Hip Hop is in fact quite poetic and that particular lyrics can
be analyzed as such, but it is important to assert the fact that Hip Hop is both oral and
written. Because it is highly oral, it becomes easy to overlook, and consequently
discount, the poetic aspects involved with its creation. The concept of composition, in
terms of lyrics, innately infers some sort of “writing”. Most emcees will compose their
verses with pen and pad, while a rare few arrange them in their heads, opting not to write
anything down.
Furthermore, I offer a brief history of Hip Hop that explores and emphasizes how
Hip Hop reinvented and recontextualized language to express the reality of individuals
who could have had no other means of making their presence felt in this world; this
process continues to this day. Hip Hop gave voice to thoughts that would have otherwise
never made it off the block. I examine how the emcee became the new poet, detailing the
conditions in which he existed and voicing his concern to an audience that shared a
similar reality.
However, some of Hip Hop’s biggest supporters, white teenagers, do not
necessarily share the realities or upbringing of many emcees, yet they are attracted to the
genre for many reasons. Tricia Rose believes that it may have to do with “white
voyeuristic pleasure of black cultural imagery” (12). Imani Perry posits that “Part of the
seduction of rap for mainstream America, particularly white young people, lies in its
iconoclasm in relation to white American cultural norms. It is Other, it is hard, it is
deviant” (136). Though Rose and Perry make valid statements, I believe that they
underestimate, or at least do not fully consider, the effect that a well crafted, wellperformed piece can have on an audience regardless of ethnicity.
Regardless of who buys Hip Hop records, there is a definite connection between
the genre and impoverished minority youths. Tricia Rose points out, “hip hop emerges
5
from the deindustrialization meltdown where social alienation, prophetic imagination,
and yearning intersect. Hip hop is a cultural form that attempts to negotiate the
experiences of marginalization, brutally truncated opportunity, and oppression within the
cultural imperatives of African American and Caribbean history, identity, and
community” (21). The ongoing process that resulted from this negotiation is a culture that
creates its own opportunity, creating its own language that meant what they wanted it to
mean. No longer would “bad” mean that something was not good. “Rap provided the
disenfranchised youth of New York with self-valorizing and a new secret language that
was created by cracking open English and stuffing it with new meaning” (Quickly 39).
To better understand the extent of the “disenfranchisement” that plagued the youth in Hip
Hop’s formative years is to better understand why and how the use of language became a
tool to reshape their environments.
Moses led the Exodus out of the Bronx
In Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, Jeff Chang does an excellent job of detailing the
conditions that Hip Hop poetry seeks to reinterpret and recontextualize. According to
Chang, the impoverished conditions that Hip Hop’s early emcees experienced in the
Bronx was brought about by Robert Moses, a man that Chang deems “the most powerful
urban builder of all time” (11). In 1953, Moses spearheaded the Cross-Bronx
Expressway, a roadway that would “allow people to traverse the Bronx from the suburbs
of New Jersey through upper Manhattan to the suburbs of Queens in fifteen minutes”
(Chang 11).
The problem with the Cross-Bronx Expressway is that it cut through 113 city
streets that were inhabited by 60,000 Bronx residents. It was the treatment of the Bronx
and its people during the construction that would begin the decay of the Bronx. The
occupants of the “lower-middle-class apartments had been given months to relocate, with
a paltry $200-per room as compensation. In the meantime, as they struggle to find new
quarters in a city with few vacancies, they huddled in heatless, condemned buildings”
(Chang 11). It did not seem to bother Moses that tens of thousands of people had to be
uprooted. Chang quotes Moses discussing this problem nonchalantly, “There are more
people in the way- that’s all. There’s very little real hardship in the thing.” The “little
6
hardship” that Moses discussed would still be felt in Hip Hop’s formative years nearly 30
years after construction began on the Cross-Bronx Expressway.
The suffering brought on by Moses’ construction was not limited to the Bronx.
“In Manhattan’s ghettos, using ‘urban renewal’ rights of clearance to condemn entire
neighborhoods, he scared off thriving businesses and uprooted poor African-American,
Puerto Rican, and Jewish families. Many had no choice but to come to places like east
Brooklyn and the South Bronx, where public housing was booming but jobs has already
fled” (Chang 11).
As if the uprooting of tens of thousands of families were not traumatic enough,
the relocation would prove to be a painful process with adverse long-term consequences.
“In his grand ambitions, high modernism met maximum density. Vast housing complexes
were designed on the idyllic sounding ‘tower-in-a-park’ model, a concept that had been
advanced by the modernist architect Le Corbusier as part of his vision of a ‘Radiant
City’. To Moses, the ‘tower-in-a-park’ model was a blackboard equation that neatly
solved thorny problems- open space in an urban grid, housing for the displaced poorwith tidy cost efficiency. It also happened to support the goals of ‘slum clearance,’
business redevelopment, and the decimation of the tenants union movement” (Chang 12).
The aftermath of Moses’s reconfiguration of the Bronx led to poverty and
frustration for those too poor to escape; one must keep in mind that the Cross-Bronx
Expressway project and its ensuing relocations took place in a pre-civil rights America.
“So in the New York area’s construction explosion of the 1950s and ‘60s, middle-class
whites got sprawling, prefab, white picket-fence, whites-only Levittown suburbs, while
working-class strugglers and strivers got nine or more monotonous slabs of housing
rising out of isolating, desolate, soon-to-be crime-ridden ‘parks’ (Chang 12). According
to Chang, half on the Bronx’s white inhabitants had “followed Moses’s Cross-Bronx and
Bruckner Expressways to the promise of ownership of one of the 15,000 new apartments
in Moses’s Co-op City” by decade’s end (12).
The Cross-Bronx Expressway gave the Bronx a botched facelift. Chang posits that
“the South Bronx has lost 6000,000 manufacturing jobs; 40 percent of the sector
disappeared. By the mid seventies, average per capita income had dropped to $2,430, just
half of the New York City average. The official youth unemployment rate hit 60 percent
7
of the nationwide average. Youth advocates said that in some neighborhoods, the true
number was closer to 80 percent. If blues cultures has developed under the conditions of
oppressive, forced labor, Hip Hop culture would arise from the conditions of no work”
(13).
To make matters worse, “Apartment buildings passed into the hands of slum
lords, who soon figured out that they could make more money by refusing to provide heat
and water to the tenants, withholding property taxes from the city, and finally destroying
the buildings for insurance money” (Chang 13). Chang believes that “the downward
spiral created its own economy” (13). Slumlords, unemployed thugs, and insurance
companies formed a triumvirate of destruction in the Bronx. Slumlords would take out
insurance policies on their buildings and then hire thugs to destroy the buildings by
setting fire to them. In fact, Chang states that between 1973 and 1977, “30,000 fires were
set in the South Bronx alone” (13).
While most simply ignored the Bronx and its troubles, some went as far as to
claim that “the South Bronx represented indisputable proof that poor Blacks and Latinos
were not interested in improving their lives. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, New York’s
Democratic Senator, was heard to say, ‘People in the South Bronx don’t want housing or
they wouldn’t burn it down (Chang 14). In 1970, Moynihan sent a memo to President
Richard Nixon stating that “the time may have come to when the issue of race could
benefit from a period of ‘benign neglect’” to which Nixon penciled, “I Agree” in
response (Chang 14). This benign neglect would lead to “the removal of no less than
seven fire companies from the Bronx after 1968. During the mid-1970s budget crisis,
thousands more firefighters and fire marshals were laid off,” effectively egging on the
burning of the Bronx (Chang 14). Little did politicians, slumlords, and all those who
turned their back on the Bronx, know that culture would emerge, like a Phoenix, from the
ashes.
8
The End of the Beginning
By analyzing the poetry of Hip Hop, I seek to explore how Hip Hop has
reinterpreted language and how new meaning is created. As witnessed by its place in
today’s popular culture, Hip Hop provides a language, a poetry, and a culture that
transcend gender, race, age, politics, cultures, time, and space. By analyzing Hip Hop’s
use of poetic convention, I hope to explore the language that we can all speak.
9
CHAPTER 1
POETICS AND THE EMCEE
He was scheduled to appear in a small, dingy club on Florida State’s campus to
lecture on the current state of Hip Hop and a series of issues he felt needed to be
addressed. He would be performing at another local club later that night, but for now,
KRS One was more “Teacher” and less “Blastmaster”.
After much anticipation, he hit the stage in a large blue T-shirt, stonewashed
jeans, and white sneakers. He had a string of large, wooden beads around his neck, a
detail I noticed right away. Instead of donning Hip Hop’s customary diamond studded
platinum chain with a large medallion, he opted for a more inconspicuous adornment,
which ironically, made him stand out all the more.
However, the irony of all ironies came when he refused to use a microphone,
opting to speak to the crowd without the aid of the instrument that had made him famous.
And so it began. For fifty-five minutes, he schooled the crowd on Hip Hop’s past,
present, and future. His message was simple: Hip Hop was founded on love, peace, and
unity, and it has strayed from those roots, something many in the Hip Hop community
have felt for quite some time.
He stated that Hip Hop has become an international culture, but that it was not
always so. “The Commodores - that's serious. The Supremes - that's serious. The Rolling
Stones - that's serious,” he said, echoing the sentiment of society and popular culture
during Hip Hop’s formative years. “They didn't think we were serious.” What made the
world change its minds about Hip Hop culture is, in essence, what this thesis is about.
KRS One, born Lawrence Parker, informed the crowd that he used to repeat the
phrase, “I'm an emcee,” over and over when he was homeless. When people called him a
bum, he would reply, “I’m an emcee.” As he made his way through the streets, often
taking refuge in shelters and libraries, he maintained his focus on becoming an emcee. It
was this determination and persistence that allowed him to become one of the greatest
emcees of all time. “Have the courage to express that... have some wherewithal about
10
yourself. Have the courage to say ‘this is what I want’…I'm going to be me no matter
what,” he said. “It's the content of your character that's Hip Hop.” According to KRS
One, Hip Hop is “finding the courage to be you…”1 no matter what the world may say. It
is this feisty, unrelenting stubbornness that Hip Hop, and emcees such as KRS One,
adopted in its formative days.
In Hip Hop’s early days, the content of the culture’s character was made up of
four elements: the DJ, graffiti art, breaking, and the emcee. Each of these arts had their
beginning with DJing in the late 70’s. By playing the breaks of songs to extend the
instrumental sections, thus allowing people to dance longer, the DJ became Hip Hop’s
first star.
In the early 80’s, graffiti art became widely visible, as did break dancing. Graffiti
was heralded as the next great movement in the visual arts, while break dancing could be
seen on morning talk shows and Hollywood movies such as Beat Street and Breaking.
But emceeing and rapping, once viewed as a fad, began to dominate the culture as
the record industry became aware of its economic potential. With his voice and use of
words, the emcee emerged as the dominant element of Hip Hop while the other elements
fell into the background (The Art of 16 Bars).
Present day debates rage as to whether today’s rappers are in fact true emcees or
products of the music industry. As Hip Hop rose from subculture into the mainstream,
there were those who sought, and still seek, to preserve the culture and defend it from
industries who wish to co-opt and exploit it in order to make a dollar. In the documentary
The Art of 16 Bars, MTV VJ and radio personality Sway makes it clear that there are two
worlds within Hip Hop that an emcee must contend with:
Even though you don’t sell records, that has nothing to do with your level
of skill as an emcee or your credibility in Hip Hop. It might have
something to do with your level of credibility or skill in the corporate
boardroom, whose bottom line is the dollar and how many records you can
sell, but who gives a fuck about them and their opinion. They know
nothing about Hip Hop.
11
With all the corporate investment and media attention given to Hip Hop, there is
always the potential for the genre to grow and evolve. The difference between Hip Hop
and the Hip Hop Industry, as highlighted by Sway, is an obvious point of contention. As
the money and publicity given to many emcees grows, so does their influence, but what
about their responsibility to the genre and its traditions? The emcee has become the most
visible representative of Hip Hop culture to the world at large. Because the line between
true emcee and industry-made rapper are skewed by industry dollars, the masses will see
and hear from performers who know little about Hip Hop culture and tradition, making
for poor representatives of the genre they are thought to be part of. In the eyes of the
causal Hip Hop fan, there is no difference between the Hip Hop Industry and Hip Hop. In
any case, those who engage in rapping and find success are responsible, in large part, for
the way Hip Hop sounds and looks, for the emcee is literally one of the voices of Hip
Hop.
Since moving into the twenty-first century, the economic, political, and social
potential of Hip Hop is undeniable. The culture is a billion dollar industry that bleeds into
music, sports, fashion, and nearly all other aspects of popular culture, essentially
permeating society’s fabric. It has moved overseas and across borders, effectively
learning to speak other tongues and provide a voice for those who lack one.
Understanding what is it that a good emcee does will shed light on the poetry is created
and how language is changed.
New Poet, Old Traditions
The content of the rhymes and the techniques of spitting those rhymes is
the skill and artistry that an emcee displays in his work- and this is what
has drawn so many to rap music. Yet behind such apparent ease of flow
and wordsmithing, the emcee has to master many skills, from the ability to
freestyle, to writing, to working in the studio, and appearing live before an
audience.
-Method Man (The Art of 16 Bars)
12
An emcee is defined by the work he does; he must be able to freestyle, write, and connect
with a crowd. A look at the term’s etymology offers insight into what a good emcee is
capable of.
The term “emcee” emerges from the phonetic spelling of the abbreviation MC,
which is short for Master of Ceremonies. The term originates from the Roman Catholic
Church and refers to an “official at solemn services of the Roman Catholic Church
charged with the duty of seeing that all rites are correctly executed” (Webster’s). The
term would later come to describe an individual who “acts as host of a formal event (as a
banquet or graduation exercise) making the welcoming speech, introducing speakers, and
being generally responsible for the conduct of the program” (Webster’s). In a less formal
and celebratory setting, the Master of Ceremonies would “act as the host for a variety
program or other stage entertainment introducing other performers to the audience and
usually interspersing his introductions with jokes, songs, or other specialty acts”
(Webster’s).
