Rhythm, Rhyme, and Rhetoric in the Music of Public Enemy

Walser, Robert

doi:10.2307/924425

Cited by 136 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…In more rhythmically rigid genres, this problem is avoided by defining the rhyme position rhythmically and then counting everything that occurs in that rhythmic position as a rhyme. In contemporary hip-hop, however, rhythmically predictable rhymes are accompanied by a large number of rhymes in other, less predictable rhythmic positions (Walser, 1995;Pihel, 1996;Alim, 2003;Adams, 2009;Horn, 2010). The solution described in Section 3.2 is to count as a rhyme any correspondent pair that satisfies a very loose definition of rhyme in terms of rhythmic and phonological properties.…”

Section: Rhymementioning

confidence: 97%

“…Walser (1995), for instance, gives a detailed analysis of Chuck D's 1988 performance in Fight the Power: this 'transitional' piece includes extensive mismatch between linguistic units and musical metrical ones, as well as certain types of non-linefinal rhyme; Walser offers some observations on how this marks a departure from earlier pieces. Pihel's (1996) partial transcription of a Big L piece from the early 1990s suggests that non-line final rhymes are present, but that linguistic constituents are broadly constrained to align with musical metrical landmarks.…”

Section: Hip-hopmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Hip-hop rhymes reiterate phonological typology

Katz

2015

Lingua

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In this paper, we analyze a database of rhymes from African-American English hip-hop. The analysis shows that rappers possess detailed implicit knowledge about speech sounds that is largely irrelevant to the sound pattern of their particular language, but has been argued to play a role in constraining possible sound systems across all human languages. We argue that rhyme data are related to phonological typology because many phonological patterns involve the neutralization of contrasts in contexts where they are less perceptible, and rhyme involves implicit judgments of perceptual similarity between sounds. The general finding is that sounds are more likely to mismatch in a rhyme in those contexts where the contrast between the sounds is more likely to neutralize cross-linguistically, even though the contrasts studied here do not neutralize in these contexts in English. The results contribute to the evidence for detailed implicit phonetic knowledge and bear on the issue of synchronic explanation in linguistic theory.

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Section: Rhymementioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Hip-hopmentioning

confidence: 98%

Hip-hop rhymes reiterate phonological typology

Katz

2015

Lingua

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“…Rhymes in these songs also tend to be at the ends of linguistic groups; given this tendency and the tendency of groups to be regular with respect to meter, the location of rhymes is fairly predictable within this time period. Later music begins to relax all of these constraints on alignment, grouping, and rhyme placement: see, for instance, Walser's (1995) analysis of Chuck D.'s 1988 performance on 'Fight the Power', Pihel's (1996) partial transcription of a Big L piece from the early 1990s, and Horn's (2010) account of rhyme placement in the 1990s recordings of Snoop Dogg. By the time of the music sampled by Katz (2008Katz ( , 2015, from 1993 to 2007, there is a high level of freedom with regard to the length of linguistic groups, their alignment to metrical structure, and the placement of rhymes within grouping or metrical structure.…”

Section: Flow and Stylementioning

confidence: 99%

Style and Flow: A Commentary on Duinker & Martin

Katz

2017

EMR

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Duinker and Martin's excellent study presents a wealth of new data, findings, and analyses. It represents a welcome focus on the details of musical aspects of hip-hop, as well as an effort to combine those details with more global aspects of recordings in order to clarify what our notions of hip-hop 'style' or 'sound' are based on. The examination of instrumental backgrounds and production parameters is particularly novel. I would suggest, however, that the study could have benefitted from the use of details pertaining to flow, particularly in the examination of trends over time and stylistic sub-groupings. I show that several parameters pertaining to the complexity, rhythmic placement, and repetitiveness of rhymes help track changes in hip-hop style over time, distinguish between more and less similar songs, and capture effects of apparent time within the same actual time period.

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“…Moreover, in the perspective of political discourse, the structure and composition of the groove and the melodic phrases are key in that they provide poetical organisation for the verbal delivery. Crucially, according to Walser (1995), these musical features also serve the function of rhetorically aiding the effective delivery of the lyrics as well as investing these with affective force. This is not to say that the beats, melodic hooks, samples and compositional structure of 'Kem Skjøt Siv Jensen' do not convey any (political) meaning in their own right; they do, but the analytical position adopted in this particular reading is that these elements are meaningful as part of an expressive whole in which the rhymed delivery of words occupies a privileged position.…”

Section: Hip Hop Music As Political Discoursementioning

confidence: 99%

Rhythm, rhyme and reason: hip hop expressivity as political discourse

Nærland¹

2014

Pop. Mus.

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IntroductionCan music as an expressive form contribute to public and political debate?Moreover, can the expressive output of music be seen to provide arguments that engage publics? Public sphere theory as most pertinently molded by Jürgen Habermas offers, in the words of Craig Calhoun (1992, p. 41), 'one of the richest, 170 best developed conceptualisations available of the social nature and foundations of public life', and hence provides a convincing framework in which to understand the democratic potential of various communicative practises. John Street (2012, p. 8) argues that it is when music makes the transition from the private to the public sphere that it becomes politically significant. He further calls attention to the value of the Habermasian concept of the public sphere as a means by which to understand the role of music in political participation. Similarly, Keith Negus (1995, p. 192) emphasises the public dimension of political music, arguing that music may gain political significance through 'processes of mediation and articulation through which particular styles of music are produced, circulated, experienced and given quite specific cultural and political meanings'. Also, David Hesmondhalgh (2007) highlights the importance of the 'aesthetic public sphere' in assessing the democratic merits of music. These writers provide valuable insight into the ways in which music becomes politically significant through mass mediation and public exposition, not least in emphasising how talk about music may be vital in political participation and action. However, they do not examine how music by means of its expressive properties may itself function as a contribution to on-going public debate. Neither do these writers examine the tension between the aesthetic expressivity of music and the centrality of verbal argument and communicative rationality inherent to Habermasian public sphere theory.In analysing rapper Lars Vaular's 'Kem Skjøt Siv Jensen' -a song that recently generated considerable public political debate in Norway -the aim of this article is threefold. Firstly, to examine how the lyrical and musical elements of the song constitute the song as political expression. Secondly, to examine the song's potential democratic relevance in light of central concepts from Habermas' theory of the public sphere and subsequent revisions of this theory. Lastly, this article considers hip hop expressivity within the parameters of communicative rationality. It is thus a study that both employs public sphere theory in order to examine the 171 political significance of hip hop music, and a study that addresses and discusses a fundamental theoretical problem of public sphere theory in relation to music. Upon its release, the song was subjected to a highly politicised public response (see Appendix for selected examples). The song, for instance, made headline news in the NRK's (the public broadcaster) late night newscast (airing excerpts from a live performance of the song), was publicly commented upon and condemned by...

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Rhythm, Rhyme, and Rhetoric in the Music of Public Enemy

Abstract: A mi madre por su amor infinito; por ser origen, cimiento y motor de vida.

Cited by 136 publications

References 44 publications

Hip-hop rhymes reiterate phonological typology

Hip-hop rhymes reiterate phonological typology

Style and Flow: A Commentary on Duinker & Martin

Rhythm, rhyme and reason: hip hop expressivity as political discourse

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