Hip-Hop and Poetry - Essay Example

There are those who believe that hip-hop is a way of making written poetry interesting and easy to understand. This paper gives a relationship between the aspects of written poetry and hip-hop music lyrics.

           Just like normal English poems, the string of words used in the lyrics of a hip-hop genre has a pattern seen in the lines. Mos Def’s lyrics depict the same pattern depicted in poems. He uses rhyming words such as tomorrow, follows, there it is, and where it is, to build a rhyme in his rap. English poems use these feet to build strings in the flow of the poem. Poets bring together repetitions of similar strings of feet in composing the lines of a verse. Hip-hop uses rap and music to bring out the rhyming elements in the verse. Thus, poetry will rely greatly on the reader to discover the rhyme in the verses (Bradley 39).

          Poetry and hip-hop lyrics use language to present information above the literal meaning of what the writer conveys in the lyrics. In essence, both writings are rich in the use of symbolism. When Mos Def speaks of getting a rash on his lips from speaking the King’s English, he means something very different from what the words represent. The use of symbolism is an ancient art of poetry. Symbolism is the backbone of a language and dictates a writer’s command of the language (Bradley 49).

          Apart from symbolism, alliteration, metaphors, and similes, are other uses of language in poetry. The art of comparison forms part of the major technique that hip-hop artist use in writing their lyrics. In his lyrics, Mos Def compares his success’ brightness to being so bright that everyone watching him will have to use squinted eyes to have a look at it. By this, he shows that no one is capable of reaching the heights that he has attained already. The use of language in poetry helps the reader build vivid descriptions as he reads along. In rap, it helps the listener to understand clearly the message that the rapper brings along (Bradley 55).

         Metaphors in poetry emphasize on the comparison aspects in a poem making a poem interesting. Mos Def shows how powerful his speech is by comparing it to a hammer that bangs the world into a shape. Through this, he explains to the listener the importance of his speech. A tool that gives the world its natural form must be very powerful indeed (Bradley 56).

          In conclusion, the aspects that describe the structure of poetry are relevant in hip-hop lyrical writing. In both cases, the writers use meter, theme, symbolism, rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, simile, and metaphors in the articulation of their works. Although some hip-hop lyrics may not have a clear theme, poetry emphasizes the use of the theme to articulate an idea. From the discussion above, there is a clear relationship between English poetry and Hip-hop lyrics.