In the early seventies, the term became associated with Hip Hop. Consequently,
“Master of Ceremonies” and was shortened to “MC” and was used to describe the role
performed by the DJ’s hype man. The new MC performed a bit of the roles that every
Master of Ceremonies before him performed: he ensured that the “ceremony” was
properly conducted by acting as host and setting and maintaining the pace of the event
(George 17-18).
His main role, at least initially, was to prepare the crowd for any act that would
perform at the event the MC was hosting. Using clever wordplay, the MC delivered
written or freestyled rhymes to the crowd in order to engage and excite the crowd,
introduce the performers, and most importantly, praise the DJ that he performed with
before, during, and after he spun records. Setting a party atmosphere and interacting with
the crowd was the MC’s role as he played Robin to the DJ’s Batman.
As his role and popularity increased, the MC would eventually become the focus
of performances, effectively writing and freestyling himself into the spotlight. His use of
wordplay and ability to communicate with a crowd provided the MC a platform from
which he could speak his mind, deliver his poetry, and still interact with and entertain a
13
crowd. The microphone and the stage came together to form the MC’s pulpit, allowing
him to engage those who congregate at his shows (The MC).
As the music, technology, and fan base grew and evolved, the MC began to
garner the attention of popular culture, and consequently, music industry and record
executives. As Hip Hop’s influence spread to the masses, the culture also began to feel
the effects of its interaction with new and diverse individuals, audiences, corporations,
and various societal influences.
The term MC has adapted and evolved to incorporate new meaning. To Hip Hop
purists, the term will always mean “Master of Ceremonies” whose job it was to “Move
the Crowd.” To Hip Hop’s younger generations, the term "MC" might also encompasses
definitions such as “Microphone Controller” and “Microphone Checker.” The uncertainty
over the acronym’s adaptation to language and expansion of definitions and meaning has
lead many to forget what the true MC is, what he means to Hip Hop, and what he is
capable of.
As Hip Hop journalism and criticism burgeoned, the term MC received a new
incarnation, “emcee”, which results from spelling out of the acronym. This new word
does not necessarily have a different meaning, but it serves to establish and legitimate the
term and the emcee in literary and critical circles, acknowledging the emcee’s
contribution to poetics, music, and society.
A Tale of Two Poets: The Emcee and the Rapper
So what does a good emcee produces and what exactly is a rapper? Half poet and
half musician, the terms “rapper” and “emcee,” though not synonymous, describe
individuals who produce work that contains poetic elements and follow oral traditions.
What defines a good emcee is a question that can be answered in terms of what is
appealing to each individual ear and sensibilities or by analyzing the work that the emcee
produces through close reading.
Nowadays, however, the term “emcee” is used with little regard for its origin and
essence, leading to the mislabeling of certain performers within the Hip Hop community.
Hip Hop is constantly influencing language by adding meaning or recontextualizing
words, even for terms that describe and encompass its history and legacy. Consequently,
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the terms “emcee” and “rapper” have begun to take on synonymous meanings despite the
fact that they are different practices that serve different roles.
There is much at stake in making the distinction between the emcee and the
rapper. Each represents a different mode of address and a different approach to the
creation of value. While no one in Hip Hop has ever been opposed to making money, an
emcee often produces poetry that can do more than simply make him money; it has an
academic or intellectual value as well. Emcees produce a poetics that can survive on the
page and be effective when performed as well.
The emcee takes his craft seriously and seeks to preserve the integrity of his craft,
writing rhymes, and the integrity of the culture. What he values is his reputation as an
emcee and the respect that his skills have earned him. The emcee is aware of the
difference between a Hip Hop Industry and Hip Hop Culture and operates within the
Industry to create a poetry that maintains and furthers the Culture. Though commercial
interests often dictate how and where Hip Hop moves, the emcee seeks to elevate the
status of his profession as opposed to simply elevating himself.
The production of value in language is part of a tradition in poverty;
consequently, being “‘hood” or “ghetto” is the new sheik. This image of the hardcore
rapper with a troubled past and disregard for the law is one that the Hip Hop Industry
does not truly understand but seeks to perpetuate and exploit regardless. Though many
emcees have had rough upbringings, their lyrics do not always dwell on their Spartan
youths or rags-to-riches transformations, they realize that there is more to discuss than
their past and present living conditions.
The emcee belongs to a community (Hip-Hop) that actively seeks to communicate
and entertain through its use of language. He aims to use language in order to identify
different realities that are unknown to the majority of people. The process of finding and
creating words through wordplay allows Hip Hop to explore its attitude toward and
perception of language since, ultimately, Hip Hop seeks to speak up and make known the
realities it faces.
The work of the emcee reveals the inability of language to clearly portray and
depict his reality while attempting to use that very language to forge a voice with which
the marginalized, outcast, and otherwise nameless members of society can make
15
themselves known to the rest of the world. For example, take the song which KRS One
believes to be the first “rap” song, Melle Mel’s “The Message”. The song’s opening verse
begins:
Broken glass everywhere
People pissin’ on the stairs, you know they just don’t care
I can’t take the smell, I can’t take the noise
Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice
Rats in the front room, roaches in the back
Junkies in the alley with the baseball bat
I tried to get away but I couldn’t get far
‘cause a man with a tow truck repossessed my car
Guru, one half of the legendary group GangStarr, identifies with the song, stating that,
“Melle Mel…was speaking on the frustration and experience of ghetto youth, our
situation, as far as the struggle” (The MC). “Growing up in New York in the 80’s, that
was me,” says Q-Tip in reference to the song. “Ghetto paranoia, angst, everything
squeezing up on you” (The MC). It is perhaps KRS One who best explains how the song
spoke to, and for, many urban youths who heard the song: “He lived somewhere and
where he lived, he described it- and it was where I lived. That was the connection”
(The MC). To many youths, Melle Mel’s description of his environment was in fact a
description of their environment. His words detailed their surroundings, voiced their
concerns and complaints. It put them in the spotlight, letting them know that someone
understood what they were living through. Emcees like Melle Mel create a sense of unity
amongst audiences because his lyrical content serves a point of reference for many
people. Furthermore, the method of delivery, word choice, and rhyme scheme are
appealing in and of themselves due to the fact that it creates a rhythm through wordplay
and rhyme and often engages the crowd with call and response. Even if one were unable
to connect with his content, his poetry serves as a bridge to overcome the gap.
Creating a language for discussing problems, troubles, and the perplexity of
finding solutions for these conundrums is what, in essence, Hip-Hop, and more
specifically, the emcee, focuses on. The use of language to shed light upon certain
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problems that the rest of society may be unaware of is a point of unity between the
culture and the individual. Furthermore, the way in which these literary and oral
traditions work with language for accurate introspection, reflection, and expression is
what catapults the poetry to the forefront of popular culture and critical/literary circles.
Unfortunately, the term emcee has become diluted. Many, even some within the
Hip Hop community, do not understand that there is a difference between a rapper and an
emcee. A rapper is characterized by his ability to create verses that lend themselves to a
rhythmic delivery. His focus is mostly placed on his ability to rap, not necessarily on
moving a crowd or conveying a message. In essence, the strength and influence generated
by a rapper comes from his ability to create a rhythm through wordplay, or rap. The
rapper does not necessarily care to move and interact with the crowd as an emcee might,
and his lyrical content is not as diverse, engaging, or poignant as the emcee’s. It should
be noted that this does not make a rapper less influential or important than an emcee; it
simply means that there is a distinction between rapper and emcee and that they are very
different entities within Hip Hop.
Stic.man, one half of Hip Hop group dead prez, offers this perspective:
Let’s look at it like this. A rapper is to an emcee what an average street
fighter is to a trained martial artist. They are both fighters but the degree
and depth of their skill is very different. The rapper, like the average street
fighter, has a few basic skills that he has learned that have worked for him
in certain situations and earned him a little respect. For example, a one
shot knock out punch for the street fighter and a knack for punch-lines for
the rapper. But other than having a few basic moves and a little bit of
heart, the average street fighter is out of shape, he holds his breath when
he’s punching, he’s only strong with his right hand and weak on his left,
he’s high all the time, he bullies people weaker than him, and he thinks he
can’t be beat.
Now let’s do the knowledge for the martial artist. S/ he works out
regularly to stay in top shape, he religiously practices proven techniques
with various sparring partners to further develop his fighting skills , he
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practices breath control to increase his energy and endurance, he can fight
with not only his hands but his feet, knees, elbows and he is also
formidable with several weapons. He is trained to fight well under fatigue
and multiple opponents at once. And still with all these many deadly
skills, the true martial artist is humble because he has a spiritual
understanding that allows him to know that he can always improve. As
you can see, both the average fighter and the martial artist are in the same
category but their level of skill is many, many degrees apart.
An emcee is a martial artist in his or her craft. Yes of course, he is
a rapper but with exceptionally developed skills. He is more than just an
average rapper because he is dedicated to doing the best that he can at all
times. He can operate with proficiency on any beat, any subject, any style
and maintain his integrity and prowess. He is a warrior against limitation
of his ability and expression. He sacrifices much of his time with his
friends, family, job and so forth to perfect his craft. He is not just satisfied
with “whatever comes out” and though an emcee must be ever confident,
he is self-critical enough to recognize and solicit feedback in his areas that
need strengthening. He is outspoken, passionate, and convincing. Breath
control, storytelling principals, rhythm, enunciation, spontaneity and
improvisation, language innovation, charisma, accountability to
community principals, and trendsetting are all part of his basic arsenal.
And like the etymology of the word kung fu, emcee essentially means
skill. It is a title that many can claim but the crowd that has been moved is
the real verifier of that skill (stic.man 14-15).
What is truly revolutionary about the emcee is that his work inspires, motivates,
and unites people, as in Melle Mel’s “The Message”, through the use of poetic
conventions and innovations that transcend social categorization. It is his treatment of
language, interpretation, perception, and reality that sets the emcee aside from other
elements in his community.
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Along with a love and understanding for Hip Hop culture, the ability to use poetic
convention to describe, communicate, and express form the main elements, criterion, and
proverbial line in the sand between emcees and rappers. An emcee focuses on every
aspect of his craft, from freestyle and writing, to his flow, command of breath, delivery,
voice, stage presence, and interaction with a crowd. A rapper, whose forté is to flow and
deliver his verses rhythmically, focuses mainly on the convention of rhyme to create his
art. This does not mean that rappers do not employ other poetic conventions; they tend to
rely on rhyme and simile to create a punch line to create their art as opposed to exploring
the other conventions.
An emcee recognizes that although creating flow through rhythmic rhyming is
important, it is not the only aspect to contend with. He tends to generate a poetry that
engages the audience, forcing them to consider the ideas and topics presented, not just the
manner in which they were presented. Also, the emcee understands that he is part of a
legacy of emcees that came before him and that it is responsibility to keep those
traditions, knowledge, and art alive. Hip Hop culture has a set of aesthetic and stylistic
sensibilities that are constantly being amended, fluctuating with the influence of those
who partake of the culture.
Hip Hop’s reach is expansive. Its audiences grow everyday. Hip Hop, as well as a
good emcee, is in a sense, like the Ancient Roman Empire, constantly incorporating
ideas, customs, tactics, and ideologies of the people it comes in contact with while still
leaving a unique, indelible mark. He digests, processes, analyzes, and reacts to the world
through his poetry. As mentioned earlier, the ability of Melle Mel’s “The Message” to
connect with so many people on a personal level is one of the reasons that he is a good
emcee.
The true emcee chronicles and respects Hip Hop’s constant growth, incorporating
many of those elements into his art while remaining innovative, a task that seems
paradoxical but not impossible. As he paves the way for emcees that will follow, an
emcee seeks to cement his legacy the same way that great emcees did before him. Being
an emcee means that you carry a torch that is lit by Hip Hop’s past in order to help you
blaze a trail for the future. Emcees understand, as KRS One often says, that “rap is
something we do, Hip Hop is something we live.”1 By embodying the culture in his own
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unique way, an emcee can be a rapper, but a rapper is not necessarily an emcee, for he
lacks the depth of knowledge and involvement in the culture that makes the emcee one of
the four pillars of Hip Hop.
It is this passion for Hip Hop, an intangible trait that separates the emcee and
rapper. Who then, one might ask, is an emcee and who is a rapper? An emcee lives Hip
Hop, a lifestyle and culture that permeates his poetry and body of work. A rapper, on the
other hand, lacks the passion for the culture, an intangible quality that is immeasurable. It
is therefore difficult to judge whether an individual is an emcee or a rapper; the
individual’s poetry reveals which one he is.
For argument’s sake, let us examine two different artists, KRS One and Plies. The
Source, a staple in Hip Hop journalism, stated that, “More arguably than any other Hip
Hop head, Hip Hop culture is KRS One’s life, and he never seems to lose his passion for
it” (Turner 118). KRS One’s involvement with Hip Hop is undeniable: he founded the
Temple of Hip Hop, a community that strives for the preservation of Hip Hop, and was a
member of a committee that petitioned the United Nations to accept Hip Hop as a world
culture.
Furthermore, KRS One takes his role as an emcee very seriously: “Emceein’
comes from the heart…Your lyrics are the manifestation of your soul. They didn’t come
from nowhere else…What makes you an emcee is the expression of your soul…” (The
MC). To those who ask him the difference between a rapper and an emcee, he simply
replies, “rap is something we do; Hip Hop is something we live.”1 It becomes apparent
that KRS One sees little distinction between Hip Hop and the emcee; they are one entity.
Plies has a different perspective. “I don’t have a lot of knowledge on the true
foundation of Hip Hop,” he said in an interview with XXL. “I’m illiterate when it comes
to that shit, because I never had aspirations of being an artist… There are a lot of niggas
fightin’ over who’s the best lyricist. I don’t give a fuck about that. My drive is to be a
spokesman for the real niggas. I don’t cherish this rap shit. I’m motivated by niggas doin’
40 and 50 years, because they kept it real” (Markman 54). The article goes on to say that,
“Despite his blatant disregard for the culture he now represents, Plies is being touted as
Florida rap’s next big thing” (54).
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Herein lies an interesting conundrum. How does an individual who claims to not
“cherish this rap shit” represent a culture for which he has such “blatant disregard?”
