Although hip-hop is often dissed as a poor form of art, the form of its stanzas has been around since Elizabethan times, and is lauded as proper poetry- the quatrain, rhymed a, b, a, b. One of the strengths of rap is its adaptability, as modern rap, as per Tracie Morris, is an adaptation of the blues form.
What’s particularly interesting about this adaptation is that, while the blues specifically speaks about sadness and loss, emotions that are drawn out and prolonged, hence the use of brass to play them, hip-hop and rap are usually quickly spoken, almost spat-out lines that more often than not convey frustration- while still a negative feeling, this style is better read as a commentary on society, mocking what’s viewed to be hip and hopping to contrast it and show why it’s not.
For example, take the first MC Rakim snippet from the book:
“Stop buggin’, a brutha said
Dig ‘em/ I never dug ‘em,
He couldn’t follow the leader long enough
So I drug ‘em
Rap is rhythm and poetry,
Cuts create sound effects
you might catch up if
you follow the records he wrecks.”
This poem is written in iambs, the steps almost like the heartbeat of the society the speaker scorns- while his ‘brutha’ is telling him that he should just relax and go with the flow, he recognizes that there is a need to break the mold, and hip-hop, with its culture of counter-culture, is the perfect form to do so. Like in Alberto Rios’ “Second Grade,” which calls out America with the form most made American at the time, Rakim calls out America using the same sort of lyricism, just spat out instead of spoken.
As Rakim says, hip-hop is rhythm and poetry- yet it still is seeking the recognition it deserves, much in the same way as the speaker in this poem. Like Alexander Hamilton, hip-hop is still young, scrappy, and hungry, but it is more powerful than it is given credit for.
Rakim, and B., Eric. “Rapper’s Delight.” An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the Diversity of Their Art, Edited by Anne Finch and Kathrine Varnes, U. of Michigan Press, 2002, p 224.