'' Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop'' is a book by literary scholar Adam Bradley that looks at hip hop music's literary techniques and argues "that we must understand rap as poetry or miss the vanguard of poetry today". ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

'' described it by saying, "You'll find

Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

and

Frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a gas) ...

alongside

Nas Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air ( ...

and...

Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop group formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its original members include RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa. Close affili ...

, together forming a discussion on meter and accent,

scansion Scansion ( , rhymes with ''mansion''; verb: ''to scan''), or a system of scansion, is the method or practice of determining and (usually) graphically representing the metrical pattern of a line of verse. In classical poetry, these patterns are ...

, and slant rhymes".
Bradley is an associate professor of English studies, English at

the University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a Public university, public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a Federated state, state, it is the flagship universit ...

, with a PhD in English studies, English from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

The book breaks hip hop’s poetics down into the following parts: *

Rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...

Rhyme A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually, the exact same phonemes) in the final stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of perfect rhyming is consciously used for a musical or aesthetic ...

Word play Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phonet ...

Style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

Storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own stories or narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cultural pre ...

Signifying Signifyin' (sometimes written "signifyin(g)") (vernacular), is a wordplay. It is a practice in African-American culture involving a verbal strategy of indirection that exploits the gap between the denotative and figurative meanings of words. A si ...

Reception

The book was praised by various press outlets such as the ''

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'', ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', and ''

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''. In particular, the book is praised for focusing on the poetics of hip hop music rather than examining the outlying societal factors—the ''

'' noted, “As a key part of America's youth culture and a central battlefield in our culture wars, hip hop often seems to have forfeited the right to be discussed as art. Most academic and popular writers subjugate its aesthetics to its politics…until very recently, such writers could be counted on to begin around the time of hip-hop's birth and attempt to tackle the entire culture. Luckily, a new paradigm of scholarship is emerging, and Adam Bradley's "Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop" is a solid contribution.” and ''

'' commented, “Where so many hip-hop studies lean heavily on politics and sociology, ''Book of Rhymes'' is a welcome and thorough exploration of

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

aesthetics that isn't afraid to be learned.” ''

'' observed, "It is a "crash course. . .essentially English 101 meets Hip-Hop Studies 101." Criticism of the book came from ''

'', which said, "Bradley wants to legitimize

by setting it in a canonical context, but aren’t we past the point of justifying it? No one is really still debating whether hip-hop is a bona fide art form. In his tone of unwarranted protectiveness, he seems to forget that hip-hop now earns highbrow props worldwide. After three decades, it doesn’t require a defense attorney."Baz Dreisinger, ''Def Poetry'', ''

'', September 8, 2009.

References

External links

Author Web Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Book of Rhymes Hip hop books 2009 non-fiction books

Contents

Reception

References

External links