Because he raps, a practice that is as essential to Hip Hop as air is to lungs, Plies is
automatically placed under the umbrella of Hip Hop even though he “don’t give a fuck”
about lyrics, is “illiterate” on the history and culture of Hip Hop, and “never had
aspirations of being an artist”. It is evident that although he has received media attention
for his raps, Plies does not represent Hip Hop Culture.
On the other hand, the media portrays him as “representing a new day and
time…despite the fact that Plies lack[s] any real lyrical potency” (Markman 54). In fact,
the article acknowledges that Plies received a record deal because a record executive
“was taken by the rookie’s street persona” (54). Rappers such as Plies are evidence that
Hip Hop Culture is being exploited by record executives and the media to form a Hip
Hop Industry which does not care for Hip Hop Culture, but for Hip Hop dollars.
The line between emcee and rapper is not always so distinct; KRS One and Plies
are good examples of each side of the spectrum. Because individuals with no “real lyrical
potency” and an attractive “street persona” are found on every street corner in America, it
is easier and more efficient for record executives to create these cookie cutter rappers and
dispose of them when their fifteen minutes of fame have passed. Because record labels
only care about the almighty dollar, they continue to strike at Hip Hop while the
proverbial iron is hot, disfiguring its form and reshaping it into a money-first, culture-last
façade.
As Jerry Quickley posits:
The problem is not the Hip Hop stars of the moment. The problem is not
Jay-Z. The problem is that the gatekeepers, massively consolidated radio
conglomerates, music promoters, and label executives that effectively
control what is released put the vast majority of their efforts only behind
Jay-Z and Nelly and the like…The distortion and over-amplification of a
very narrow section of Hip Hop is messing up the program. Media execs
all too often define themselves with safe, easy choices. Homogenization is
much easer and safer for radio stations and labels than innovation and the
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massive risk of capital that are part of it. The real problem of Hip Hop
comes with whom P. Diddy and Jay-Z and DMX and Eminem have sided,
not the work they do... (40)
There is no question as to whether rappers like Jay-Z and Eminem are talented. In fact,
Eminem is one of the most innovative, provocative, and potent rappers ever. It is his use
of language coupled with his knowledge of Hip Hop Culture that makes him a remarkable
emcee. According to Quickly:
To actually represent Hip Hop flavor and styles within poetry, you must
be able to represent, or rap, straight Hip Hop. If you effectively manifest
Hip Hop poetry styles, it means that you have the ability to use both
straight up Hip Hop and straight up poetry (free verse, haiku, sonnets,
whatever). Being a poet using Hip Hop styles does not mean that you
throw in some timely ghetto colloquialism and vaguely clever but
ultimately overtly self-conscious end rhyme. It means that you can choose
to bend your styles to your will both within your written work and within
your performances, all the while keeping your uniqueness and tone intact.
There are artists who claim to represent Hip Hop poetry, and if they were
ever caught in a cipher (a group of MCs flowing verse) they would be like
the proverbial deer caught in a beat box’s headlights (41-42).
The emcee engages language in multiple registers. Like any good poet, the emcee
has a command and understanding of language that allows him or her to convey a
message in an effective, thought-provoking, and creative manner. What an emcee does
with words is create, communicate, unite, inform, transcend, and rewrite; in essence, the
emcee utilizes a poetic form to create his art.
The questions that are often asked deal with the legitimacy of the emcees as a
poet- Are emcees really poets? Do you really think that all emcees are poets? The simple
answer is yes. All emcees and rappers are poets, but that does not necessarily mean that
they are all good poets. To answer this question as honestly and effectively as possible,
one must consider that the form they utilize, Hip Hop, is, in and of itself, a poetic form.
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In spite of this, not everyone that utilizes the form does it justice. The truth is that many
emcees are terrible poets. Yet, there are some emcees whose knowledge of language,
understanding of words, use of poetic convention, and ability to convey a message or
meaning is nothing short of poetic. This thesis does not seek to defend the legitimacy of
Hip Hop as a poetic form or the position of emcee as poet; it seeks to explore the
contributions that Hip Hop makes towards poetics, the innovations it creates, and how its
use of language provides new meaning.
The emcee is at the forefront of a literary, linguistic, and exceptionally poetic
culture. Hip Hop is a unique art form that is the product of the interweaving and
intersecting of two modes of expression, literature and music. However, its musical
function has outweighed its literary contributions for quite some time. Hip Hop has, from
its inception, been marketed as music, as have most audible forms of art that use
instrumentation and are experienced sonically. While other musical genres might be seen
as poetry put to music, Hip Hop has not always been viewed in such a legitimating light.
Until recently, it had always been othered because its community was itself othered.
The fact that Hip Hop stems from a series of poetic traditions and creates its own
poetic traditions is quite often overlooked. Despite its popularity and increasingly diverse
audiences over the past two decades, Hip Hop music is often considered, or not
considered, as artistic as other musical forms.
One of the reasons for this is that Hip Hop poetry is largely an oral poetry.
However, it is for that very reason that, in my estimation, Hip Hop has reached its current
level of popularity. In its short history, Hip Hop has gone from subculture to pop culture
because of its ability to reshape language to describe the world in which the culture
exists. Furthermore, its ability to create poetic wordplay that appeals to a continuously
expanding audience that understands its nuances and references reinforces the concept of
community that Hip Hop creates.
The fact that much of this poetry is composed with pen and pad is often
overlooked. Pop culture has placed much emphasis on the battling and freestyling aspects
of Hip Hop, all but ignoring the wordsmithing and calculated precision of the emcee’s
poetic contributions. The final version of many pieces were written, memorized, and then
delivered in front of a microphone in order to ensure the accuracy of the words, sounds,
23
flow, and content. The process of forging this poetry is not as romantic as the concept of
being divinely inspired to exhale an already-perfect piece.
The emcee’s contribution to contemporary culture and entertainment is his ability
to use poetry and his ability to present poetry to diverse segments of society. I believe
that looking at Hip Hop lyrics with a literary critic’s eye will lead to some remarkable
discoveries in what Hip Hop accomplishes in terms of its literature, for Hip Hop’s use
and treatment of poetic convention is remarkable. It is necessary to examine the different
ways in which Hip Hop reinvents language through the use of poetic convention.
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CHAPTER TWO
ENGAGING THE LANGUAGE
“The ultimate in Hip Hop is that fleeting moment of escape”
-Bobbito (Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme)
It’s Friday night and they have taken over the house party. A crowd begins to
form around them. It looks like an after-school fight, but in actuality, the tight, almost
claustrophobic circle they create cuts them off from a world they have turned their backs
on and lets them focus on freeing their minds and creating a connection with each other
as well as with those who stop to listen. This cluster of emcees freestyling back and forth
is called a cypher, and to them, what happens in the cypher is a magical, spiritual ritual.
The circle is infinite, 360 degrees of protection and freedom; a circumference of
expression. The world may not hear or acknowledge their voices, but the cypher
welcomes them. The crowd bobs its head to the beat blaring over the speakers and reacts
to the rhymes and punch lines each emcee delivers.
They let the beat dictate their flow. At the end of the night, I ask one of the
emcees, Double Deuce, if he had written anything he had spit. “In all honestly,” he
replied, “I don’t even remember anything I spit tonight. Fuck writing it down. I just can’t
stop thinking about the energy.”2 He said he remembered having all eyes and ears on
him, and that he took advantage of that opportunity to give the crowd a show, making
reference to concepts everyone could recognize, such as the message printed on some
guy’s T-shirt and some girl’s ridiculously short skirt. “After that, I closed my eyes and
just let go, you know. I was channeling the energy in the cypher and the party, connecting
with some spiritual force that just fuels you.” His trance-like state had gone on for about
four minutes. When he was done, he looked tired but happy. “I wasn’t worried about
school or my bills or whatever problems I have. That’s what the cypher’s about though,
being free.”
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To say that freestyling is a cathartic experience is an understatement. It is very
therapeutic; like a form of confession or getting a massage. Entering the cypher is akin to
entering an altered state of consciousness without the help of mind-altering substances.
That’s why it’s called freestyle, because it sets you free. Double Deuce’s problems
seemed to have been diffused, exhaled like a puff of cigar smoke while he was in the
cypher, as if he had vented them, and in the process opened himself up to the ongoing
flow and exchange of energy that every musician, painter, poet, thinker, and dreamer
seeks to be part of.
Freestyle: Inspired Rhyme
The term freestyle refers to the act of spontaneously rhyming about whatever
comes to mind. It is the art of lyrical improvisation, or improvisational Hip Hop. There
are generally two ways in which emcees engage in this oral tradition: by freestyling in a
cypher and by battling. There are many ways which emcees approach freestyling, but at
its essence, freestyle is rapping in the heat of the moment, improvising with words and
ideas, and delivering rhymes in a flow that is subject to change at all times. Nothing is
rehearsed or prepared; everything is thought up in the spur of the moment– and is often
all about the moment. Like other traditions of improvisation and spontaneity such as jazz
and the Cuban décimas guajiras, freestyle thrives on being a lyrical magic trick which
makes something out of nothing.
To many in the Hip Hop community, the art of freestyle is a practice that
transcends corporeality, elevating the mind past the trials and tribulations of everyday
existence by initiating a connection between the emcee, the divine, the crowd, and his
environment. In essence, the emcee adjusts his connection and position to the world by
reinterpreting his position within his environment and how he interacts with it. Mos Def
elaborates, “There are moments where it’s sublime, you know, you’re standing in the
cypher and it would just form. You’d be with like three or four emcees and you’d go up
to three or four other emcees and the cypher would just start and people around you
would start looking” (Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme).
With the same spontaneity that a cypher can form, the emcee taps into and
interacts with the environment through freestyle. This unrehearsed stream of
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consciousness rhyming allows the emcee to absorb the environment, internalize it, and
combine it with whatever may be on the emcee’s mind to produce lyrical Polaroid
pictures moment after moment. Through this process, the world is channeled and filtered
through the emcee’s eyes and mind and made artistically apparent through his words.
KRS One explains,
You’re rhyming, and you’re fully aware of what’s going on around you,
but your mouth is doing something that your mind is not actually,
consciously making happen. In other words, you’re thinking one thing,
like the next rhyme, [or] when do I get the crowd to say ‘Ho’, [or] this girl
over here keeps looking at me, this guy wants me to sign his picture, the
music is too low, the music is too loud. All of that is going on in the
emcee’s head while out his mouth he could be saying, “I’ll keep on
bringin’ and singin’ until your ears is ringin’ and stingin’, gleamin’ and
dreamin’ true emceein’ with meanin’. (Art of Freestyle)
Freestyle vs. Rehearsed Rhyme: The Battle within the Battle
The art of the Freestyle Battle is an essential component to Hip Hop.
Freestyle battles between MCs are the essence of the rapper’s art and are
akin to the “cutting sessions” that were once a mainstay of jazz. Just as
jazz musicians tore into one another, determined to show whose chops
were supreme, so do MCs battle it out, dissing each other’s talents, taste in
clothes, and –of course- mamas. This dissing has long been familiar in
black communities, as ‘signifying’ and ‘dozens,’ a pair of street corner
insult games whose aim was to ‘totally destroy someone else with words,’
as hip-hop chronicler Davey D puts it. But whereas ‘dozens’ and
‘signifying’ are informal activities, freestyle battles are sometimes
witnessed by thousands of fans…” (Sobol 120).
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In Hip Hop, a question that is often asked is “To be a true emcee, must one be
proficient at freestyling, and if one is a true freestyler, how much of it is actual freestyle
as opposed to rehearsed rhyme?” Technically, freestyle is rhyming that takes place in the
heat of the moment, in which improvised rhymes are delivered in a loosely-structured
flow. It is not rehearsed; it is composed on the spot and delivered in the moment. In fact,
when it comes to freestyle, it’s all about the moment (The Art of 16 Bars).
However, there is one arena involving freestyle where these rules are bent. In a
Freestyle Battle, the mood, content, focus, desire, and objective are completely different
from simply freestyling. In a battle, the goal is to systematically destroy your opponent’s
character by publicly humiliating and discrediting him, a far cry from simply discussing
current events and displaying lyrical skill.
While all forms of freestyle demands a lot of practice, the Freestyle Battle
requires preparation and thick skin. Labeling these battles as “freestyled” is a bit of a
misnomer at times. As the old adage goes, “all’s fair in love and war”. Freestyle battles
are no exception; nothing is sacred in a battle.
When an emcee goes to battle, he is placing his reputation on the line. Battle
rappers are warriors who battle with words, strategize and employ tactical maneuvers
while exchanging verbal blows. From the second they lay eyes on each other, they are
plotting each other’s demise. In these contests, the combatants exchange blows and live
to tell about it. However, the loser’s ego and reputation may not be able to make that
claim (Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme).
Rhymes and Reasons: The Anatomy of the Freestyle Battle
Freestyle Rap Battles: opponents using words as fists. The words are
improvised as quickly as they are spit. They rhyme, they are to a beat, and
they are aimed directly at the specific weaknesses of the opponent. And
when you see these battles, you see their dexterity with words and their
use of words as weapons. You see the way in which they hurl invective at
each other, literally as fists, as if it were a boxing match (8 Mile).
-Curtis Hanson, Director of 8 Mile
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The stage is set. The anxious crowd bubbles up in roaring chant, beckoning the
commencement of the battle. They came to see two men put it all on the line. They came
to see two men enter and one man exit.
The warriors make their way toward each other, exchanging narrow-eyed glares.
Each studies the other, looking for chinks in the armor, scouting any possible weakness
that can be exploited. Within a matter of minutes, their egos, reputations, and their life as
a freestyle battle rapper will be challenged, made vulnerable for the duration of the
longest minute of their lives.
After determining who will strike first, a beat begins to play and one emcee
delivers his verse at his opponent and to the crowd, seeking to publicly humiliate his
opponent in order to secure the crowd’s approval. “The rappers face off against each
other, but they actually play to the crowd because it is the reaction of the crowd and the
applause that determines the winner” (Hanson 8 Mile). After the allotted amount of time,
usually between thirty seconds and a minute and a half, the other emcee retorts, seeking
to verbally dismantle his opponent.
