Poetry has been around for centuries and has evolved through time. With poetry there are various styles and techniques that a poet uses to make their own individual master piece. As stated before there are many different styles of poems such as a sonnet, haiku, acrostic, and many more. From the diverse styles of poetry, rap falls within the guidelines for poetry. Yet, there is a large group of people who do not see rap as poetry. According to Dictionary.com poetry is “the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts … [and] poetic spirit or feeling” (“Poetry”, n.d.). This definition explains what poetry is and what it possesses to be called poetry. Rap is poetry because
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The artist is extremely careful in choosing specific words to create imagery through their lyrics. In the article called, The Poetry Foundation: Is Rap Poetry, by Adam Kirsch, he quotes the author of Book of Rhymes: the Poetics of Hip Hop, who says that, “[imagery] tells the story of rap as lyric poetry" (Kirsch, n.d.). The use of imagery within the lyrics allows the artist to mentally draw out the story for their listeners. Imagery is necessary in rap because the artists’ goal is to tell a story verbally. A well-known rapper by the name of Kendrick Lamar uses a great deal of imagery in his lyrics to tell his story. For example, in Kendrick Lamar’s song called “The Art of Peer Pressure” he says “It’s 2:30 and the sun is beaming / Air conditioner broke and I hear my stomach screaming / Hungry for anything unhealthy and if nutrition can help me” ("The Art Of Peer Pressure", n.d.). In these three lines Lamar uses imagery because he gives a time of the day and explains that it is a hot sunny day. He also states that he is starving and probably has not eaten within the last couple of hours and is craving anything unhealthy. The imagery that was used in this song vividly explains the story that was being told through the lyrics. Rap will continuously use imagery within their lyrics to tell a …show more content…
Micah Mattix, author of the article “Is Rap Poetry”, states that rap is not poetry because “rap is a musical-verbal art and poetry is a verbal-musical-typographical one” (Mattix, n.d.).He’s making the argument that the reason why rap isn’t poetry because the lyrics aren’t published. Yet, when someone buys an album the lyrics have been published and distributed through the album. Another reason why people would not consider rap as poetry because of the violence that is expressed in their music. According to an article named, “Gangsta Rap May Encourage Gang Behavior”, the author states that rap “glamorizes and encourages crime [and] violence” (“Gangsta Rap May”, n.d.). The author is making the statement that rap cannot be poetry because violence and crime is being glorified. But on the other hand, there have been poems written about violence in different forms that have become famous pieces of poetry that are glorified. Rap may not be considered poetry to some but by the definition of poetry, rap fit right in
The artist is extremely careful in choosing specific words to create imagery through their lyrics. In the article called, The Poetry Foundation: Is Rap Poetry, by Adam Kirsch, he quotes the author of Book of Rhymes: the Poetics of Hip Hop, who says that, “[imagery] tells the story of rap as lyric poetry" (Kirsch, n.d.). The use of imagery within the lyrics allows the artist to mentally draw out the story for their listeners. Imagery is necessary in rap because the artists’ goal is to tell a story verbally. A well-known rapper by the name of Kendrick Lamar uses a great deal of imagery in his lyrics to tell his story. For example, in Kendrick Lamar’s song called “The Art of Peer Pressure” he says “It’s 2:30 and the sun is beaming / Air conditioner broke and I hear my stomach screaming / Hungry for anything unhealthy and if nutrition can help me” ("The Art Of Peer Pressure", n.d.). In these three lines Lamar uses imagery because he gives a time of the day and explains that it is a hot sunny day. He also states that he is starving and probably has not eaten within the last couple of hours and is craving anything unhealthy. The imagery that was used in this song vividly explains the story that was being told through the lyrics. Rap will continuously use imagery within their lyrics to tell a …show more content…
Micah Mattix, author of the article “Is Rap Poetry”, states that rap is not poetry because “rap is a musical-verbal art and poetry is a verbal-musical-typographical one” (Mattix, n.d.).He’s making the argument that the reason why rap isn’t poetry because the lyrics aren’t published. Yet, when someone buys an album the lyrics have been published and distributed through the album. Another reason why people would not consider rap as poetry because of the violence that is expressed in their music. According to an article named, “Gangsta Rap May Encourage Gang Behavior”, the author states that rap “glamorizes and encourages crime [and] violence” (“Gangsta Rap May”, n.d.). The author is making the statement that rap cannot be poetry because violence and crime is being glorified. But on the other hand, there have been poems written about violence in different forms that have become famous pieces of poetry that are glorified. Rap may not be considered poetry to some but by the definition of poetry, rap fit right in