Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2006 A Language in Transition: The Creation of Identity and Culture in the Poetics of Hip Hop Alejandro L. Nodarse Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES A LANGUAGE IN TRANSITION: THE CREATION OF IDENTITY AND CULTURE IN THE POETICS OF HIP HOP By ALEJANDRO L. NODARSE A Thesis submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2006 The members of the Committee approve the Thesis of Alejandro L. Nodarse defended on Monday, October 2, 2006. Andrew Epstein Professor Directing Thesis Amit Rai Committee Member Christopher Shinn Committee Member Approved: Kathleen Yancey, Interim Chair, Department of English The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii Para mamá y papá, Who not only gave me my life, but theirs as well. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank the Almighty for his countless blessings. I would like to thank the members of my Thesis Committee, Andrew Epstein, Amit Rai, and Christopher Shinn, for all of their patience, support, guidance, interest, and advice during this process. I thank my parents, Fabio Nodarse and Dr. Maria Margarita Nodarse, my sister Victoria, my girlfriend Jeannine Nordelo, my grandparents, Ignacio Pérez, Zaida Pérez, and Marta Nodarse, my cousins Sergio Pérez, Gilbert Pérez, and Cris Pérez, my homeboy Willy Rodriguez, my friend Niles, The SouthSide (Daniel, Ryan, Dexter), and the Members of the Board (Chris, Jason, Chi, Lou, Rod) for their support as I completed this project. Last, but certainly not least, I thank my good friends and fellow scholars Jordan J. Dominy, his wife Jessica, Amber Pearson, Bailey Player, Jennifer Van Vliet, and Tara Hostetler for putting up with my rants on Hip Hop throughout this endeavor. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ......................................................................................................vi INTRODUCTION: A LANGUAGE IN TRANSITION.....................................1 1. CHAPTER 1: POETICS AND THE EMCEE ................................................10 New Poet, Old Traditions ...........................................................................12 A Tale of Two Poets: The Emcee and the Rapper……………………….14 2. CHAPTER 2: ENGAGING THE LANGAGE……………………………25 Freestyle: Inspired Rhyme……………………………………………….26 Freestyle vs. Rehearsed Rhyme………………………………………….27 Rhymes and Reasons: The Anatomy of the Freestyle Battle………….…28 Critical of Illiterate Literacy: Oral Poetry on the Page……………….….39 Sweet Sixteen: Hip Hop’s Poetic Form……………………………….…42 Sixteen Bars: Form or Formula..................................................................43 New Flow for the New Emcee: The Poem in Action…………….….…...47 An Escape or A Cage: What to do with Sixteen Bars………………..…..48 3. CHAPTER 3: ENGAGING POETING CONVENTION...……………..…..50 Word Invention…………………………………………………………..51 Rewriting Rhyme………………………………………………………...51 The Art of Storytelling: Images and Narrative……………………….…..56 4. CONCLUSION………………………………………………………….…..66 ENDNOTES........……………………………………………………………...68 REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………….……..71 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ………………………………………………….75 v ABSTRACT This thesis examines the way in which Hip Hop affects language, communication, and the way it reshapes meaning. The poetics of Hip Hop document variations in slang and colloquialisms and other innovations in language. Through the textual analysis of select poems, this thesis demonstrates that the emcee has a unique understanding of poetic conventions, such as rhyme, metaphor, and simile, and uses them to produce a poetry that is carving its own niche in American Literature and popular culture. Furthermore, this thesis analyzes some of the various methods that Hip Hop uses to interact with language, including the freestyling, the freestyle battle, and writing rhymes. By exploring the interaction between the poet, the word, and the world, this thesis seeks to bring to light the many contributions that Hip Hop makes to poetics and how these contributions affect not just the Hip Hop community, but the world at large. vi INTRODUCTION: LANGUAGE IN TRANSITION The ability to reinterpret and recontextualize language, meaning, words, and symbols is innate in Hip Hop. What makes this so noteworthy is the malleability and adaptability that the genre possesses in terms of its poetics. Its use of language is in a state of perpetual flux; it is constantly being rewritten. In the early 90’s, if one were to ask for Uptowns in New York, you would receive a pair of Nike sneakers. If you were to ask for Uptowns in St. Louis, you would receive a blank stare. Nike’s Air Force One’s, a staple of Hip Hop fashion, can be referred to in many ways. The same can be said for many things. For example, the term “Pimp” no longer refers specifically to a person who prostitutes women for financial gain. The more