Is Rap Poetry?

This is the place for readers of poetry. Discuss poetry and literary art. You can also discuss music here, including lyrics. Also, you can discuss poets themselves, in addition to poetry.
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shhmommyisreading
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Re: Is Rap Poetry?

Post by shhmommyisreading »

I think rap is poetry. I think all music is poetry though. When you look at song lyrics they are set up like a poem. Sometimes the artist even uses poetic devices. I do not listen to rap anymore as I have gotten older,so I could not speak current to today's rap.
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easy_dc13
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Post by easy_dc13 »

I definitely think so. Rap should be recognized as poetry. Just because the mainstream stuff discusses the amount of cars owned, the type of parties held, the amount of money spent, doesn't mean it should be dismissed as poetry. NWA, which was the hottest act on the West Coast during the late 80s to early 90s sparked outrage because they were using their voices to state facts and be heard. It is a type of poetry that is rare these days but some of the lesser known artists usually make more quality stuff.
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vmchatt222
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Post by vmchatt222 »

Yes rap is poetry.
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Sol Joy
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Post by Sol Joy »

Absolutely! Now I cannot and will not speak for some of this new mess that is main stream rap...but overall a resounding YES. Andre 3000... Devin tha Dude... Ceelo Green before there was a Gnarls Barkley... and the list goes on. Reading the lyrics without the music allows us to truly appreciate the spoken word beneath rhythmic tunes we tap our feet to.

-- 13 Oct 2016, 13:45 --

Absolutely! Now I cannot and will not speak for some of this new mess that is main stream rap...but overall a resounding YES. Andre 3000... Devin tha Dude... Ceelo Green before there was a Gnarls Barkley... and the list goes on. Reading the lyrics without the music allows us to truly appreciate the spoken word beneath rhythmic tunes we tap our feet to.
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Dragondoor
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Post by Dragondoor »

Absolutely! I think that rap may have become the Formost popular style of poetry with other blues, RNB, and jazz formats speaking more toward the oral story telling traditions. Eminem (dating myself) spoke to me as a great poet of our generation with his comments on our culture during "the real slim shady " and Tupac spoke eliquently to many situations and conflicts during his career with eloquence. If we give Bob Dylan a noble prize for poetry surely "rap", with its rhythm and alliteration deserves consideration too.
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Post by Bunny_Redd »

I think that it is, as there are all different forms and types of poetry, in the same vein I think all lyrical music counts as poetry as many of them follow some form of poetic structure, even the seemingly random ones.
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Post by papaya12 »

I think that rap is almost poetry but not quite. I think it's not just the fact that it rhymes is what makes it poetry. I mean you can look up a lot of great poetry that doesn't rhyme. I think poetry has more of a rhythm while rap has more of a beat.
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RonakP
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Post by RonakP »

Raps are poetry. They are artistic and have all the qualities that a poem would.
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Crayola
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Post by Crayola »

Rap is my favorite type of poetry! You can hear so much emotion if you listen to the lyrics. My favorite rappers currently are Tupac, NWA, Eminiem, Eazy E. However I think Tupac has the best lyrics.
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constantine265
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Post by constantine265 »

Yes, it is. Not my favorite type of poetry, but poetry never the less. Although, i do like Die Antword.
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Obednino
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Post by Obednino »

Absolutely yes...let us not forget that rap is art and we should not judge rap based on the fact that so many people talk trash in the name of rhyming.when you listened to rap from people who really express themselves,because that is what art is supposed to be about,you would find out that far from being just about the money& fame...rap is poetry
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uniqueboi
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Post by uniqueboi »

rap is familiar with poetry but is not

-- 09 Mar 2017, 04:23 --

when you listen to some various rap like eminem or nicki minaj, u will agree that is not
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alexandrayvette
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Post by alexandrayvette »

Yes I think rap is a poetry the only diffrence its the way its said they say it with speed
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ice
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Post by ice »

Rap vs. Poetry

There are many difference and similarities between rap and poetry. In this paper I will be explaining what rap and what poetry have in similar, along with the difference. There are many audiences outside thinking; poetry and rap are really similar, poetry equals to hip hop and rap equals to poetry. People listen to rap for inspiration, and people write or listen to poems for a better, calming, and peaceful environment.

Rapping these days are expressing someone’s thought and feelings. There’s only one type of rap, unlike poetry that has “haiku”, “limericks”, “sonnet”, and etc. There aren’t many types of ways writing rap, but the topic of raps today are either about drugs, girls, life, clubbing, killing, or dissing. Today if you ask anyone the names they know in the rap world, they will either name, names like: Eminem, Dr.Dre, Flo-ri-da, Lil Wayne, P.Diddy, and etc. Before an artist writes down their rap on paper, they pick a topic to rap about. I’m going to be using the example of one topic, which is “life”. Everyone in the world has a story in their life to talk about, so a rapper would pick that topic to rap about, what comes up on their head they write down, and later on editing. Unlike poetry, rapping is more vulgar, anger, and it has more accents to it.

Poetry can be describing an object, describing the world, environment, mood, and feelings. Poetry isn’t about drugs, clubbing, killing, or even dissing. Poetry can be viewed in first person and third person, unlike raps it is mainly on first person. For example, if a poet decides to write about trees that would be third person, and if a rapper decides to rap about life, or anything it would be mainly first person. People around the world tend to enjoy poetry more than raps. Poetry creates a calm and peaceful environment around us today.

There are many similarities between rap and poetry. One of the main similarities is rhyming, if you read closely there are many rhymed sentence. For example, I picked out a verse from Eminem’s rap “Without me”, the verse I picked out said “So the FCC won’t let me be, or let me be me, so let me see” and a verse from the poetry “Scared”, “Creak, squeak, bump in the night, I wake up in such a fright
I jump up to turn on the light!” Before a rapper writes down rap, they think through what verse fits which paragraph the best, which rhymed sentence fit at the right spot. It is the same thing we do with writing essays in English class. The other similarity is having accents when it comes to reading what the author wrote depending on the topic. The author adds accent to the verse that stands out the most and the most meaningful verse.

In conclusion, there is multiple difference and similarities between rap and poetry, there are similarities in rhyming, accents, and mood. The main difference that really stands out is the topics and writing format. These are the difference and similarities between rapping and poetry, as you can see they have a lot in common and a big gap apart
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boog
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Post by boog »

Of course rap is poetry! I think it's one of the most dynamic forms of poetry because it:

Deals with current events.
Deals with the social implications and injustices of a time period.
Creates new, dynamic language that makes the evolution of said language easy to study and catalogue.
Expands the vocabulary of the listener.
Is put to, most often times, danceable music.
Has catchy hooks and rhythms.
Gives a far reaching voice to an artist of oftentimes marginalized populations.
Utilizes onomatopoeia more than almost any other form of poetry.
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