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daniela
First Time Poster
Username: Naza
Post Number: 1
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2005 - 04:14 pm: | 
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Hi, I'm an italian girl and I study languages and literature at the university...last year I had my first approach with african american literature and poetry and now I just can't live without it...even though it's not that easy to find here these kind of books...by the way I got a question for u...is there a link between african american poetry and rap?..I mean can we consider rap as a sort of evolution of poetry?...I don't know...maybe I've asked something very stupid...but I hope someone will answer me!
Thanx
CIAO |
kola@aalbc.com
Moderator
Username: Kola
Post Number: 197
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2005 - 06:12 pm: |
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Hi Daniela,
First of all--thanks for visiting my board and bringing up such a good subject.
I personally feel that RAP is a definite relative to poetry...they're very similar, interconnected art forms.
I have a very successful book of poems out right now--and because I've made very negative comments about Hip Hop culture (I see it as a major destructive phenomenon in the black world)---I'm always shocked that people compare what I do as an artist to "rap" and "hip/hop".
I don't consider myself a part of the STREET genre, and yet Chris Hayden was telling me about how the gangsta kids in his city love my poetry collection....because they can relate to the rawness.
So, yes, I think there's a cord between rap and poetry. They're the same MUSE.
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daniela
Newbie Poster
Username: Naza
Post Number: 2
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 02:02 pm: |
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Thanx for your answer...so u think that they are interconnected but ain't the same thing,don't u?..well I have to admit that sometimes I feel really confused...for example...there's an author called benjamin zephaniah who writes both poems and rap songs...and it's really hard (maybe just for me) to distinguish which one is a poem and which one don't.
On the other side we have rappers, I am not referring to every single rapper, that write and sing poetry..I mean...think about tupac...wasn't him a poet??
CIAO |
kola@aalbc.com
Moderator
Username: Kola
Post Number: 204
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 03:32 pm: |
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Daniela,
POETRY...is the use of language to evoke a higher plane of emotional and intellectual density.
I consider MOST serious rappers to be poets---just not necessarily good poets.
Outstanding ones are Eric B. and Rakim, KRS ONE, Lauryn Hill and TUPAC. These are the few RAPPERS whose lyrics could stand as poems alongside Lucille Clifton, Audre Lord and Langston Hughes.
Curtis Mayfield (the singer) was a poet of the highest order--set to music.
"Misty" by Johnny Mathis is a poem...
"Que Sera Sera" by Doris Day is a poem.....
"X-Factor" by Lauryn Hill is DEFINITELY a poem.
But notice.."Endless Love" by Lionel Richie/Diana Ross is a SONG/LYRIC. "I Wanna Dance With Somebody Who Loves Me" by Whitney Houston is a SONG/LYRIC.
"I Wanna Hold Your Hand" by the BEATLES..is simply a song lyric.
But "All the Lonely People" by the BEATLES is a POEM.
TO ME...the African Americans of the SOUTH sometimes spoke in complete poetry.
Zora Neal Hurston documented this folk language. Terms like "what us gone eat?", "every shut eye ain't closed", "nigga please", "blacker da berry--sweeter the juice" and "Lawd'a Mercy" are prime examples of the language being manipulated to carry a higher emotional content without the use of tears, making faces, etc. But naturally--the people who speak it in their daily lives don't notice the poetic editorship being practiced in their use of language (this is not to be confused with SLANG or Ebonics, which also has poetic content, but to a lesser degree). And of course, many many African tribes have similar dialects that are more "POETIC" than just slang/indigenous.
POETRY...is "language"....PERIOD.
Your friend may very well be a poet who sings and raps. But we generally think of poetry as written or spoken word. In reality, they are all RELATED and all stem from Poetry.
Kola
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daniela
Newbie Poster
Username: Naza
Post Number: 3
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 25, 2005 - 09:56 am: |
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Well I have to say that I almost agree with everything u said...there's just one thing I didn't understand, u said..and I quote:
"we generally think of poetry as written or spoken word."
Were u referring to rap too?...cause as far as I'm concerned rappers dont't SING but RAP...doesn't the word "rap" mean "to speak"??...and I'm telling this with all my ignorance of a language that is not my mother tongue...so tell me if I'm wrong!
U know, I'm really happy to have this conversation with u...u are definitely helping me to understand things about this topic...so thank u!!
CIAO
...ehm for the record Benjamin Zephaniah unfortunatly is not a friend of mine but a famous black british poet...if u want u can check out is web site ;)
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