Urban Poetry

I’ve only recently began writing poetry. For a long time, my view on poetry was that it was hard to understand, and too convoluted. In the middle east (particularly Saudi Arabia), poetry is an old, and important part of culture so I did come across poetry that is very profound, but I didn’t understand most of it (partly because I was young at the time). When I moved to the UK I eventually started listening to music, and the genre that drew me in most was Rap (mostly American of course).

Leaving the content of the lyrics aside (as some people might find them hard to hear), Rap music is basically poetry with a beat (more so that almost any other genre of music). The structure of the lyrics is beautiful, and if you listen closely to the them, you’ll see interesting ways they rhyme the words they use.

As I said, I’m relatively new to poetry and hadn’t really had much exposure to different forms. My basic understanding, in my head, is that poetry has to have some sort of a rhyming structure, so that is how I try to write my poetry because I think they are more enjoyable to read and write. I come across a lot of freeform poetry and it’s very difficult for me to think of them as poetry, because they don’t have any rhyming structure. I usually think of them as short stories, and treat them as such in my head.

Now back to Rap and rap artists. There is no denying that rap artists are amazing poets, because we can see it in the music; they create great linguistic structures and rhyming schemes.

I’m not one that would listen to music daily, and I don’t exactly process emotions using music, which some people find useful. Today I will share a few songs and artists that have made me appreciate poetry more, and helped in developing my own poem writing skills.

The songs are in no particular order. I don’t really have a list of numbered songs from my favourite to my least favourite.

Tupac Shakur – Changes

Tupac was the main rapper I started listening to when I first heard Rap music. Most people, even if they don’t listen to Rap music, would have heard of Tupac; for some time in the 90s he was quite famous and infamous for various things like his time in prison, the whole East coast and West coast rap rivalry, his rivalry with the rapper Biggie Smalls, and his eventual death in a drive-by in Last Vegas.

This song, Changes, is describing the societal struggles of black people in America at the time (some say it’s the same now, but I don’t live in America so can’t comment). It covers themes such as police stereotyping and racism, the misdirected efforts of the war on drugs, and how black people should come together and try to affect change.

My favourite lines in this song were:

I see no changes, all I see is racist faces

Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races

There Tupac is talking about how racisms is simply misplaced hate. Very powerful.

Here's a link to the lyrics: Tupac - Changes

Tupac Shakur – Until the End of Time

Another Tupac song. In this one, he talks about his own life and how he ended up where he was. It is a very introspective song with many interesting rhyme schemes in the middle that made this one of my favourite.

My favourite line from this song is:

My attitude got me walkin' solo, ride out alone in my lo-lo

Watchin' the whole world move in slow-mo

I love the rhyming of “Solo”, “lo-lo”, and “slow-mo”, and the meaning in these lines is great as well. As I said, this was a very introspective song from Tupac; he’s talking about how his attitude pushed those around him away. And, despite him having a “lo-lo” which is a low Rider (modified with hydraulics) car generally symbolising wealth and, for the lack of a better word, coolness, the wold isn’t really worth it without those close to you around.

Here's a link to the lyrics: Tupac - Until the end of time

Wu Tang Clan – Triumph

The Wu Tang Clan is undoubtedly the most influential Rap group to ever exist. They were influenced by old Kung Fu movies and their philosophies, which is where the name came from. I won’t be going into how they had influenced the music industry in this article, as the main reason I'm bringing them in is their diverse rapping styles within the group. The song doesn’t particularly have a running theme; it’s basically them showing how great the Wu Tang clan is, and showing off their rapping skills.

My favourite line (and I'm sure of many) is from the very first verse (by Inspectah Deck):

I bomb atomically, Socrates' philosophies and hypotheses

Can't define how I be dropping these mockeries

What is crazy and powerful start. He’s saying that his rapping and disses are on such a high level that even Socrates wouldn’t be able to explain them! what a great line. And the rhyming scheme there is just amazing.

Here's a link to the lyrics: Wu Tang Clan - Triumph

Wu Tang Clan – A Better Tomorrow

This song doesn’t have all members of the Wu Tang Clan, like almost all of their songs – Triumph was the exception I believe. This song talks about life and how we should be building a better one for the generation to come.

I have two separate lines I want to mention here. First one by Inspectah Deck:

All my live brothers is locked down with high numbers

The young hunger, blind to these lies, they die younger

There he is talking about how many black people are jailed with long sentences, and mentions that the “young hunger” which is the need for quick wealth, is just a lie that causes people to die young. Very powerful line.

The second one is from Method Man:

As we dwell through this concrete hell, callin' it home

Mama say, "Take your time, young man, and build your own

Here I believe Method man is referencing the neighbourhood, and how life there (with all the struggle) can sometimes force people down and make them satisfied, calling it “home”, but his mother telling him to build something better for his future, and to not be satisfied with that life.

Here's a link to the lyrics: Wu Tang Clan - A Better Tomorrow

Logic – Legacy

Logic is a relatively newer rapper (compared to the above), but his versatility in rapping styles is amazing to say the least. I generally hate (loathe, despise, detest) new style rap; most of them follow the same general rhyming rhythm that I find annoying. Logic’s rap is much closer to, in my opinion, proper rapping; a song that has good rhythm and a story being told.

In this song he talks about legacy; it’s a fictional story of someone who is basically a workaholic, and talking about what his legacy would be if he continued on the same way.

My favourite lines from this song is:

Ain't nobody gon’ pay me but myself

Sacrifice my time and my health, for wealth

I missed a birthday, miss an anniversary

There's lots of people in this world that's worse than me

The fictional character is talking about how the increasing family numbers (his wife gave birth just before the start of this quote) increased his responsibility. How no one would just give you money in life, so you have to work harder, and longer. Then he justifies missing important moments in the family by saying “There's lots of people in this world that's worse than me”.

Here's a link to the lyrics: Logic - Legacy

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The songs I shared today were just a small list of the songs that have influenced my view on poetry. I understand that most popular rap songs, ones that non-rap fans would come across, might have themes they wouldn’t like, or excessive profanity, but there are songs like the ones I shared that, despite maybe having those same themes and profanity, do show great skill in poetry and rhyming that is unmatched by any other musical genre!

I do hope that this article can open up the minds of people who might not have been as open to Rap music before. I think a lot of people (I would say particularly poets) are missing out such a great genre of music.

I will continue to listen to Rap music because, like I said before, it helps me tremendously when it comes to writing poetry, and I just love listening to thought-provoking songs (in one way or another).

What do you say? did i change your mind about Rap music?