“I remember when I used to do it,” recalls Eminem, star of the semiautobiographical film 8 Mile, which is loosely based on Eminem’s early days as a
struggling rapper in Detroit’s 8 Mile, a section of the city that separates the Black and
White neighborhoods.
If I lost a battle, it would be my entire world felt like it was crumbling. A
lot of people would say, ‘What’s the big deal? Get over it. You lost, try
again, whatever.’ ‘No, you don’t understand, I lost a battle. My life is
over!’ Like that’s how you feel. It’s so important and it’s such a…it’s like
competing; it’s like a sport that’s somebody’s life (8 Mile).
While there are countless freestyle battles available for close reading, the decision
to analyze a Hollywood battle in 8 Mile as opposed to an actual battle was made because
all of the back story, details, characters, emotions, insults, and inside jokes are made
known to the film’s audience, making the each rapper’s punch lines incredibly effective
and poignant. By sharing this base of knowledge with the audience, the skill and artistry
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exhibited in a freestyle battle is highlighted, showcasing the improvisational skills and
lyrical dexterity of the combatants. While such a contained scenario is unlikely in reality,
it does not detract from the essence and spirit of competition exhibited in all battles. The
film does an excellent job of capturing the raw energy and spontaneity that are
characteristic of freestyle battles.
Eminem’s character, B. Rabbit, struggles to gain respect as a battle rapper
throughout the film. In Detroit’s 8 Mile section, B. Rabbit is regarded as an outcast. His
only friends are a group of childhood companions known as Three and One-Third, named
after their area code, 313.
As the film progresses, B. Rabbit expresses his displeasure with his minimum
wage job, the fact that he lives in a trailer with his mother and little sister, and his
inability to jumpstart his life. Furthermore, B. Rabbit’s friend accidentally shoots himself
in the leg trying to break up a fight between 313 and members of The Free World, his
rival crew, his girlfriend cheats on him with a member of The Free World, and he is later
beat up by The Free World.
To make matters worse, members of The Free World are the Freestyle Champions
at The Shelter, a club that hosts 8 Mile’s battles. In the film’s climax, B. Rabbit rhymes
his way through three different battles, overcoming three different opponents.
The first of B. Rabbit’s opponents is an emcee named Lyckety-Splyt, a member
The Free World. After the coin toss, Lyckety-Splyt begins:
This guy's a choke artist, ya catch a bad one
Your better off shootin’ yourself With Papa Doc's handgun
Climbin’ up this mountain, your weak
I’ll leave you lost without a paddle floatin’ shit’s creek
The first line references the film’s opening sequence in which B. Rabbit freezes up
during a battle and loses the battle on account of his inability to respond to his opponent’s
lyrical assault.
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You aint Detroit, I’m the D, you’re the new kid on the block
’bout to get smacked back to the boondocks
Fuckin’ Nazi, this crowd aint your type
Take some real advice and form a group with Vanilla Ice
And what I tell you, you better use it
This guy's a hillbilly, this aint Willie Nelson music
By attacking B. Rabbit’s whiteness, Lyckety-Splyt draws attention to the point of
distinction between B. Rabbit and the crowd, which is largely African American. To
further widen that distinction, Lyckety-Splyt calls B. Rabbit a Nazi, which is the
antithesis of Hip Hop and everyone present at the battle. Furthermore, he compares B.
Rabbit with Wille Nelson and Vanilla Ice, both of which have little to do with Hip Hop.
In fact, comparing him to Vanilla Ice is exceptionally insulting because Vanilla Ice,
despite his initial fame, is considered to be a joke within the Hip Hop community; he is
regarded as a one-hit-wonder and a white interloper on black culture.
Trailer trash, Ill choke you to your last breath
And have you lookin’ foolish like Cheddar Bob when he shot himself
Silly Rabbit, I know why they call you that
‘cause you follow Future like he got carrots up his ass crack
And when you actin’ up that’s when you got jacked up
And left stupid like Tina Turner when she got smacked up
Here, Lyckety-Splyt takes a stab at B. Rabbit’s name, calling him a “silly rabbit,”
a phrase popularized by the cereal Trix, whose advertising mascot is a rabbit that
attempts to abscond a cereal box belonging to a group of children. The rabbit, who is
never successful, is then mocked by the children, who taunt him by saying, “Silly Rabbit,
Trix are for kids”. Lyckety-Splyt then makes fun of the relationship that Rabbit has with
Future, his best friend and battle host at The Shelter, suggesting that Rabbit is a tag-along. This is a very resourceful act on Lyckety-Splyt’s part because it displays creativity
and ingenuity by incorporating elements present at the battle.
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I’ll crack your shoulder blade
You’ll get dropped so hard Elvis will start turnin’ in his grave
I don’t know why they let you out in the dark
You need to take your white ass back across 8 Mile to the trailer park
Lyckety-Splyt’s final lines again take aim at the fact that he is White by likening
him to Elvis, a figure often accused of stealing from black culture, and tells B. Rabbit that
he is out of his element and that he should go back to the white side of town, or the trailer
park.
B. Rabbit then takes the microphone and responds:
This guy raps like his parents jerk him
He sounds like Eric Sermon, the generic version
This whole crowd looks suspicious
It’s all dudes in here, except for these bitches
As B. Rabbit spits the last line, he makes his way over to where the members of
The Free World are standing and points in their direction. The effect of this line is two
fold: by insulting Lyckety-Splyt’s crew, he proves that he too can make use of the
strategy of incorporating elements present at the battle into his rhyme, and then takes the
opportunity to debase and emasculate Lyckety-Splyt and The Freeworld. B. Rabbit
continues:
So I’m a German, Aye?
That’s ok, you look like a fuckin’ worm with braids
These Leaders of the Free World rookies
Lookie, how can six dicks be pussies?
Talkin’ bout shit’s creek
Bitch, you could be up piss creek with paddles this deep
You’re still gonna sink, your a disgrace
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Yeah, they call me Rabbit, this is a turtle race
He can't get with me spittin’ this shit wickedly
lickety shot spusipickety spickety Splyt-Lyckety
So I’m gonna turn around with a great smile
And walk my white ass back across 8 Mile
B. Rabbit took Lyckety-Splyt’s line “And what I tell you, you better use it” quite
literally, for it is his ability to counter all the points made by Lyckety-Splyt that is the key
to winning the battle. In his verse, Lyckety-Splyt ridicules B. Rabbit’s ethnicity and the
way he looks, his friend Future, his name, calls him a Nazi, and then tells him to back
across 8 Mile. B. Rabbit counters each of those points perfectly, taking into account how
each insult was used against him in order to counter it.
B. Rabbit downplays the fact that he was called a Nazi by using a complex,
multisyllabic rhyme that insults Lyckety-Splyt’s appearance, “So I’m a German, Aye?
That’s ok, you look like a fuckin’ worm with braids.” B. Rabbit then takes aim at
Lyckety-Splyt’s friends saying, “These Leaders of the Free World rookies, Lookie, how
can six dicks be pussies?” The clever word play in this phrase demonstrates B. Rabbits
lyrical ability while simultaneously serving as an insult.
Lyckety-Splyt’s use of the phrase “up shit’s creek” backfires on him,
“Talkin’ bout shit’s creek. Bitch, you could be up piss creek with paddles this deep,
your’re still gonna sink”. As he deliver the line, Rabbit holds his thumb and index finger
about an inch apart to indicate the shallow depth of the water in which his opponent will
sink. Rabbit then downplays the comment made on his name by making another childlike refernce, namely the fable of the Tortoise and the Hare, “Yeah, they call me Rabbit,
this is a turtle race.”
B. Rabbit then makes fun of Lyckety-Splyt’s name, saying, “He can't get with me
spittin’ this shit wickedly, wickety lickety shot spuspickety spickety Splyt-Lickety”. This
line notes the rhyme and awkward nature of Lyckety-Splyt’s name and converts it into a
jumble of words that sound alike, but one must note that it ends in “splyt- lyckey,” which
is an inversion of Lyckety-Splyt’s name that lets the crowd know that B. Rabbit has just
“split” Lyckety.
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B. Rabbit ends his verse by saying “So I’m gonna turn around with a great smile
and walk my white ass back across 8 Mile,” at which point he reveals his bare buttocks to
the crowd and motions as if he were leaving the stage. This again subverts LycketySplyt’s last line and neutralizes its venom by redirecting it at his opponent.
After defeating Lotto, another member of The Free World, in the semi-final
round, there is a fifteen minute intermission before the final round. B. Rabbit joins his
friends in the front row and receives congratulations on defeating Lotto. They
compliment him on his rhymes, and wish him luck against Papa Doc, The Shelter’s
reigning Freestyle Champion. Cheddar Bob, B. Rabbit’s goofy friend who shot himself in
the leg, asks B. Rabbit if he is worried about what Papa Doc is going to say. “What do
you mean,” asks Rabbit. “You know,” replies Bob, “about Wink and that Alex bitch
gettin’ it on and them beating you up and giving you a black eye and shit.” While
everyone dismisses Cheddar Bob’s statement, B. Rabbit recognizes the wisdom in
Cheddar Bob’s words.
When Papa Doc and B. Rabbit come face to face, Papa Doc calls the coin toss and
is awarded the decision of rhyming first or deferring to B. Rabbit. Implementing what is
considered fundamentally a sound strategy, Papa Doc opts to rhyme second, forcing B.
Rabbit to spit first. This would prove fatal. Remembering what Cheddar Bob said, Rabbit
takes the microphone. The beat to Mobb Deep’s famous song “Shook Ones” begins to
play. Turning to the crowd, he says:
Now everybody from the 313
put your motherfuckin’ hands up and follow me!
Everybody from the 313,
put your motherfuckin’ hands up! Look, look…
Now while he stands tough
Notice that this man did not have his hands up
This Free World’s got you gassed up
Now who's afraid of the big bad wolf?
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These first few lines serve to alienate Papa Doc from the crowd, insinuating that
he is not one of them. He then says:
One, Two, Three, and to the Four.
One Pac, two Pac, three Pac , Four.
Four Pac, Three Pac, Two Pac, One.
You’re Pac, he’s Pac, you’re Pac…none.
As he says this, Rabbit is counting off the members of The Free World, intimating
that they are all Tupac wannabes, or wannabe gangsters with the same aesthetics. Turning
to Papa Doc, he says, “you’re Pac…none” indicating that Papa Doc is not even worthy of
imitating Tupac.
This guy aint no motherfuckin’ emcee.
I know everything he’s ‘bout say against me
I am white. I am a fucking bum.
I do live in a trailer with my mom.
My boy Future is an Uncle Tom
I do got a dumb friend named Cheddar Bob
Who shoots himself in his leg with his own gun
I did get jumped by all 6 of u chumps
And Wink did fuck my girl
I’m still standin’ here sayin’ fuck The Free World!
These lines are a self deprecating preemptive strike. By listing all of his
weaknesses and bringing them up to the crowd, B. Rabbit has neutralized their venom.
By offending himself, he has defended himself from any insults regarding his situation. If
Papa Doc were to make mention of anything that Rabbit rhymed about, it would be
considered uncreative and repetitive in the crowd’s estimation. By predicting and
admitting to the material that was to be used against him, B. Rabbit takes the ammo out
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of Papa Doc’s proverbial gun. There is nothing he can say that B. Rabbit has not already
said. To add insult to injury, he says “I’m still standin’ here sayin’ fuck The Free World”
to emphasize his resiliency to the various obstacles in his life. He then turns to Papa Doc
and continues:
Don’t ever try to judge me dude.
You don’t know what the fuck I’ve been through
But I know somethin’ about you:
you went to Cranbrook, that’s a private school
What’s the matter dog, you embarrassed?
This guys a gangsta? His real name’s Clarence
And Clarence lives at home with both parents
And Clarence parents have a real good marriage
By revealing some personal information about Papa Doc that he learned earlier in
the film, Rabbit highlights some of Papa Doc’s contradictory characteristics. The fact that
he acts like a gangster and totes a gun is incongruent with the image of a private school
student named Clarence. Rabbit also mocks Papa Doc’s living conditions, claiming that
they were pleasant and wholesome, an image that clashes with Clarence’s supposed thuglike demeanor. B. Rabbit continues:
This guy don’t wanna battle, he’s shook
‘cause aint no such thing as half-way crooks
He's scared to death, he’s scared to look
in his fuckin’ year book. Fuck Cranbrook!
In an act of genius, B. Rabbit references the hook found in “Shook Ones”, which
happens to be the beat that he is rhyming to. Knowing that this song is popular, Rabbit
incorporates a part of the song’s famous hook into his rhyme. He is aware that this will
involve the crowd in his performance; when he spits, “he’s shook, ‘cause aint no such
thing as” the crowd responds with an emphatic “half way crooks”. B. Rabbit is letting
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everyone in the crowd know that Papa Doc is indeed a “half way crook,” something that
the song “Shook Ones” denounces. For trying to pass himself off as a gangster,
something which Rabbit claims he is not, Clarence is exposed as a fraud who is “scared
to look in his fuckin’ yearbook” because it reveals the truth about him. As B. Rabbit
finishes saying “Fuck Cranbrook,” the beat stops because the time allotted to him for
rhyming has come to an end. He continues anyway, saying:
Fuck a beat, I go acapella
Fuck a Papa Doc, fuck a clock, fuck a trailer,
fuck everybody! Fuck y’all if you doubt me
I’m a piece of fuckin’ white trash, I say it proudly
Fuck this battle, I don’t wanna win, I’m outtie
Here, tell these people somethin’ they don’t know about me
As he finished the last lines, Rabbit tosses the microphone at Papa Doc’s chest,
emphatically concluding his verse. Papa Doc, having been stripped of all of his lyrical
material, has nothing to say. Furthermore, he is humiliated. When his opportunity for
rebuttal presents itself, Papa Doc remains silent, awkwardly holding the microphone. He
then concedes, handing the microphone to Future.
While this example of freestyle battling is not one that takes place in reality, it is a
good example of what makes freestyle battles exciting and pertinent to Hip Hop. What
makes the freestyle battle so important to Hip Hop is the fact that freestyle is Hip Hop’s
original lyrical sport. Freestyle is a competitive sport that follows many poetic traditions
and has many practitioners world wide. The battle puts both warriors in the spotlight,
rhyming with no safety net. When it comes to battling, your ability to freestyle is on
display for all to see. There is no studio equipment to make you sound better and there is
no second or third take; there is no second chance. All the preparation, talent, and genius
in the world will do little for you if you cannot adjust your flow and come up with a witty
and pertinent retort or insult. When it comes to freestyle, you either can or can not.
