No other musical genre relies as heavily on wordplay as rap. A lot of rap is admittedly terrible but once in a while you come across the most intricate of word plays that set the heart aflutter. It is spoken poetry- it can be delicate and hilarious and heartbreakingly sad. To truly love rap, you have to love words.
I was ecstatic when I first found out that Yale University Press was releasing an Anthology of Rap last year. It has gotten its fair share of negative reviews, but I can't help but feel optimistic that academia has ackowledged rap as a literary art form. It was the very first of it's kind and I'm very much looking forward to the next iteration.
"Hello Sunshine" by STS is a great example of a catchy song with lyrics worth noting. He may not be a literary genius, per se, but this first verse by STS began as a love poem to his then-girlfriend...and it shows. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment