On Apr 4, 2006, at 12:58 AM, Robert C L Watson wrote:
Current commercial (c)rap - not that I can bear to listen to it for long - is sloppy and irregular in metre, and has either non-rhymes such as "time" and "fine", or other symptoms of illiteracy.
I love assonance. One of the reasons I have such affection for today's rap is that it has made the way for creative use of assonance, so long neglected as a result of formal rules of rhyme which you so Beckmesserishly allude to.
More generally, what I love about rap is how it explores the beauty of the spoken language, in a way that one can't achieve with poetry or music alone.
The rhythms are complex because there is no discipline. It is a case of fitting any word and words desired into 4/4 time. It's a long way down from Shakespeare or Swinburne.
But that's exactly the art. A good performance is about fitting and coloring the syllables with just the right rhythm to best bring out the beatiful patterns of sounds that don't come through with simple tetrametric delivery. (And I might add that a great many Shakespearean actors could learn a lot from quality rap.)
Funny how your attempt to denigrate rap reminds me of exactly what it is I like so much about it.
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