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Last Updated: May 1st, 2009 - 11:36:35 |
Ever since The Sugar Hill Gang released “Rapper’s Delight” in 1979, introducing the disco world to the advent of hip-hop, rap lyrics have been deconstructed ad nausea. The rhythm, the style, the fantasy have all been the cause of both celebration and controversy since the genre’s commercialization in the 80’s and 90’s. Yet the most elite canon of rappers shares a common denominator: complex lyricism. Within that echelon of the MC’s and the critics who break down their content, the question has always been what makes a rap good?
Harvard PhD Adam Bradley has several answers. In Book of Rhymes, he contends that effective lyrics usual excel in one or more categories including rhythm, rhyme, wordplay, style, storytelling and signifying. Through the lens of poetry, Bradley analyzes rap lyrics for the traditional literary elements that distinguish them.
Just like a sonnet or a ballad, a rap has structural elements that define its form. Rappers access the same pool of literary devices—simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia and meter—that are available to all practitioners of the poetic tradition. Surprisingly enough, rappers and poets both express themselves with the common boundaries of theme, point of view, and narrative structure. The results may contrast but the ideology is essentially the same.
Bradley’s main argument in Book of Rhymes is that rappers use these conventional forms of rhythm and structure in unconventional ways. Much like jazz, which balances structure and improvisation, hip-hop strives to reconcile its formal and informal elements. In the chapter “Rhythm,” Bradley writes, “Good rappers combine the expected metrical scheme with altered or exaggerated speech intonations to create a distinctive sense of rhythm, a flow all their own. They know when to switch up their flows to fit a new beat or a new lyrical mood. They know how to deliver variety without violating the integrity of the rhythm. “
Rap has evolved from its rudimentary days as a musical way of announcing the DJ. It has come to embrace stylistics elements that crown it the preferred narrative media for the global underworld. The art form, both a true reflection and an embellishment of the urban landscape it depicts, has become the default form of expression for a whole generation of people. Bradley writes, "Between the street life and the good life rap is a broad expanse of human experience. Rap has its screenwriters, making Hollywood blockbusters in rhyme with sharp cuts, vivid characters, and intricate plotlines. It has its investigative reporters and conspiracy theorists, its biographers and memoirists, its True Crime authors and its mystery writers."
Book of Rhymes is very straightforward yet deeply insightful. This manual on the poetics of hip-hop expression is an obvious combination of countless midnight debates and the meticulous breaking down of hip-hop canonical verses. It’s both scholarship and fanaticism united for the same goal of granting rap music the sharp analysis it deserves. Bradley rewards the music that has rewarded him and his contemporaries for the last three decades.
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