I had a conversation with an Oxford language professor who was interested at the idea that poetry could be somehow living on in popular culture through rap. I often here very good lines from rappers, however then they ruin songs with cheesy/awkward attempts.
Pic related is a poem Tupac wrote to his girlfriend. It's utter horse shit, I know. It made me think that rappers are untalented at doing things outside of rhyming. Actually, no, the rhyming here isn't even good - it's contrived. "Regal grace". Cringe.
>Can hip-hop/rap be Veeky Forums? I have no idea what it means to be Veeky Forums, but I did come across some lyrically interesting rap songs. They are far from being the next Baudelaire but they aren't dumb.
>poetry could be somehow living on in popular culture through rap. Yeah, that's not an unlikely situation. Written poetry today is cryptic (if not obscurantist) and has completely abandoned the traditional tools of prosody, making it less interesting when it's actually read out loud. Who knows, the whole field could die out. Rap on the other hand is simpler, accessible, rhythmic and sometimes pretty technically impressive (I've heard songs that rhyme with the same syllable all the way through) because it is meant to be heard, and has musical accompaniment, just like the ancient Greek poetry and drama.
Zachary Parker
No that would just be cultural appropriation
Matthew Russell
God not this shit again. I would report this thread if there was any actual basis in doing so. Lyrics =/= poetry. Lyrics = lyrics. Poetry should be able to stand by itself and on its own merits alone. Does a book need to have pictures to communicate its point to you? I will certainly say that the poetry in the public eye now is unanimously garbage (writing a paragraph and entering random line breaks doesn't make poetry) but rap lyrics are not a replacement.
Angel Miller
why do brainlets always try to act like rap is lit? is it because they are not used to full sentences?
most lyrics in all genres are written secondary to the music. look at how rappers compose, they get a beat, then they let it flow into them and come up with some shit, then they edit it and clean it up for production. there is very little thought in consumer media lyrics, unless you're amazed by illiteration and metaphor, theyre really not interesting.
Andrew Martin
yes i recognise the hilarious irony/freudian slip in misspelling alliteration 'illiteration'
Jaxon Ward
Looks like I just found the perfect title for my ironic rap album.
Aaron Wright
if rap tries to be cultural it's pretentious cringe. rap artists should stick to their roots not let their ability to make sentences rhyme make them feel schooled. they should stick to whatever poetic value there is to the life of the lower social class urban outcasts. they're only different from junkies because they gather around to humble brag about their illicit activities and are not smart enough that their ambition goes wasted. respect if you make it though, but not even a significant amount of successful rap careers are culturally important besides appealing to underdeveloped teens.
Jayden Howard
This, anons take note. Now pack your shit , leave this board and never use rap and literature in the same sentence again.
Logan Peterson
I love this board.
Jose Hughes
"Used to paint Hard to admit that I 'used' to paint Natural light on a human face Stenciled fire on his roommate's bass It was blooming addiction A miss and a push and a pigment Book like a tattooed pigskin, look Pinhead kids intermittent Drank Kool-Aid from a tube of acrylic And I grew up in a linseed oil over linen Joy to the poison, voice in the resin Capture a map of the gesture Back up, add a little accurate fat to the figure Redo that, move that inwards Zinc-white lightning shoots from his fingers Studios drone with allusions of tinctures Stay tuned for the spooky adventures You can imagine the stars that align When a forearm starts foreshortening right Or a torso hung on a warping spine Of proportion reads as warm and alive Routine day with a dirt cheap brush Then a week goes by and it goes untouched Then two, then three, then a month Then the rest of your life, you beat yourself up I left some seasons eager to fall I left some work to bury alive I let my means of being dissolve I let my person curl up and die Eating up his innards in unfeasible anxiety is brutally committed to relinquishing his privacy aligning with the trials of the anti-Midas Nap on the back lawn, look up at the sky, it's..."
there is good rap, but it's generally worse than poetry
Carter Morris
I don't think so. It is distinguished by delivery and the underlying music. It isn't the same as poetry, you're not meant to just read it (though I believe there are styles of poems that fall into this too), you're meant to hear how the actor delivers it and in a particular context or mood. Pauses, timing, tone and emotion embedded in the words; are of equal importance (perhaps more) than the words themselves. It is more music than literature, I don't think music counts as literature. Certainly not popular music.
more lyrics
I need a North Star
I'm gonna kill myself eventually.. I feel it build like it's a habit that's instilled in me I've been trying to warn my broken family I hope they're happy. I hope they're happy. I want to tell them it's okay if I just disappear I fear existence.. I see my parents. in my memory, letting me see the damage They inflicted, but I cherished the pain, at least I had them. They only paid attention when they bruise So that's the muse that I use to retain you. It's okay; let me tell the truth. Music isn't therapy; it's a form of self-abuse I don't have a reason to live. Psychopathic, I should cease to exist A black rose with poisoned tipped thorns. Enjoyment left for... a reason I don't yet know. abandon is growing, I'm feeling my whole skin eroding, I'm closer to death than I know but I've chosen to balance the weight using memory that ruined everything. All I want is a sanctum, Serendipity or a reason to care explicitly Please be luciferous... If you're trying to help.. I lost light tossing pennies in a well. I need a north star. I need a north star. Guide me in the dark.. find the tiny piece of heart in my body and then inspire me to start. Please.. I'm entirely at fault. Threw myself to the pain and now this fire breeds my thoughts. Platitudes.. I don't need them. colloquialisms are for the children.. Results that they've given are non-existent.. Talking as if you understand me is different I need you to listen. I need you to listen. That's the difference.
*another song, 2nd verse
I see the fire when I close my eyes Am I supposed to hide the feelings that I hold inside? Walking barefoot on the sun with my severed feet Looking for a place in the fire when you remember me there is nothing but the flame inside I never knew that my suffering became alive and it combined... I didn't love my spirit, so my mother has witnessed her youngest son die It's hard to see when you're already blind When you've dived inside the fire for the Seventh time When you feel your skin boil but you're cold as ice and you can't help but believe that you're a prototype But I guess it's insecurity... because I'm never in security when moving me and I'll never be the person I could truly be I'm just watching my life pass through a movie screen..
Andrew Campbell
2pac is actually one of the worst rappers if you're judging him on technical abilities. He's all about the "soul" of his art.
Thomas Jones
>I never sleep cause sleep is the cousin of death
Was this a reference to the Greeks?
Leo Cook
In the XXI century, the Greeks are so ingrained that you probably reference the Greeks on a daily basis. I probably did it several times in the last sentence.
Jordan Wood
the answer to your question is no
Kayden Torres
DAAAAAAAMMMNNNN WHAT WHAT HOKAY HOKAY HOKAY
Jonathan Young
If you played it off as you being ironic we couldn't have contested it
Zachary Phillips
I'm gonna be legit for a second and say, I like poems that can talk, that can speak, that can say. I don't like the tongue twisting turbulence of the intellectual pursuit. When I can feel the emotion that's when I delight, when a poem has more syllables than words I can't hear it so it's mute.
Adrian Butler
Can animals produce culture? Ridiculous.
Adrian Hall
>can a nigger create literature no
Jackson Miller
Just one possible scenario: >The 2057 Nobel prize for literature goes to Marshal Bruce Mathers III. > Everybody will loose their shit that it isn't Kendrick.
Wyatt Collins
It's Shakespeare, actually. I remember there being something similar to that in Macbeth
