Poetry never made sense...Cant leave rap alone!

For me what makes James Bond movies different from all other action movies is in the details, not the plot or the action itself. It is the kind of liquor he drinks, the kind of clothes he wears, the cars he drives, the women he is involved with, the gadgets he is disposed to and the wit in his conversations. He is a master of contradictions and metaphors. He is a gentleman with a license to kill.

….Hold on! I thought this piece was about RAP? Yes, it is. Metaphorically speaking James Bond Movies are like a good rap song. Take out all the details I mentioned earlier on; the drinks, the women, the cars, the gadgets and his witty tongue and all you have is just another action movie not a James Bond movie. Now, take out all the rhymes, metaphors, similes, paradoxes, intellect, punchlines and banging beats and all you have is musical noise.

The truth is that my poetry and even my writing skills have been influenced by this genre of music called RAP. Poetry never made sense to me till I stumbled upon rap music in my junior class secondary school. Even at the time poetry was far from my interest but I was falling deep into rap music. Poetry was plain boring to me and I couldn’t understand why people will write to confuse me but then a again after listening to good rap music I started learning the rudiments of good rap music. I didn’t care about the beat, I was ok with nodding my head. All I cared to do was listen for the punchlines, the metaphors, the similes, the analogies and every other essential of a good rap song. In essence everything I know about poetry I learnt from RAP music.

Some people call it Rhythm And Poetry, some call it Rhytmatically Applied Poetry whatever it is and it was I fell in love with it. For me, rap music is like what drugs will do to a junkie, it’s like what therapy will to do a restless mind, its like what massage will do to a tensed muscle. I listen to good rap and I smile to myself, it literally blows my mind. According to a friend of mine, she says its like salvation to her. Every rhyme means something different to different minds. There is an epiphany in every line that is understood.

Every good rapper is an intellect, he speaks in cipher for other like minds to interpret. He knows how to turn your mind into a canvass where he paints his words, that is why he is not just an artiste; he is a rap artist (artiste). It takes thought to put words together that rhyme and make sense at the same time but unfortunately the order of the day is people who don’t have a proper orientation of what a good rap song is come to misrepresent rap. It is not about the clothes, the tattoos and the attitude. Its about the lyrical content, the message being passed across with every rhyme in every line of the song, the intelligence behind the crafting of words to suit the beat of the song and also work the imagination of the listener. Anyone who knows what good rap is often critical about the lyrics and messages of any other genre of music. Like I said in the beginning, take away all the rudiments of rap music and it becomes noise.

As I grew older, I thought I was going outgrow rap but no way, the love is still as it first was with no space for mediocrity for the art form I love so much. Like my dad has a huge record collection of Jim Reeves, Frank Sinatra, Grover Washington, Louis Armstrong and the likes, he would often tell me this what we used to listen to in those days. I also want to show my kids Notorious B.I.G, Tupac, A tribe called quest, Jay-z, Nas, Talib Kweli, Common,Mos def, Mode 9 and MI albums and tell them, this is what we used to listen to in those days. It may not make much sense to them because they may find the music of their generation more interesting but I’ll do it with pride because I listened to intellectuals who used their words to influence me. I am a poet and a writer today because I listen to rap music and the love I have for it is Deeper than rap…Can’t leave rap alone.

*Cant leave rap alone- Izzo by Jay-Z

*Deeper than rap- Album title by Rick Ross.