Because there is so much at stake, many Battle Rappers go to war with
ammunition ready, so to speak. It is not uncommon for battlers to have a ready supply of
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prepared lyrics, rhyme schemes, and ideas that they will use to set up punch lines or fill
in space between punch lines. The practice of spitting (delivering) prepared rhymes is,
and will always be, a point of debate.
One side of the argument states that the use of prepared rhymes lacks the
spontaneity and improvisation integral to freestyle. The fact that not everything that the
emcee spit was spontaneously created on the spot is perceived as uncreative. However,
the fact of the matter is that it is impossible to determine who uses prepared rhymes and
who does not.
The other side of the debate believes that the freestyle aspects of a battle are
inevitable, regardless of the fact that some individuals choose to use written rhymes. The
element of freestyle is made apparent in the way that the prepared rhymes are delivered..
KRS One explains, “The rhyme you’ve written is written for any environment, so you
can interchange words, you can use the freestyle ability on top of that written rhyme”
(The Art of 16 Bars). The Battle Rapper that writes his rhymes is still subject to the
crowd and his opponent. He must still spit rhymes that are based on the battle’s
environment, situation, and mood in order to engage the crowd and be creative. The
rhymes must still be adapted to fit the moment and must be delivered fluidly in order to
be effective. If a Battle rapper fails to do any of these things, he will lose the battle.
In Digitopia Blues, John Sobol writes that “The best rappers are fantastic
improvisers-freestylers-extemporizing lyrics of extreme semantic and rhythmic
complexity in fiery public competition” (120). Although not every engagement with the
art of freestyle pits emcees against each other, every emcee is under a bit of pressure to
maintain his reputation. It is also important to note that freestyling is used by every
emcee when he writes a song. In order to get a feel for the beat and to brainstorm lyrical
ideas, an emcee’s song begins as a freestyle session that he captures with a pen and pad
and later revises.
The tension between prepared and improvised freestyle rhymes is a side effect of
the tension between Hip Hop’s oral and written components. Hip Hop poetry is a twosided coin that, when flipped, has two sides that want to land face up. Each side
showcases a set of specific talents and abilities that an emcee must possess. Which one
lands face up depends on who flips the coin.
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Writing rhymes allows the emcee to be calculating and deliberate, carefully
choosing words and structuring rhyme schemes. The emcee can forge extended
metaphors and explore similes, weaving all the poetic conventions he uses into his piece.
Freestyle, on the other hand, often forces the emcee to approach rhyming from a different
perspective, coming up with end rhymes and flow at a moment’s notice. This does not
allow the emcee much time to come up with his next rhyme; it is either there or it is not.
Different as they may be, freestyle rhymes and written rhymes are invariably
found together more often than not; they come together to form one coin. They are part
and parcel of Hip Hop, giving the sharp mind of the emcee two venues to express himself
and demonstrate skill under one umbrella.
Critical of the Illiterate Literacy: Oral Poetry on the Page
The effects of writing down an oral poetry, both to organize for memorization and
performance and for preservation cannot be underestimated. Writing rhymes is a process
that involves the transfer of energy and a process of converting the state of that energy.
When an emcee is inspired to write a rhyme, that concept, idea, and rhyme come to him
in the form of a freestyle. As the emcee mutters words to himself, bobbing his head to a
rhythm he envisions, the words that will eventually create his verse seem to come to him
as if by osmosis, channeled from his mind, through his hand and find a resting place on
the page. The process of searching for the right word, meticulously calculating the effect
that its sound and meaning will have, is a moment of sublime inspiration. There are other
times where the words seem to flow to the artist, as if by divine indication.
It may seem as if this description of the rhyme writing process is a bit romantic or
overly dramatic, but there is a metaphysical aspect to the process. When a rhyme is
written down, its effect is converted from kinetic energy to potential energy. Words on a
page will lay there, patiently waiting for someone to unleash the energy they had before
entering their stasis, for their energy is accessible every time the rhyme is read or spoken
aloud. The process of writing down the rhyme is reversed, converting the written word’s
potential energy into kinetic energy through the act of being read.
This is a process that Hip Hop poems must undergo more often; how the emcee’s
words are reproduced is of utmost importance. Like all good poetry, Hip Hop poetry must
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stand the test of print. Good Hip Hop poetry is capable of standing on its own without the
use of the beat that accompanies it. Its use of poetic convention and wordplay is capable
of creating a rhythm on its own.
However, if one were to search the internet for the lyrics to a Hip Hop poem, one
would be disappointed to find that there are often no official lyrics to be read. The only
lyrics one is likely to find are those transcribed by a fan who has spelled every word in
text message short hand. Furthermore, the words are often inaccurate. In addition,
seeking clarity in a CD’s liner notes, which are supposed to be the “official lyrics,” may
also prove disappointing. Take Nas’ “Ghetto Prisoners” for example. The song says:
As the night close down on the earth like great dark wings
Light up cities in the night, destination for kings
with big dreams, like Castro, overthrew Batista
from Cuba and pointed nukes toward the U.S.
Yet the liner notes say:
As the night close down on the earth like great dark rings
Light up cities in the night, destination for kings
with big dreams, like Castro, overdue by Doosta
from Cuba and pointed nukes toward the U.S.
It is obvious that such inaccuracy destroys the poem; the simile in the first line
would make no sense if that line’s end word were “rings”; how would the night close
down on the earth like great, dark rings? Furthermore, the allusion to Castro’s coup in the
second and third lines no longer exists if, as the liner notes state, Castro were “overdue by
Doosta”. Aside from being nonsensical, such a phrase makes the allusion even more
nonsensical and ineffective. Not only does this gross oversight in the printing of these
lyrics ruin the poem’s opening lines, it ruins the piece’s overall power and aesthetic.3
Reading an emcee’s words is a completely different experience from hearing
them; it offers a different type of encounter with the poem. Placing the poem on the page
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requires the same accuracy and precision that the emcee used when he first composed the
piece. What appears on the page must be exactly what the author intended, not what some
intern whose job it was to type up the lyrics thought he heard.
The fact that many emcees do not carefully print and reproduce their work is mind
boggling. Although they do publish their work, they are not published to be disseminated
in print, but rather, to secure mechanical licenses, performing rights licenses, print
licenses and other licenses authorizing various uses of their songs. This form of
publishing is not intended to make the poetry readily available for analysis and
interpretation.
The value of preserving their work in print is overlooked and unappreciated,
perhaps because they do not care for or understand the significance of preserving their
work on the page. The major issue with this trend is that, at some point, someone is going
to write down the poetry; and as Nas’ Ghetto Prisoners illustrates, that “someone” will
affix the artist’s words to a page based on his interpretation of what was said, not what
the emcee actually said.
The careful transfer of the oral poem from the air to the page is also important
because it preserves the rhythm and momentum the words build as they flow along. The
reader must engage the words and get a sense of the rhythm embedded within them,
sliding the eye over a page whose words have an effect similar to sliding one’s hand over
a page of Braille. How the words are used and how they form a rhythm is dictated by the
role they play on the page. This is one way which Hip Hop poets elicit the participation
of an audience.
Hip Hop poetry, like classical poetry, is meant to be experienced, even if it is on
the page. The audience alone is part of the performance. As Imani Perry points out, “The
response elicited by the audience from DJs or MCs forms part of the hip hop
composition” (72). However, a good poem transcends the space created by the emcee,
DJ, and crowd. It is able to stand alone, never depending on a beat or a sing-songy hook.
It does not rely on the artist’s voice and inflection. It can survive without them.
That is why the poet must take care of how his poetry is reprinted and reproduced.
There is a difference between the words rhymin’ and rhyming. The words sound
different, feel different, and look different because they are different. Although one is
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technically a variation of the other, a mere contraction, they are not the same when
affixed to the page. Similarly, the use of punctuation and line break are other elements
that do not receive enough emphasis. Can you imagine the impact of changing the breaks
and ignoring the punctuation when reprinting Poe’s “The Raven” or Martin Luther
King’s “I Have a Dream” speech?
Hip Hop poetry builds a rhythm when it is read and since there is no voice to
guide the reader, the commas and periods are crucial for the reader if he is to follow
along. If an artist has not taken the time to have his words printed in exactly the manner
he wished, the rhythm generated by reading the words, if any, will likely not be as fluid
as it should have been.
Sweet Sixteen: Hip Hop’s Poetic Form
The Hip Hop poem is typically composed of three stanzas containing sixteen
lines, or bars, each followed by a four or eight bar chorus. Each stanza is referred to as a
bar because it works within a beat, which is almost always in 4/4 time. The use of sixteen
bar format gives the verse a sense of structure, as opposed to the free verse approach of
rhyming that freestyle utilizes. Each sixteen bar verse is made up four sets of four bar
phrases, which allows the verse to take shape. A poem takes shape by structuring the
different components (verse, chorus/hook, and occasionally bridge) in a specific fashion.
The beat and the verse’s rhyme scheme tend to play on a listener’s sense of
intuitive anticipation; one can usually anticipate the arrival of an end rhyme or a chorus
because the poems follow a verse/ chorus/ verse/ chorus/ verse/ chorus pattern, or a
chorus/ verse/ chorus/ verse/ chorus/ verse chorus pattern.
There are many variations of this form because not all emcees adhere to the
form’s structure. Some incorporate bridges, write verses in excess of sixteen bars, and
take whatever liberties they see fit when working within and around the form, but it is
likely that these poems will not receive any mainstream radio play, something most
artists seek, due to the fact that they do not fit the radio-friendly format, which keeps
songs around four minutes.
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Sixteen Bars: Form or Formula
The evolution of rap, that is to say, the oral rhythmic rhyming, “bears a striking
resemblance to the evolution of jazz both stylistically and formally,” according to John
Sobol, author of Digitopia Blues (117). Sobol observes that innovative jazz musicians in
New Orleans “improvised primarily in 2/4 time” (117). He goes on to note that the
playing of great jazz improvisers and the rap of Hip Hop godfathers was “rhythmically
regular and highly metrical,” like “the playing of the first great improvisational innovator,
Louis Armstrong” (117). Sobol likens the type of innovation made by jazz artists like
Armstrong to the rap of early emcees, noting that,
Although their rapping is speedier and somewhat more syncopated than
the pealing riffs of King Oliver or Louis Armstrong, the essential rhythmic
pulse is similar. Early rap’s 2/4 rhymes follow quasi-regular metrical and
stanzaic patterns and are anchored firmly by end rhymes (118).
As time passed, jazz musicians “began weaving their way electrically in and out
of the new asymmetric syncopation, twisting and turning their phrases with greater
rhythmic sophistication” (Sobel 118). The evolution of Hip Hop was no different.
According to Sobel, the “lyrically inventive but angular and relatively predictable” rhyme
structures of early emcees “gradually gave way to the more idiosyncratic verbalizing” of
emcees that were “looking to compliment their provocative cultural statements with
aesthetic choices that would distance them from rap’s party-music origins” (118). For
instance, take the opening verse of NWA’s 1988 release “Straight Outta Compton”.
Before Ice Cube’s verse begins, we hear Dr. Dre’s ominous words, “You are now about
to witness the strength of street knowledge”:
Straight outta Compton, a crazy motherfucker named Ice Cube
From the gang called Niggaz with Attitudes
When I’m called off, I got a sawed off
Squeeze the trigger, and bodies are hauled off
You too, boy, if you fuck with me
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The police are gonna have to come and get me
Off your ass, that’s how I’m going out
For the punk motherfuckers that’s showing out
Niggaz start to mumble, they wanna rumble
Mix’em and cook’em in a pot like gumbo
Goin’ off on a motherfucker like that
With a gat that’s pointed at your ass
So give it up smooth
Aint no telling when when I’m down for a jack move
Here’s a murder rap to keep you dancin’
With a crime record like Charles Manson
AK-47 is the tool
Don’t make me act a motherfuckin’ fool
Me and you can go toe to toe, no maybe
I’m knockin’ niggas out the box daily
Yo weekly, monthly, yearly
Until them dumb motherfuckers see clearly
That I’m down with the capital C-P-T
Boy you can’t fuck with me
So when I’m in your neighborhood, you better duck
‘cause Ice Cube is crazy as fuck
As I leave, believe I’m stompin’
But when I come back, boy, I’m comin’ straight outta Compton4
There is little in this song that resembles Hip Hop’s “party-music origins”. Instead, the
song inhabits a role that many other songs discuss and describe; instead of talking about
the violence in the ‘hood, the members of N.W.A. become that violence.
By the early to mid 90’s, emcees were far removed from the predictability of end
rhymes that was a side effect of following the early musical and rhyme structures.
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No longer were MCs happily hitting downbeats and sticking within the
frame of regular 4/4 rhymes. Instead, they slid over and under the beats,
breaking phrases without concern for standard musical structure. They
abandoned the easy sense of closure provided by the stanzaic form and let
poetic form flow organically from lyrical, rhythmic, and narrative impulse
(Sobol 118).
The rhyme structure created by the emcee’s use of words served to provide a pace
or rhythm, often promoting regularity of flow as opposed to forcing it upon the
composition. Take Bone Thugs N Harmony for example. This Cleveland based group
delivers lines with such speed that the content of their verses is often intelligible.
However, the words they use creates a distinct rhythm that moves within and around the
beat, creating its own structure. Take Krazie Bone’s verse in “No Surrender”:
You better believe it’s judgment day
so nigga just throw you pumps in the air
Now kill’em, kill’em coppers like you just don’t care
when they come, they come creepin’, me peepin’
Gotta watch them po po’s sleepin’ Put’em deep in gutters, me keepin’
‘til a me rich and gotta get mine, every time
This’ll be over in nine nine
So nigga get down for the crime
gonna be more coppers dyin’ in the line
fuckin’ with thugs when I be slangin’ my drugs
struggle to cuff me and my nigga, boy, gotta rip them guts
and lay your head in blood
better check yourself next time you test and try to smoke a nigga
Bitch remember, me killa, me no surrender
Me no surrender… Nigga, Me no surrender…
Me no surrender… Don’t make me put one in ya
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Me no surrender… Don’t make me put one in ya
Me no surrender… 5
Krazie Bone’s words flow so quickly that they tend to run into each other as they
leave his mouth, entering our ears as one word. By choosing many one and two syllable
words, this flow often mimics a semi-automatic pistol, firing off rhythmic bursts of words
interspersed by pauses or breaks. The monosyllabic words join together and are delivered
as one word or solid sound.
