Bob Dylan v Rappers who think they are poets.

Irishwolff

Leonard Cohen wrote some great lyrics too

beng128

This is a very interesting comparison of some quotes from Joyce and rapper Kool Kieth,
http://hudsonhongo.com/joyce/
Some very surprising results at the end.

Personally I think that there are a fuck load of rappers these days that write completely pointless shite such as the likes of Little Wayne. As for Eminem, Seamus Heaney once praised him for his deliverance and influence in this generation, Link (might have already been posted in this thread, apologies if it has.) In my opinion though Eminem can be very hit and miss lyrically, but i completely agree with Heaney, his message really affected people growing up in the 90s.

My contribution to the thread is The Roots - Tip The Scale from their latest album Undun which came out in January of this year.

Rapper - Dice Raw

Lot of niggas go to prison
How many come out Malcolm X?
I know I'm not
Shit, can't even talk about the rest
Famous last words: "You under arrest"
Will I get popped tonight? It's anybody's guess
I guess a nigga need to stay cunning
I guess when the cops comin' need to start runnin
I won't make the same mistakes from my last run in
You either done doing crime now or you done in
I got a brother on the run and one in
Wrote me a letter, he said when you comin'
Shit man, I thought the goal's to stay out
Back against the wall, then shoot your way out
Gettin' money's a style that never plays out
'Til you end up boxin' your stash, money's paid out
The scales of justice ain't equally weighed out
Only two ways out, digging tunnels or digging graves out

Full Lyrics

cloptrop

I read the blackalicious stuff you posted rcaz , I even comented on it , its in the thread somewhere.

moneyman

Problem with this thread is that Dylan isn't a poet, either. He's a genius lyricist, but not a poet. There are plenty of rappers out there, past and present, who have written incredible stuff on a variety of issues. Dismissing them due to the lyrics not being poetry is redundant IMO as Dylan's stuff pales in comparison to the work of actual poets, too. And why wouldn't it? Dylan is a musician, not a poet.

cloptrop

im not dismissing rap music , im dismissing people who call it poetry . Its a decent musical genre but nothing ive seen of it would stand up against poetic masterpieces. Alot of Bob dylans work would stand up as poetry and wouldnt look stupid in a leaving cert poetry question . So regardless of bob playing a piano or a guitar he is a better poet than he is a musician .

moneyman

It's never going to look like poetry in the written form because it has a completely different structure. It is not spoken in a controlled manner by the rapper, it is rapped! That's why it's difficult to see how impressive some rap songs are... You have to listen. If your only point is that it's not poetry, well, OK. But Dylan is not a poet either.


Here is an extract from an old Nas song, which might be a little more poetic than some others posted here:


B b-boys and girls listen up,
You can be anything in the world, in god we trust.
An architect, doctor, maybe an actress
But nothing comes easy it takes much practice
Like, I met a woman who was becoming a star
She was very beautiful, leaving people in awe
Singing songs - Lena Horne - but the younger version
Hung with the wrong person, got a strung of that heroin
Cocaine, sniffing up drugs all in her nose
Could have died so young, now looks ugly and old
No fun cause now when she reaches for hugs people hold their breath
Cause shes smells of corrosion and death.
Watch the company you keep and the crowd you bring
Cause they came to do drugs and you came to sing
So if you're going to be the best imma tell you how
Put your hand in the air and take the vow.

Sinfonia

Why are people speaking of 'poetry' as though it's deserving of some higher status. Look up any dictionary definition of 'poetry'.
Rap lyrics are - by their very definition - poetry. All lyrics are; they just happen to be examples of poetry which are then set to music.
Whether they can be considered 'good' or 'bad' poetry is another matter, and could only apply on a case-by-case basis, not altogether at once.