Rap and Poetry

Saturday morning I awoke to check my social media before doing some writing. On a friend’s page, she had questioned whether or not Tupac Shakur should be an acceptable answer as a favorite poet.

This sparked an interesting discussion about rap/hip-hop as poetry in the comments section, with most in agreement until one particular comment from someone who shall remain nameless in this discussion.

“If [T]upac is considered a poet it just shows how far society has fallen.”

This comment caused me pause. I’ve taken several poetry classes and had numerous conversations with different professors, most of whom I hold in high regard, about how rap and hip-hop are poets, and their writers are lyricists. Often, song as a whole is compared to poetry, especially in the last few decades. I retorted, stating that I simply disagreed and tried to tout the lyrical genius and poetic flow in the music that I had been shown, but this was the response I received.

“Hip Hop idealizes criminal behavior, the degradation of women, drug use, the murder of police officers, the art of being self centered and egotistical, robbing, stealing and fathering children out of wedlock. It represents the very worse part of our society, but due to political correctness, we are afraid to say so. Is it an art form, maybe, like a child coloring on a side walk. There is no real talent there, it's not even music. Music has three parts, Rhythm, harmony and Melody. Hip hop only has rhythm. Occasionally they add a Melody, but more often than not it's "sampled" from another song, so the Melody is ripped off and not original. In short, it's sad that people listen to it, let alone buy it. Just my .02.”

These comments really irked me. I typed out an initial response but had to delete it, arguing whether to leave in that I felt that some of the man’s comments came across as underlined racism, or at least ignorance. Instead I formed what I thought was a pretty well constructed argument to his comments. I managed to do so without picking on him directly, or any other particular musical group, but instead discussed the effects of media and how we as individuals are responsible for what we take from it.

I know that this is an arguable issue. Not everything is gold, in any genre. There is good, there is bad, there are things that are sexist and racist. I stand behind what I said though, it is important for individuals to be aware of what these things are and what they get out of the media they consume.

Someone came behind me though in this argument and did point out that she felt that these comments sounded like they were underlined racist. I was glad that someone had said, said it correctly, better than I could have. Someone close to me once said that people should be called out when they want to make statements like that. I agree, but the response that was given was not what I had expected.

“I can tell when someone has lost a logical argument, they break out accusations of racism, the catch all accusation for the intellectually weak.”

I suppose he had to try to defend himself in some way, but this was a bit disappointing. There really are some people that you can’t reason with. Nothing else I could have said would have changed this man’s opinion or convinced him to try and have an open mind about the subject. We are not all going to agree on what we like, what we think is good and worthwhile. I am not even arguing for the majority of rap/hip-hop, but there is a lot out there that deserves a chance, a chance to be heard for more than just a song.

Death of Poetry Article

 You can find the original article here.            

            The Washington Post ran an article by Alexandra Petri that asked, “is poetry dead,” but this sentiment seems to be in the minority.

            Petri’s article questioned the usefulness of poetry, asking if the medium was still relevant if it cannot change anything? This accusation comes on the heels of Poet Laureate Richard Blanco’s poem “One” at President Obama’s inauguration.

            Not everyone agrees with Petri’s statements and her judgment of Blanco’s poem.

            “I disagree,” said Dr. Kelly Whiddon, Associate Professor of English. “I think it can, but it isn’t needed for poetry to be worth while.” Whiddon said about poetry not being able to cause change. “She’s a journalist, so she ascribes the standards of journalism to poetry. [Journalism] has to be of mass appeal, but that isn’t needed for poetry.”

            Whiddon has recently published “The House Began to Pitch”. As a fellow poet, she defended Blanco’s poem. “That is the job of the poet laureate to encourage, make poetry more accessible to the general public.” Whiddon said, who teaches several of the poetry classes at Middle Georgia State College. Whiddon is not the only professional to disagree with Petri.

            “The reason journalism may be dead is because of hacks like her.” Dr. Kevin Cantwell, Interim Chair for the division of Media Culture and the Arts at Middle Georgia State College, disagreed strongly with Petri and continued by saying, “Journalists who write about poetry generally have that one claim they make, that poetry is dead. I would ask is journalism dead?”

            Part of Petri’s evidence to her claim is that she has been to several poetry readings where attendance was scarce and most of those present were students who were forced to attend.

            “I’ve been to hundreds of readings, some where there are thousands there,” Cantwell argued. “What students say is I didn’t think I’d like this but I did.” Both Cantwell and Whiddon argue that more and more students are enjoying poetry and that now is a good time for the medium. To this Cantwell noted the Seaborn Jones Poetry Contest that the school is sponsoring.

            The question is how popular does something have to be to still be an important medium?

            “There is something inherently wrong with the way we as a society look at value,” said Whiddon. “It doesn’t have to be a best seller to make it worthwhile.”