When Krazie Bone spits:
they come creepin’, me peepin’
Gotta watch them po po’s sleepin’
Put’em deep in gutters, me keepin’
‘til a me rich and gotta get mine, every time
This’ll be over in nine nine,
So nigga get down for the crime
gonna be more coppers dyin’ in the line
his words are compressed, forming an effect that sounds like this:
they come creepin’, me peepin’
Gottawatch them popo’ssleepin’ Put’emdeep in guttersmekeepin’
‘tilamerich and gottagetmine, everytime
This’llbe overinninenine
So niggagetdownforthecrime
gonnabemore coppers dyin’intheline
By maintaining their cadence through the use of short words and a rapid delivery,
Krazie Bone and the rest of his Bone Thugs brethren achieve the effect of creating one
large, rolling word. The number of syllables in word-phrases such as “popossleepin’”,
“Put’emdeep”, “guttersmekeepin’”, “‘tilamerich” is the same, helping maintain that
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cadence. Furthermore, all of these word-phrases rhyme, furthering a rhythm that unifies
this section of the verse.
New Flow for the New Emcee: The Poem in Action
The emcee’s use of words began to dictate the pace of his poem as opposed to
letting a beat regulate the flow of his words. By creating the rhythm, a new poetic form
began to emerge, one that was free-flowing and open to any direction that the emcee
chose to move toward. By adapting and renovating the use of the old structure, the emcee
of the 90’s practically built the “New School”, making a distinction between himself and
his “Old School” predecessors. Emcees like Melle Mel, Run of Run DMC, Rakim, and
Kurtis Blow paved a path for the likes of Tupac, Biggie, Snoop, and Nas (Sobol 188).
Consequently, the evolution of the rhythmic structure affects the structure of the
poems. Like most change, this has good and bad consequences. The negative aspects,
however, seem to temporarily outweigh the positives. We will discuss why this may be
temporary later, but let us examine the effects now.
Firstly, everything that follows a form or formula is bound to its rules and pattern.
Hip Hop poems rarely vary in structure; they now follow a verse/ chorus/ verse/ chorus/
verse/ chorus pattern, or a chorus/ verse/ chorus/ verse/ chorus/ verse chorus pattern,
keeping the poem to about three and a half minutes in length. This structure may very
well constrict an artist’s horizons by forcing him to place his verses into a radio-friendly
mold if he seeks radio play.
The Hook and Chorus, which are the most repetitive and consequently catchy
parts of the song, draws the focus of listeners, who often regard a song’s verses as filler
in between choruses or hooks. The hook is becoming more of a jingle or advertising ploy
than a meaningful period of reflection in between verses. The chorus and hook have
traditionally been a catchy and repetitive set of bars used to recap of the overall message
that the song conveys, however they have now been relegated to mere jingles and
gimmicks. In Rick Ross’ “Hustlin’”, the chorus repeats the phrase, “Everyday I’m
hustlin’” ad nauseam. The phrase makes up the hook in its entirety; there is no variation
save some scratching.
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An Escape or A Cage: What to do with Sixteen Bars
In today’s Hip Hop Industry, very few emcees find any measure of success
without radio play. Radio play guarantees mass exposure which generally translates into
record sales. Who receives radio play is not necessarily contingent upon musical or poetic
talent, but rather, who the record industry wants you to hear.
In the same way that Hip Hop’s pioneers took different forms of music and gave
them new meaning, record label executives and radio conglomerates are
recontextualizing not only the way that Hip Hop conveys meaning, but it is also dictating
whose voice is heard on a national stage. Although this is a highly contested point of
debate in today’s Hip Hop discourse, the aspect to focus on, for our purposes, is that how
Hop Hip interprets and reinterprets the world is shifting, consequently shifting its poetry.
As discussed in chapter one, many of the artists that receive corporate backing
have a certain persona and fit the image of a street dwelling, gun-toting, drug dealer
turned rapper who “keeps it real”. Most of these individuals make little contribution to
Hip Hop poetry and simply rehash the same ideas, images, and even words.
While some segment of audiences may find this entertaining, it is doubtful that
the poetry produced by these rappers is what is appealing. The fact that these songs and
music videos are played countless times each day plays a large role in the popularity of
these songs. Many of today’s rappers fill in a song’s sixteen bars with the same ‘hood
terminology and imagery used by every other industry-made rapper: there is the
customary mention of money and jewelry, a reference to “bitches”, sexual prowess, and
sexual conquests, a description of some violent act or violent threat, and lastly, a mention
of their vehicle.
An article in The Source titled “Self Destruction” makes mention of an
underground rapper named Justin Rambert who makes his way Jersey City, NJ to
Manhattan several times a week to a recoding studio run by Project Hip Hop, an
organization that seeks to imitate Hip Hop’s “original ethos” (Markman 68). “The project
uses the culture to mediate conflict and teach young people about the music industry”
(Matthews 68). The article states that for Rambert, “the Hip Hop Project is a safe place to
work on music and escape Jersey City’s block-by-violence,” yet it questions whether
Rambert, and organizations like Project Hip Hop can ever really escape violence
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(Matthews 68). Rambert says “I was talking to an A&R from Jive Records…he was like,
they looking for something more gangsta’ and hood. People are afraid of change. It’s
scary. I personally would be afraid to put out a mixtape in my hood if I didn’t shoot at
least three people on the mixtape, ‘cause they not gonna listen.” (68) The repetition of
this imagery and content has made it a standard in Hip Hop. This has become a sort of
formula that is used to fill in the sixteen bar format.
Nevertheless, talented emcees have been able to use this structure and use the
form brilliantly, carefully choosing words and structuring their thought into sixteen bars.
The sixteen bar structure works well for many emcees because it is a form that has been
used successfully for years. It is likely that even without the media’s influence, the
sixteen bar format would be widely used. By structuring their poems in a verse/ chorus/
verse/ chorus/ verse/ chorus format, many emcees produce excellent poetry that fits the
radio format, allowing them to reach a greater audience.
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CHAPTER THREE
ENGAGING POETIC CONVENTION
Hip Hop poetry is meant to be performed. It is, after all, a form of oral poetry. It is
at its most powerful, most effective, and most impressive when heard. The poem’s life on
the page is complemented when delivered in an audible fashion. The poet’s voice,
inflection, breathing, and tone breathe life into the words, contributing to the poems
impact and effect. Like the town criers of yesteryear, these new-age bards address an
entire community with their voice, conveying a message that is accompanied by a beat.
Furthermore, rapping has a rhythm, pace, and ebb and flow that the emcee purposefully
prescribes to the piece in his delivery.
It is not strange to observe parallels between some Hip Hop poetry and other epic
works from various literary genres. The great epic of Old English, Beowulf, begins with
the narrator exclaiming “Hwæt!” before he begins the tale. As Antony “steps to the mic”
(so to speak) to deliver his famous soliloquy in Shakespeare’s tragedy, Julius Caesar, his
first words are “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears…”. A town crier,
before delivering whatever news he may have for the town, would first gain the attention
of the crowd by yelling, “Hear Ye, Hear Ye!”
Like the examples mentioned above, many Hip Hop poems begin with a call for
the audience’s attention; Hip Hop orators begin many of their poems with cries of “Yo,
yo!” so as to get hold of their audience’s attention before they commence their
performance. Nas’ “Small World” begins with a rapid succession of yo’s: “Yo, yo yo yo!
Carolyn, from Maryland…” In a similar fashion, Eminem begins “The Way I Am” by
saying, “Whatever.. Dre, just let it run. Hey yo, turn the beat up a little bit. Hey yo... this
song is for anyone… fuck it, just shut up and listen, Hey yo!”
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Word Invention
The creation of a new word, for whatever reason, is uncommon in Hip Hop.
Where Bone Thugs N Harmony (and modernist poets like Gertrude Stein) use a series of
words to create a new word from the existing words, Eminem will invent a word in order
to suit the purpose of rhyme or cadence. In “Kill You” Eminem writes, 6
Know why I say these things? ‘Cause Ladies’ screams keep creeping in
Shady’s dreams.
And the way things seem, I shouldn’t have to pay these shrinks
these eighty g’s a week to say the same things tweece.
Twice, whatever, I hate these things.
This is an example of literal word creation, where Eminem has created a word to
fit a rhyme. He creates the word “tweece” as a variation of ”twice” to finish the rhyme
and to emphasize the abnormality that the content in it expresses. His alter ego, Slim
Shady, has visited a very expensive psychologist in order to discuss certain dreams that
are populated by women screaming. The disturbing content is accentuated by the
insertion of a nonexistent word. By inserting the word “tweece” and then correcting
himself, only to disregard the correction by saying “whatever, I hate these things”
emphasizes the condition in which the poem’s figurative “I” finds himself.
Rewriting Rhyme
Rhyming is perhaps the most recognizable of all poetic conventions. As children,
we learn nursery rhymes to ease our passage into the land of the literate. Eminem’s
ability to reshape words is highly respected amongst the Hip-Hop community for its use
of repetition, homophones, and rhyme. His ability to repeat the same word while
producing different meanings proves to be impressive.
Though Eminem often adheres to the traditional use of grammar, this does not
prevent him from taking grammatical liberties in order to awaken new meaning from
words. These liberties allow Eminem to adhere to the constraints imposed by meter,
51
cadence, and rhyme, something that allows him to follow the strict rules of a modified
sonnet, which is the form most Hip-Hop lyrics adhere to. While a sonnet has fourteen
lines, the rule of thumb for a Hip Hop verse is sixteen bars, or lines.
In “Patiently Waiting,” a song on 50 Cent’s debut album, Eminem writes:
[Bridge]
You’ve been patiently waitin’ to make it through all the hatin’
Debatin’ whether or not you could even weather the storm.
As you lay on the table they operating to save you
It's like an Angel came to you sent from the heavens above.
[Verse]
They think they crazy but they ain't crazy. Lets face it, shit, basically
they just playin’ sick, They ain't shit. They ain't sayin’ shit. Spray’em
Fifty!
A to the K, get in the way I’ll bring Dre and them with me
And turn this day into fuckin’ mayhem. You stayin’ with me?
Don't let me lose you, I'm not tryin’ to confuse you
When I let loose with this Uzi and just shoot through your Isuzu.
You get the message? Am I gettin’ through to you?
You know it's comin? You motherfuckers don’t even know, do you?
Take some Big and some Pac and you mix’em up in a pot
Sprinkle a little Big L on top. What the fuck do you got?
You got the realest and illest killers tied up in a knot.
The Juggernauts of this rap shit, like it or not.
It's like a fight to the top just to see who’d die for the spot.
You put your life in this, nothin’ like survivin’ a shot.
You’ll know what time it is, soon as 50 signs on this dot.
Shit, what you know about death threats ‘cause I get a lot.
Shady Records was eighty seconds away from the towers
Them cowards fucked with the wrong building, they meant to hit ours.
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Better evacuate all children, Nuclear showers…
There’s nothin’ spookier, You’re now about to witness the power
of fuckin' 50! 7
It is clear that Eminem’s concern is not so much with grammatical precision, but
rather with word play that will allow him to convey some sort of assonance and meaning.
Although what he spits may not adhere to the traditional rules of grammar (his first line,
“they think they crazy but they aint crazy” is missing the word “are” or its contraction),
the reader or audience is left with a sense of understanding, as if to say, “I get it.”
Eminem writes for meaning, not for clarity. He goes as far as to incorporate a line that
informs the audience to pay close attention to his verse, “Don't let me lose you, I'm not
tryin’ to confuse you,” because it may have to be experienced more than once in order to
catch all of the nuances and significance which would, in turn, offer the clarity the
audience seeks.
Eminem’s use of rhyme within the line, or internal rhyme, allows him to make his
lines flow with a cadence. In order to complete a line or thought that ends in rhyme,
Eminem turns to any of the literary conventions associated with rhyme: true rhyme,
repetition, half rhyme, imperfect rhyme, and slant rhyme. Furthermore, Eminem will
often use the inflection of his voice to complete the rhyme even though these words may
not seem to rhyme.
“Patiently Waiting’s” bridge has an ABAB rhyme scheme, though Eminem does
not use perfect rhyme. The first verse contains a mixture of perfect rhyme, half rhyme,
and internal rhyme in order to maintain a repetition of rhyme. The first two lines of
Eminem’s verse in “Patiently Waiting” state:
They think they crazy but they ain't crazy. Lets face it, shit, basically
they just playin’ sick, They ain't shit. They ain't sayin’ shit.
Spray’em Fifty!
Eminem’s use of rhyme and repetition allow him to exercise control of meter and
cadence. Coupled with his use of slang and contractions, he is able to make the words
53
new by altering the use and pronunciation of each word. In the first sentence alone he
repeats the word “they” three times and in the only sentence where “they” is not repeated,
he inserts the word “face,” whose long “a” sound produces a half rhyme with the word
“they” in order to continue cadence and rhyme through repetition.
.
Playing with the sound that each word makes seems to be as important as what
each word means. The word “shit” is used as an exclamation, an adjective, a noun. The
short “i” sound is repeated in the words “think,” “it,” “shit,” “sick,” and “Fifty” while the
short “a” sound is repeated in the words “they,” “crazy,” “aint,” and “face.” The words
“basically, “playin’,” “spray’em.”” and “sayin’” contain both the short “a” and short “i”
sound.
