It makes sense that lyrics would be considered poetry, since the phrase "lyric poetry" (which describes the bulk of what American poets are producing these days) gets its name from the same place song lyrics do: the lyre, the instrument that was used to accompany poets like Sappho, back in ancient Greece, for example.

It would be hard for me to do justice to the arguments against seeing rap as poetry, because I truly do have a hard time understanding what case can be made. My sense, however, is that poetry "purists" want to reserve the term "poetry" (or "real poetry") for work that is not intended to be sung or performed to music, and/or to work that is "serious," and/or work that takes up the forms and devices of the English poetry tradition in ways that seem familiar to them.  I stress that last phrase, because I would argue (and I believe Bradley's book argues) that rap does in fact use all kinds of traditional poetic devices and strategies -- but in ways that, when rap is at its best, make them new, fresh, and unfamiliar (which for me is a good thing).

It may be that there really aren't any arguments against understanding rap as poetry -- just people against it. But when those people are arts administrators, teachers, editors, cultural critics, publishers, or other power-holders in the literary establishment, and they insist upon distinguishing between rap and "real poetry," the idea begins to be taken as a given by their audiences, even if the distinction is simply stated, without ever being supported with a strong argument... Maybe someone else can offer an articulation of the opposing position?

Many rap/hip-hoppers are, knowingly or not, drawing on some of the griot traditions of West Africa, in which the performer brought news, gossip, truth, myths, and sometimes outrageous boasting and toasting to the villages. Much of what I hear in rap can be traced to a more musical and less explicit strain in traditional blues songs. Perhaps removing racial issues from the debate would help clarify the question. Are rock lyrics poetry? Well, they rhyme, and generally refer to a certain number of beats per line, so at least they're verse. I think (and I have made this argument before) that most rock lyrics, from a literary point of view, lack the density or "charge" in the words that is the hallmark of poetry. But some lyrics do achieve that, by songwriters who have a special skill with words. Joni Mitchell comes to mind when she writes about seeing six jet contrails in a sky: "It was a hexagram of the heavens It was the strings of my guitar Oh Celia, it was just a false alarm...' The question, to me anyway, is not whether rap/hip-hop can be poetry. Of course it can, and some performers do really interesting things with words and play with their sounds well. The more challenging question is which lyrics meet the demands of poetry, and why.

Evie,

Intrigued by your essay and responses to it. Never thought to question whether rap is poetry -- just seemed so clear that it is -- even though I didn't know what I was hearing when I first experienced it years ago in the Mission. No musical accompaniment, no smoothly produced recording, no academic discussions, no bling bling in front of the camera with a posse surrounding -- just hiphop blossoming near an abandoned storefront at twilight.

Enchanted by the sound, I went home and wrote a poem, "Street Music." The person walking through the Mission with me that evening was frightened -- a common reaction back then -- by "a corner wordsmith's vivid challenge," by this "proud young poet exploding phrases in a corner of our world."

Despite the corruption and greed today of those who exploit the genre, who take advantage of eager young rappers and who use the music to degrade women, there is a bright side. All people have to do is search out and support those in the hip hop culture whose lyrics are accessible to both genders. As always, what you purchase and what you listen to -- on your boom box or music blaster or mp3 -- are political, right?

J

that rhymes book! when i get through it,i'll let you know how it is!