Hip Hop, Rhyme & Poetry
Hip hop started to become big in the seventies, and rhyme and flow, both poetic techniques, are very important to hip hop music. These poetic techniques have seemingly always been important to the writing and expressing of hip hop or rap music, and are always changing. For example as stated in the textbook, “slant rhymes were occasionally added to a lines, but refrains were not always considered essential” (Morris 223). Slant rhymes are something that have been added over time, to keep the form evolving. With that, with hip hop using such similar techniques as common poetry, poetry also now sometimes takes inspiration from hip hop.
As I said, hip hop, and also poetry, are always evolving, and so is the way they use rhyme and rhythm and flow, as all artists are different. Therefore as hip hop originally took inspiration from poetry, it is also vice versa. Morris writes, “Although the content matters, a rapper or rap influenced poet can get away with less-than-brilliant word choices if his or her flow is ‘on point’” (Morris 225). I feel like this is an important aspect to note because since poetry is usually very respected but hip hop is not always still, it really makes no sense because poetry also takes inspiration from hip hop, as they both have so much in common and both deserve praise and respect.