The phrases can therefore be broken down a bit further with the use of assonance
and alliteration. By focusing on the repetition of the short “a” and “i” sounds, the lines
would sound like:
Ay ih ay ay
(but) ay ay ay
(Let’s) ay ih ih ayih
ay (just) ayih ih
ay ay ih
ay ay ayin ih
ayin ih
This experimentation with word play and sound is some of the most potent
innovation with word play that Hip-Hop has produced in its brief history. By focusing on
rhyming vowel sounds as opposed to rhyming words, Eminem manages to extend the use
of rhyme and the scope of its effectiveness. Although the rest of the verse contains
similar word and sound play, alliteration, and rhyme, the craftiness employed by Eminem
is best reflected in the first two lines, which he uses to set the tone for the rest of the
verse.
In “Flip Flop Rock,” Jay-Z takes full advantage of repetition and internal rhyme
to aid his characteristic smooth delivery and lyrical flow. He says:
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When I’m in the mood, I rock the S. Dot tennis shoes
as I interlude I got the Gucci flip flops
And I mix it up like Gin and Juice when I’m in them interviews
dudes wanna know what he copped.
From where did you got that, how can they buy that
Where the million dollar watch at? Stop that!
What that? Why this?
Niggas wanna hijack the flyness
I’m on a whole other plain, a whole different lane
A whole other game that I’m playin’, understand what I’m sayin’? 8
The first four lines have an ABAB rhyme scheme. What makes these lines interesting is
their use of complex internal rhymes, or rhyming phrases. The first three lines use the
words “mood”, interlude”, and “Juice” to match with the end rhymes of lines one and
three: “shoes” and “interviews”:
When I’m in the mood, I rock the S. Dot tennis shoes
as I interlude I got the Gucci flip flops
And I mix it up like Gin and Juice when I’m in them interviews
dudes wanna know what he copped.
Lines one and two use the words “rock”, “dot”, and “got”, which rhyme with line two’s
end word “Flop” and line four’s end word “copped”:
When I’m in the mood, I rock the S. Dot tennis shoes
as I interlude I got the Gucci flip flops
And I mix it up like Gin and Juice when I’m in them interviews
dudes wanna know what he copped.
55
If one were to analyze the first two lines further, the previously mentioned sets of rhymes
(“augh” and “oo”) intersect, creating syllabically congruent phrases that rhyme with the
end word of lines one and two even though they have an AB rhyme scheme:
When I’m in the mood, I rock the S. Dot tennis shoes
as I interlude I got the Gucci flip flops
Furthermore, Jay-Z maintains cadence and syllabic continuity by utilizing phrases that
rhyme and have the same number of syllables, such as: “in the mood”, “tennis shoes”,
interlude”, Gin and Juice”, and “interviews”.
Like Eminem, Jay-Z relies on the rhyming of sounds, not necessarily words, to
create his rhymes. The complexity of his rhymes is impressive, considering that the verse
lasts 33 seconds; the audience would likely have experience the verse more than once in
order to catch all of the subtleties and nuances.
The Art of Storytelling: Images and Narrative
[New School rappers] downplayed the playful exuberance of early rappers
and elevated intimidating narrative intimacy as a means
of conjuring up an aura of controlled violence. And they began
constructing complex dramas in sound… (Sobol 118-19).
In “Undying Love”, Nas presents the audience with a poetic narrative, a tale of
details. The poem has no figurative “I”; Nas is telling a fictional story with himself as the
main character. His use of narrative and imagery make this piece quite vivid and
effective. Along the way, he makes use of other poetic conventions, but this piece is an
excellent example of the quality work some good emcees have been producing. The first
four lines are a description that sets a mood and background for the plot that is about to
unfold. The piece commences:
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Pacino life, G-a-roll casino dice
at the Mirage, Vegas strip, neon lights
Gamblers, puffin cigars, couples and stars
Flashin’ cameras, dealers, shufflin’ cards 9
In the song, the imagery’s appeal to the senses is further enhanced by sound
effects that mimic the words Nas uses to paint the picture; we hear the murmur and
bustling of a crowd, the zip of playing cards being shuffled, and camera lenses snapping
while flash bulbs are flashing. The references to the Mirage, Hollywood stars, and
thousand-dollar-a-roll dice games present an image of a high roller enjoying the best Las
Vegas has to offer. The neon lights, cigar smoke, and other intangible sights, sounds, and
smells of Vegas are captured in these four lines and made nearly tactile.
The reference to Al Pacino serves a special purpose. Nas could have chosen any
Hollywood icon to represent the high life, but he does not. The characters that Pacino has
portrayed in films such as The Godfather and Scarface are metaphors unto themselves.
Using Pacino’s name does more than serve as a word to rhyme with “dice” and “lights”;
it alludes to mob bosses such as Tony Montana whose opulent lifestyle and rags-to-riches
rise to power have fascinated Hip Hop audiences for years.
The next four lines serve to inform the audience of the relevance of the first four
lines as well as contrast them with Nas’ usual backdrop, New York.
Spent the weekend, already miss New York and it's odd
‘cause I'm the first to say its got too many hustlers who rob
I never hang out, when we do we bust the four-five
with shells comin’ back at us while we jump in the ride
We become aware that the first four lines are the description of a weekend
getaway to Las Vegas, away from his everyday experience in New York. Nas says he
never hangs out in New York and is motivated to take a break from it because he attracts
problems that lead to shootouts. With this line, he is trying to convey the grittiness and
hardships present in his everyday life, but it is done so with the use of hyperbole, which,
57
like the reference to Pacino, is used give him a larger-than-life appearance. The second
line foreshadows what takes place later on in the piece.
The next two of lines provide a bit of detail as to what went on in Vegas:
Flyin’, duckin’, our bitches in the club cluckin’
Tellin’ my wife who I was dancin’ with like I was fuckin’
However, there does not seem to be much of a contrast or relief from drama in this
weekend excursion; the women he is surrounded by are gossiping, starting rumors, and
spreading exaggerated reports of his actions that eventually get back to his “wife”, which
in this case is slang for girlfriend. It seems that no matter where he is or what he does,
there is no escape from drama, just a changing in the level of its intensity.
The fact that he makes the distinction between dancing and intercourse is
important. His celebrity allows him to sleep with pretty much anyone he wants, yet he
states that what took place was harmless. This is a contrast to Hip Hop’s often
misogynistic sexual braggadocio; if he were sleeping with women besides his current
girlfriend, he would not hide it.
In the ensuing lines, we are introduced to the rising action as Nas returns to New
York:
Flew back Monday evening from Nevada where the sun was beamin’
to the concrete jungle of cement
Limousines from LaGuardia airport, sleepin’
Told my dogs peace, kept it movin’, I was beat when
got to my crib, where the hell my keys went?
Ringin’ the bell, heard a yell but wasn't sure
Dropped my luggage to the ground, put my ear to the door
Slow music, H-Town, no, that's Down Low
My baby's, drop Mercedes is parked, I creep around, yo
to the back, she must be inside and can't hear
Probably upstairs in the mirror doin’ her hair
58
There is a stark contrast between Nevada and New York; he is leaving a place
where “the sun was beaming” and arriving to “the concrete jungle of cement.” He is tired
from the flight back and probably jetlagged, stating that he was sleeping in the limousine
and hurriedly parted ways with his travel companions upon arriving at his house.
Since he is unable to find his keys, he rings the bell, which is accompanied by the
sounds of a doorbell being rung twice, and gets no response. He believes he hears a yell
and puts his ear to the door in an attempt to confirm his assumption but hears slow music,
which at first he mistakes to be the group H-Town. Upon further inspection, he realizes
that the song he hears is “Down Low”. This detail is important because the reference to
this particular R. Kelly song again foreshadows later events. The song deals with a
woman who is cheating on her partner with Kelly, and insists that he keep it “on the
down low”, which is to say, “keep it a secret”.
When he sees that her car is indeed there and that she should have responded to
the doorbell, we wonder why she has not answered the door. Nas quickly answers our
curiosity about her absence, stating that she can not hear him because she is “probably
upstairs in the mirror, doin’ her hair.” The next lines again use sensory images to set the
mood as the rising action (no pun intended, you’ll see) gets rolling:
I walked in through the back door entrance
Shocked it was unlocked, when I walked in I smelled incense
chased by a weed aromaempty Guinnesses and lipstick marks on like three empty Coronas
A pair of blue jeans on the carpet;
size 12 Timberlands, Somethin’ swingin’ on the ceiling fan, I stopped it
Swingin’ slower and slower…
On the last swing I saw it was a G-string and heard laughin’
Thought about my nine-side glock but somethin’ made me disregard it
Started my way up to where the noise and music was at
Froze, I couldn't react
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This barrage of sensory information, riddling both Nas and the audience all at
once- for we are experiencing this with him at the same time he does- overwhelms and
confuses us all; this is unexpected, as well suspicious, and is evidence of an event. Nas is
apparently following the footsteps of a man and a woman. Note the use of information
used to describe each individual: the man’s smell represented by a “weed aroma” and the
woman’s by incense. Their drinks of choice are apparent; she had three Coronas, which
we know she consumed because she left lipstick on them, and he had a few Guinnesses.
The trail continues onto the carpet and out of the kitchen as their apparel becomes
apparent; a pair of jeans and a pair of Timberlands in size 12. He also hears laughing,
which is made literally audible to the audience by a sound bite of a woman’s laughter. It
becomes apparent at this point that there is something rotten in the state of New York.
Nas notices “somethin’ swingin’ on the ceiling fan”, which turns out to be a G-sting.
Nas does not react or comment on any of his findings until this point. Although
there is clear evidence of infidelity, he says nothing but “Thought about my nine-side
glock but somethin’ made me disregard it”. The brief glimpse into what is going through
his mind seems to indicate a concern for his safety and perhaps his girlfriend’s, not a
flash of anger. Although the picture, which he himself has painted, is crystal clear, he
“disregard[s]” it, continues up the stairs “to where the noise and music was at.” Upon
reaching his destination, he again does not react, but this time for a different reason, as he
states that he is “frozen” and simply “couldn’t react” to what he sees:
Bedroom door opened a crack,
seen wifey layin’ with some nigga mumblin’ shit,
he had one hand on her ass and she was rubbin’ his dick,
toastin’ wine glasses- cherry scented candles was lit,
couldn't handle the shit
It is at this point, when he sees the result of all the signs he encountered, that he
believes what is actually going on. Again, the senses are invoked: they are mumbling to
each other, which indicates that the nature of their conversation is unclear. What is made
very clear is the fact that Nas’ girlfriend is cheating on him with another man. The image
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of the two adulterers naked in bed, touching each other coupled with the sound of glass
clinking and the smell of cherry candles burning anchor our senses in the moment, and
prove to be too much for Nas to handle:
Searchin’ for words I found none, without a sound
I left the house with a sick smile and took my gun
Now I'm out buggin’, wildin’, what I'm goin’ do?
Call my man, Horace- “meet me outside, I'm comin’ through.”
For the first time in the entire piece, our narrator is speechless. The entire poem
has been brought to life by his description, and he, who has been so eloquent thus far,
finds himself “searching for words” to no avail. The reality of the situation shocks him
and seems to catch him by surprise, despite the fact that all the signs were there.
As he leaves the house in silence, with a “sick smile” and his gun, we become
aware of his state of mind. There is something brewing in his mind, and although it is not
clear to him or to the audience, it cannot be good because as his state of “buggin’,
wildin’”, indecision, and particularly his smile indicate, it is likely to be “sick.” Upon
calling his friend Horace to pick him up, the song’s chorus, which expresses his shock,
disappointment, disillusion, and discontent, comes in and repeats twice, allowing the
audience to see how the narrator internalizes what he has just witnessed:
I thought you loved me
I thought you’d care for me
I thought you needed me
Didn’t you believe in me?
The next verse begins with Nas’ friend, Horace, picking him up and going for a
ride.
Got up with Horace, sure the look on my face was mad lost
I ain't know whether to cry or just, try to laugh it off
"Son you home early - they wiped you out that quick?"
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I said, "Nah," showed him the plastic with nine in the clip
Hopped in the whip, popped in the disc, pressed play
To the Grand Central, from the Van Wyck Expressway
Horace instantly senses that something is troubling Nas, but assumes that he lost a
large sum of money during his trip to Vegas, noting Nas’ early return and asking, “they
wiped you out that quick?” Nas’ response to Horace’s ribbing is austere and grim. He
simply says, “Nah,” and flashes Horace his handgun, a gesture that insinuates that his
troubles are serious and require immediate and severe action. Nas then elaborates:
I said, "Bet you'll never guess in a million years
what I just saw happenin’ - and probably still is
Snuck in my crib - some nigga fuckin’ my Wiz
I saw them, they ain't see me, I ducked and I slid
I'm a grab shorty, I need you to grab the nigga for me"
Just when I thought I found love, she shitted on me
Shopped in Vegas, a present, for our engagement
Twenty G's on a ring I would have hit her today with
My surprise couldn't match the one she had for me
We pulled up, he was walkin’ out the house backwardly
Parked in the back of my house, they couldn't see us
Ran to the side of my house, cocked the heater
Walked to the front when I talked he had junk
Bitch tried to slam the door shut, got caught in Horace foot
It is in these bars that Nas lets us know how he feels after internalizing the events
of the first verse. He offers Horace a brief recap of what he saw and then explains the
effects that it has had on him, stating that he feels like she shit on him just as he was
beginning to feel that he had found true love. We also learn that he intended proposing to
his girlfriend, having spent twenty thousand dollars on a ring. His disillusionment and
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heartbreak are best summed up in the line, “My surprise couldn’t match the one she had
for me.”
The plan of action that Nas and Horace settle upon is simple: Nas will “grab” the
girl and Horace is to “grab” the philanderer. They return to the house and see the man
walking out of the house with his back to them. They park in the back of the house and
run up the side to surprise the couple; by this time, Nas has readied his handgun. As Nas
calls out to the man, the man reacts by trying to run back into the house. Horace prevents
him from retreating by putting his foot in the door. Nas continues:
Shot the Spanish kid in the rib, drug him in
Grabbed her face, “Say goodbye to your undercover friend”
One between the eye, she died, by mistake
Must've held the gat too tight, pointed at her face
Heard somebody knock, Horace helped me hide the bodies
Heard sirens, I guess we goin’ out like kamikazes
We surrounded, red lights flashin’, who's inside?
