Lyres, Damn Liars, and Hip-Hop by Nathaniel Campbell

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The earliest readings of the genre were attended by the playing of a u-shaped, string instrument similar to a harp, used in ancient Greece, called the lyre, demonstrating a rudimental relationship to melody, harmony, and rhythm.

Predominately, hip-hop is written in time-measure 4/4, having four beats per bar, with a snare falling on its second and fourth, respectively, which creates a backbeat, the off-beats being emphasized over the first and third (on-beats), serving as markers of stress, which instruct the emcee on where to place accented (or stressed) syllables, as demonstrated by Busta Rhymes in “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See”:

Hit you with no delaying so what you sayin yo
Silly with my nine milli, what the deally yo
When I be on the mic yes I do my duty yo
Wild up in the club like we wild in the studio
You don't wanna violate nigga really and truly yo
My main thug nigga named Julio he moody yo
Type of nigga that'll slap you with the tool-io
Bitch nigga scared to death, act fruity yo
Fuck that, look at shorty, she a little cutie yo
The way she shake it make me wanna get all in the booty yo
Top mistresses and banging bitches in videos
Whylin with my freak like we up in the freak shows
Hit you with the shit make you feel it all in your toes
Hot shit got all you niggas in wet clothes
Styling my metaphors when I formulate my flows
If you don't know you fucking with lyrical player pros, like that

One of Aristotle’s six elements of poetry, Melos, in drama, refers to the music the audience hears in the play; however, in poetry this is the musical characteristics of the poem; rhythm, which is determined by the arrangement of the metrical feet around the suggested stresses, affording space for creative expression; tone, which conveys emotion, informing the former in that, for example, when angry speech is slow and clear, evincing intensity; and rhyme, which, by way of patterns, like rhythm, grants a license for creativity.

Metaphor is speech that runs contrary to fact (ref. Rhetoric), giving the audience a contextualized connection to discern linking one entity to another, a discovery or catharsis, which is the casting off of confusion or uncertainty (pain), in favor of understanding (joy), the aim of poetic expression, which contrasts with the straightforwardness of prose.

One example of structural metaphor, the description of one well-defined entity—in this case, exercise—as another, can be found in “Breathe Easy,” a song by rapper, Sean “JAY Z” Carter:

Suckers, get your weight up, not your hate up
Jigga man is diesel when I lift the eight up
Y'all ain't ready to workout with the boy
Your flow is brain on drugs, mines is rap on steroids
I lift every voice when I sing, my ability
Make yours look like an exercise in futility
Bring your squad, biceps, triceps, and quads
We don't strugglewith undeveloped muscles

Opsis, or spectacle, another of Aristotle’s six elements of poetry, in drama, is everything the audience sees on stage; in poetry, this concerns the mental visions elicited by the imagery described by the poet, case in point, “Mural” by rapper, Lupe Fiasco, in which the Grammy-winning lyricist’s words are approximate to captions on photos:

We're all chemicals, vitamins and minerals
Vicodin with inner tubes, wrapped around the arm
To see the vein like a chicken on the barn
Top Cat chat, let's begin another yarn
That's flying saucer cheese, or is it chicken parm'?
But roosters don't fly like boosters don't buy
So what powers cowards to get them to the top
Just to fall asleep listening to Bach?
The ribbon in the sky is the riddim that I drop
Dribbling the eye across the prism of a clock

This highlights the dream-like nature of poetry, in which all things can be all things or nothing at all, depending on the context of the work and the perspective of the audience, which is required to determine the association of one line pointing to another.

So, why is writing in hip-hop not considered poetry?

The rhythm of verse poetry is found in its meter, patterns of repeated stressed and unstressed syllables, metrical feet, regularly distributed across metrical lines, which contrasts with the rhythm of lyric poetry, its rhythm being, overwhelmingly, that of casual speech or conversational, as the lyric poet is said to be overheard talking to himself, an abstraction, representative object, or muse, his back turned to his audience, feigning ignorance to its presence; the latter of which corresponds to the criticism of this piece, for the emcee, giving the perspective of the isolated individual is a lyric poet. The earliest readings of the genre were attended by the playing of a u-shaped, string instrument similar to a harp, used in ancient Greece, called the lyre, demonstrating a rudimental relationship to melody, harmony, and rhythm. Predominately, hip-hop is written in time-measure 4/4, having four beats per bar, with a snare falling on its second and fourth, respectively, which creates a backbeat, the off-beats being emphasized over the first and third (on-beats), serving as markers of stress, which instruct the emcee on where to place accented (or stressed) syllables, as demonstrated by Busta Rhymes in “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See”:

Hit you with no delaying so what you sayin yo Silly with my nine milli, what the deally yo When I be on the mic yes I do my duty yo Wild up in the club like we wild in the studio You don't wanna violate nigga really and truly yo My main thug nigga named Julio he moody yo Type of nigga that'll slap you with the tool-io Bitch nigga scared to death, act fruity yo Fuck that, look at shorty, she a little cutie yo The way she shake it make me wanna get all in the booty yo Top mistresses and banging bitches in videos Whylin with my freak like we up in the freak shows Hit you with the shit make you feel it all in your toes Hot shit got all you niggas in wet clothes Styling my metaphors when I formulate my flows If you don't know you fucking with lyrical player pros, like that One of Aristotle’s six elements of poetry, Melos, in drama, refers to the music the audience hears in the play; however, in poetry this is the musical characteristics of the poem; rhythm, which is determined by the arrangement of the metrical feet around the suggested stresses, affording space for creative expression; tone, which conveys emotion, informing the former in that, for example, when angry speech is slow and clear, evincing intensity; and rhyme, which, by way of patterns, like rhythm, grants a license for creativity. Metaphor is speech that runs contrary to fact (ref. Rhetoric), giving the audience a contextualized connection to discern linking one entity to another, a discovery or catharsis, which is the casting off of confusion or uncertainty (pain), in favor of understanding (joy), the aim of poetic expression, which contrasts with the straightforwardness of prose. One example of structural metaphor, the description of one well-defined entity—in this case, exercise—as another, can be found in “Breathe Easy,” a song by rapper, Sean “JAY Z” Carter: Suckers, get your weight up, not your hate up Jigga man is diesel when I lift the eight up Y'all ain't ready to workout with the boy Your flow is brain on drugs, mines is rap on steroids I lift every voice when I sing, my ability Make yours look like an exercise in futility Bring your squad, biceps, triceps, and quads We don't strugglewith undeveloped muscles Opsis, or spectacle, another of Aristotle’s six elements of poetry, in drama, is everything the audience sees on stage; in poetry, this concerns the mental visions elicited by the imagery described by the poet, case in point, “Mural” by rapper, Lupe Fiasco, in which the Grammy-winning lyricist’s words are approximate to captions on photos: We're all chemicals, vitamins and minerals Vicodin with inner tubes, wrapped around the arm To see the vein like a chicken on the barn Top Cat chat, let's begin another yarn That's flying saucer cheese, or is it chicken parm'? But roosters don't fly like boosters don't buy So what powers cowards to get them to the top Just to fall asleep listening to Bach? The ribbon in the sky is the riddim that I drop Dribbling the eye across the prism of a clock This highlights the dream-like nature of poetry, in which all things can be all things or nothing at all, depending on the context of the work and the perspective of the audience, which is required to determine the association of one line pointing to another. So, why is writing in hip-hop not considered poetry?