common use of the term refers to one who lives a flamboyant lifestyle and is successful with women. If some one were to ask you what size your “kicks” are, they could be referring to your shoes or the rims on your car. If you were in need of “dough”, “bread”, or “cheese”, you might go to the supermarket or to the bank, as the terms are commonly used to describe money. In the South, if you were to say, “What up, Jew?” you are asking a friend of yours how he is doing. The word “Jew” is used as a term of endearment, not a reference to the religion. In South Florida, the same word is used in two ways, one use does in fact refer to the Jewish people while the other mimics the broken English used by many Hispanics when they say the word “you”. Hip Hop poetics not only document these variations in slang or colloquialisms, but it creates them and spreads them, making the words and ideas available to those in different areas that can identify with them. Nowadays, asking for a pair of Uptowns in St. Louis is not such a ludicrous request. So what does all of this mean? What is so important about Hip Hop poetics, slang, and different ways of referring to everyday objects, events, and individuals? Now more than ever, the Hip Hop community has a large pool of resources, cultures, languages, experiences, and ideas from which to pull inspiration, motivation, and creativity. The ability to manipulate language in order to represent and describe the realities of diverse groups of people is what provides Hip Hop poetics its strength. 1 Hip Hop is in the business of “wiping soiled words or cutting them clean out, removing the aureoles that have been pasted about them or taking them bodily from greasy contexts," (Williams, "Marianne Moore" 1920). Although this quote was originally intended to describe what, in William’s estimation, Moore did to and for the English language with her poetry, the quote exemplifies what Hip Hop does to language. Hip Hop’s recreation and subsequent use of “degreased” words is what makes it one of the most influential and important poetic and musical genres. From its inception, Hip Hop has constantly been reinterpreting and reinventing language. As a result, it reinterprets itself. Hip Hop, in essence, was birthed by recontextualizing the music of others. By briefly examining Hip Hop’s formative years, its ability to assimilate and reinterpret its environment will become apparent. A Brief History: Hip Hop Back in the Day Hip Hop’s first DJ’s manipulated the popular music of their era to create music that better reflected the mood of the crowd. The environment from which Hip Hop arose was one of limited opportunity and abundant marginality and poverty. Block parties offered an escape. Although everyday life was full of harsh realities, Hip Hop’s early DJ’s created an environment where the focus was to have a good time, dance, and listen to the music that DJ’s were creating. Tricia Rose notes that DJ’s “supplied the break beats for breakdancers and the soundtrack for graffiti crew socializing. Early DJ’s would connect their turntables and speakers to any available electrical source, including street lights, turning public parks and streets into impromptu parties and community centers” (51). DJ’s and the youth had a symbiotic relationship: DJ’s provided a place to escape and party-goers provided DJ’s with an audience to listen to their music. By extending the breaks, or sections of a song in which the music literally breaks to highlight the rhythm section, DJ’s like Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, and Grand Master Flash recontextualized the popular music of the day, putting their own spin (pun intended) on it in order to create a form of music that was appealing to those who sought a place to detach from their everyday troubles. Throughout the ‘70’s, DJ’s in New York continued creating break beats by looping the instrumental portions of songs to extend the amount of time that was 2 danceable in order to keep their crowds moving. Soon after, the MC (Emcee), or Master of Ceremonies, would act as a hype man for the DJ, introducing his sonic creations. Until the introduction of the emcee, Hip Hop’s innovation had little to do with language. It did, however, set the stage and a precedent in terms of how emcees would interact with the crowd and with language. The introduction of the emcee is the point where Hip Hop first reinterprets itself. The emcee, whose witty introductions, use of word play, and ability to captivate and move an audience through his call and response, reinterpreted not only his place and role in Hip Hop, but how the new form of music would speak. It was not long before the emcee was the main attraction. While the graffiti artists painted and the break dancers moved to the rhythm created by the DJ, the emcee gave voice to the art form known as Hip Hop, and it was not long before the rest of the world caught on to this phenomenon.