Came out a bullhorn, I'm contemplatin’ suicide
After shooting the “Spanish kid,” Nas unintentionally shoots his girlfriend in the
head, stating that he held the gun too tightly while grabbing her face. Horace then helps
him hide the bodies after somebody, quite possibly an inquiring neighbor, knocks on the
door. It is interesting to note Nas’ mindset when he hears police sirens and realizes that
the house is surrounded by the police, “guess we goin’ out like kamikazes.” He has
already made up his mind to not surrender to the authorities. He hears someone speaking
on a bullhorn and realizes that the situation is excessively bleak. He knows that it is
unlikely that anyone would believe that the murder of his girlfriend was accidental,
especially since they killed her lover. Furthermore, his mind seems to be racing, as if it
has not yet come to terms with what has happened. Pleading his case before a judge and
throwing himself at the mercy of anyone is not an option, and it does not seem to be an
option for Horace either:
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Horace asked me for the Mac, he gave me dap, one love
Cocked the strap, then he ran out the back
Mad shots couldn't tell what was goin’ on
Sat on the floor near my dead girl, put her in my arms
Pulled her ring out my pocket I was savin’
Put it on her ring finger cocked the glock, and started prayin’
to Muhammad and Allah, “the most beneficial
through you, all things are possible, I know you're listenin’”
Horace takes Nas’ “Mac” or Mac 10, and gives him “dap,” a gesture of greeting
or in this case farewell, and runs out of the back of the house. The resulting “mad shots”
leave Nas in a state of further confusion. Horace’s fate remains unknown, but it is likely
that he is gunned down in a hail of bullets. In a state of total shock and disbelief, Nas
goes through with what he had intended before his world came crashing down: he pulls
the would-be engagement ring from his pocket and places it on her finger. He readies his
handgun begins praying:
“I never meant for this to happen, I never dreamed
this would be my fate, such a grotesque murder scene”
But his prayers are interrupted when the police make a forcible entry into the house,
intruding upon the couple’s intimate yet morbid moment:
On that note, same time, the cops busted in
Kissed my lady, her blood on my lips, I said, "Amen"
Put the nine to my head, pulled the hammer, held her close
Squeezed the toast, said to her, "Now unto God, we elope … we elope.”
As the police enter, Nas joins his fiancé in the next life. Despite the fact that she
was unfaithful to him, Nas remains faithful to her. With a second bullet, they elope.
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Rather than live without her or let himself be judged by his fellow man, Nas throws
himself at the mercy of a higher power and into the arms of his fiancé.
As the verse comes to an end, a single gunshot is heard, accompanied by the
sound of a body slumping over. Footsteps are then heard approaching. A cop is then
heard muttering “stupid fucking niggers” as he enters the room.
This one phrase is perhaps the most poignant of the whole piece. Nas offers some
intriguing social commentary with those three words. The officer’s tone of voice is one of
resentment and disgust. He has come upon a situation in which he is unaware of the detail
and does not understand what the individuals, particularly Nas, has gone through. Instead
of feeling sorry for the deceased individuals inside the house, he dismisses them with a
statement of ignorant prejudice.
He does not take into consideration the fact that the dead man before him has
worked hard to overcome the odds and become successful, he sees him only as a
“nigger”. He offers no condolences, only hate. The fact that Nas has suffered an
extremely traumatic, life altering/ending experience means nothing to the officer. To him,
all the money, success, and achievement amount to nothing because Nas is ultimately, in
the officer’s estimation, nothing more that a “stupid fucking nigger.”
Nas’ critique extends past a single police officer; the officer represents everyone
who is blinded by ignorance. Nas is pointing out that racism is very much alive. There are
many people in today’s society that do not fully assess the people, situations, and facts
that they encounter on a daily basis. Many people who encounter young African
Americans and other minorities are incapable of looking at them without seeing past their
own presuppositions and assumptions. There are many members of society who cannot
fathom that an individual such as Nas could compose a poetic piece like “Undying
Love”.
Nas demonstrates an uncanny command of sensory detail which he uses to drive
the narrative and create suspense. His use of characterization, rhyme, wordplay, and other
literary devices help create powerful poems that deal with important social issues and
raise awareness about the life that Nas and other members of the Hip Hop community
live each day. Though some may choose to remain ignorant despite Nas’ warning, no one
can deny that “Undying Love” is a work of poetic brilliance.
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CONCLUSION
Both Hip Hop and the emcee break boundaries; the emcee destroys the
conventional perception of a poet as well as the boundary between poetry and prose,
while Hip Hop generates a language and a culture for those that would not otherwise
have one and for those who identify with and appreciate its ethos.
Hip Hop’s engagement of language has yielded not only a powerful form of
poetry, but new poetic traditions as well. Though rapping, writing rhymes, and freestyling
follow earlier oral traditions, the freestyle battle and rhyming in a cypher provide a
unique method of interacting with language that yields a highly innovative, highly
creative form of poetry.
Writing rhymes provide the emcee with an opportunity to create poetry that
demonstrates a unique command of language and literary devices. Through the process of
penning his rhymes, the emcee displays his knock for finding the right words and rhymes
that allow him to create powerful metaphors, similes, and other forms of wordplay.
Through his poetry, the emcee seeks to shape language in order to uncover
innovative forms of expressions and significance. He explores the relationship between
the word and the world, uncovering different patterns and meanings that add clarity, as
well as flavor, to a language that often muddles meaning and reality.
The emcee’s experiments with words often involve fragmenting and disorienting
the word to form lines that are difficult to recognize and decipher at first, due to the fact
that they offer new meaning, purpose, and clarity. The emcee’s literary contributions may
not have yet earned him a place in the academic canon, but their lyrical and poetic work
have propelled them to a place among popular culture’s elite.
This thesis has explored the various methods Hip Hop uses to create its poetry.
Constantly interacting with language, the emcee has proves that he is a poet worthy of
critical analysis and recognition. Applying a literary critic’s eye and ear to Hip Hop’s
poetry has provided insight into the process of crafting rhymes as well as an in-depth
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analysis of the several poems. Hip Hop’s poetry yields insight into a unique
understanding of the world and the word.
Though this thesis in no way constitutes a complete analysis of all the poetry HipHop produces, it provides a probe into Hip Hop’s poetic contributions. Furthermore, it
offers an analysis that uncovers how the emcee creates his poetry and the effects of his
interaction with language, one that engages audiences. Because reality is not universal
and is in fact contingent upon how each individual perceives and interprets each word,
the emcee galvanizes his audience’s cognitive and interpretive sensibilities into action.
Each individual is called to understand each word, therefore providing a meaning, and
then perhaps realize that there are other meanings, thus actively participating in the
process of understanding that leads to meaning, or what each word was intended to
suggest.
After all, it is the members of a community that ultimately decide how language
affects them; their interaction with language forms a culture that helps define their
identities. The emcee, Hip Hop culture’s most audible spokesman, takes an active role in
influencing language, consequently influencing an entire culture. Hip Hop poetry is an
artistic form that is always being updated, constantly evolving; it is a form that is teeming
with life. Creating poetry is an act the emcee performs, but it is also an act he lives.
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ENDNOTES
1
This quote was taken from a lecture I personally attended at Florida State’s Club
Down Under on April 11, 2006. KRS One discussed several aspects and current events
concerning Hip Hop culture. The quotes were tape recorded for accuracy and easy
transcription.
2
This interview was conducted on February 3, 2006. The quotes were tape
recorded for accuracy and easy transcription. No animals were harmed in the
interviewing process, but some beats did get ripped up.
3
This observation is not meant to single out any artist or point fingers, but rather
to emphasize the impact that the written word has on Hip Hop’s poetry. Though the
poetry is often experienced sonically, an intangible method of experiencing the poetry,
care must be taken when the words are placed on the page because printing the words is
an act that transfers and affixes them into a tangible, visible realm.
4
Since there are no official lyrics to “Straight Outta Compton,” I was forced to
listen to the song countless times in order to the most accurate transcription possible. I
attempted to contact Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, their websites, their webmasters, their fan
clubs, and their record labels on several occasions in hopes of getting the official lyrics,
but received no comment or response. I am confident that the margin of error in minimal
despite the fact that there is no official transcript to use as a guide. By official, I mean
that there is no transcript of this song that is approved by Ice Cube or Dr. Dre.
5
Since there are no official lyrics to “No Surrender,” I was forced to listen to the
song countless times in order to the most accurate transcription possible. I attempted to
contact Bone Thugs N Harmony, their website, their webmaster, their fan club, and their
record label on several occasions in hopes of getting the official lyrics, but received no
comment or response. I am confident that the margin of error in minimal despite the fact
that there is no official transcript to use as a guide. By official, I mean that there is no
transcript of this song that is approved by Bone Thugs N Harmony.
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6
Since there are no official lyrics to “Kill You,” I was forced to listen to the song
countless times in order to the most accurate transcription possible. I attempted to
contact Eminem, his website, his webmaster, his fan club, and his record label on several
occasions in hopes of getting the official lyrics, but received no comment or response. I
am confident that the margin of error in minimal despite the fact that there is no official
transcript to use as a guide. By official, I mean that there is no transcript of this song that
is approved by Eminem.
7
Since there are no official lyrics to “Patiently Waiting,” I was forced to listen to
the song countless times in order to the most accurate transcription possible. I attempted
to contact Eminem, his website, his webmaster, his fan club, and his record label on
several occasions in hopes of getting the official lyrics, but received no comment or
response. I am confident that the margin of error in minimal despite the fact that there is
no official transcript to use as a guide. By official, I mean that there is no transcript of
this song that is approved by Eminem.
8
Since there are no official lyrics to “Flip Flop Rock,” I was forced to listen to the
song countless times in order to the most accurate transcription possible. I attempted to
contact Jay-Z, his website, his webmaster, his fan club, and his record label on several
occasions in hopes of getting the official lyrics, but received no comment or response. I
am confident that the margin of error in minimal despite the fact that there is no official
transcript to use as a guide. By official, I mean that there is no transcript of this song that
is approved by Jay-Z.
9
This song was transcribed entirely by ear. Since there are no official lyrics, even
on the liner notes of the album, “I Am…,” I was forced to listen to the song countless
times. I attempted to contact Nas, his website, his webmaster, his fan club, and his record
label on several occasions in hopes of getting the official lyrics, but received no comment
or response.
I am unsure as to the name of Nas’ partner in crime. I found it odd that his friend
would be named “Horse”, which seemed to be the consensus on all online lyric data
bases. I opted to transcribe the name as Horace, which sounds like “horse”, but is an
actual name. I am confident that the margin of error is minimal despite the fact that there
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is no official transcript to use as a guide. By official, I mean that there is no transcript of
this song that is approved by Nas.
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REFERENCES
The Art of 16 Bars. Dir. Peter Spirer. DVD. Image Entertainment, 2005.
Chang, Jeff. Can't Stop, Won't Stop: a History of the Hip-Hop Generation. New York: St.
Martin Press, 2005.
Eleveld, Mark, ed. The Spoken Word Revolution: (Slam, Hip Hop, and the Poetry of a
New Generation. Naperville: Sourcebooks, Inc., 2003.
Freestyle: the Art of Rhyme. Dir. Kevin Fitzgerald. DVD. Palm Pictures, 2004.
The MC. Dir. Peter Spirer. DVD. Image Entertainment, 2004.
Markman, Rob. “Plies: I’m a thug.” XXL. July 2006, pp. 54.
Matthews, Adam. “Self-Destruction.” The Source. July 2006, pp. 62-68.
Nelson, George. Hip Hop America. New York: Penguin Group, 1998.
Perry, Imani. Prophets of the Hood: Politics and Poetics in Hip Hop. Durham & London:
Duke University Press, 2005.
Quickly, Jerry. “Hip Hop Poetry.” The Spoken Word Revolution. Ed. Eleveld, Mark.
Naperville: Sourcebooks, Inc. 2003.
Rose, Tricia. Black Noise. Middletown: Wesleylan University Press, 1994.
Stic.man. The Art of Emcee-ing. Atlanta: Boss Up, Inc., 2005.
Sobol, John. Digitopia Blues: Race, Technology, and the American Voice. Banff, AB:
The Banff Center Press, 2002.
Turner, Khary Kimani. “KRS One: Life.” The Source. July 2006, pp. 118.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cepeda, Raquel, ed. And It Don'T Stop: the Best American Hip-Hop Journalism of the
Last 25 Years. New York: Faber and Faber, Inc., 2004.
Costello, Mark and David Foster Wallace. Signifying Rappers: Rap and Race in the
Urban Present. New Jersey: The Ecco Press, 1996.
Ferrell, Jeff. Crimes of Style: Urban Graffiti and the Politics of Criminality. Boston:
Northeastern University Press, 1996.
Flores, Juan. From Bomba to Hip-Hop: Puerto Rican Culture and Latino Identity. New
York: Columbia UP, 2000.
Forman, Murray. The 'Hood Comes First: Race, Space, and Place in Rap and Hip-Hop.
Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 2002.
Gates, Jr, Henry Louis. The Signifying Monkey: a Theory of African-American Literary
Criticism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
HipHop 101: the Game. Dir. Gregory Cassagnol. DVD. Win Media Corporation, 2003.
Light, Alan. The Vibe History of Hip Hop. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1999.
Neal, Mark Anthony. That's the Joint!: the Hip-Hop Studies Reader. Ed. Murray Forman.
New York: Routledge, 2004.
Perkins, William Eric, ed. The Vibe History of Hip Hop. Philadelphia: Temple University
Press, 1996.
Sitomer, Alan, and Michael Cirelli. Hip-Hop Poetry and the Classics. Beverly Hills: Milk
Mug, 2004.
Watkins, Craig S. Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul
of a Movement. Boston: Beacon Press, 2005.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Alejandro Leonel Nodarse was born and raised in Miami, Florida. He began his
undergraduate career in Florida International University, studied at Framingham State
College for a year, and returned to Florida International to complete his B.A. in English
Literature. He minored in History and Visual Arts and received a Certificate of PreModern Cultures.
Alejandro received his Masters degree in English Literature from Florida State
University in 2006 and continues his work with the Poetics of Hip Hop. In addition to
writing and studying poetry, his interests include painting and sculpting.
73