Word: rapped
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Aesop contends that calling rap a “poem on a beat ... is pretty valid,” and that the many parallels between the two forms are “not a coincidence.” But he also stresses that “overinterpretation happens a lot” when critics try to analyze his convoluted flow, probably because his work is “not as linear” as their preconceptions of rap allow. “You get used to it,” he sighs, with the seemingly unperturbed air of the superscrutinized...
Lyrical gems like Nas’ 1994 assertion that “sleep is the cousin of death” provide ample evidence for Teskey’s claim that “if you read some of Finnegans Wake...you’ll see some remarkable similarities to rap lyrics...
Aesop grants that the vast majority of rap these days, regardless of its visceral appeal, is still lyrically a “glorified way of saying ‘bitches ain’t shit.’” Battle raps and posse tracks often serve to pad out “albums” lacking any unified theme, even in the “underground” scene in which he operates. An inextricable part of Aesop’s appeal is the relative lack of such pseudo-macho posturing in his work; in his own words...
During this process, he becomes equal parts writer and musician, all shades of categorization afterward inevitably falling prey to crude underlying cultural assumptions and models, both about poetry and rap. Aesop acknowledges that “some people like my shit, some don’t,” but refuses to get sucked into marketing himself as an “intellectual rapper...
...seems as though conscious appeals to the academic merit of his work aren’t even needed. Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory Jorie Graham was so inspired by Aesop’s lyrics that she assigned one of her poetry classes to bring in samples of rap lyrics for analysis...