Rap Language Analysis

Rap is a genre in music that consists of rhyming or being poetic over a certain unique beat. The origin of rap is significantly different from any other form of music. The flow, change, subject of the music, and the instrumentals behind the rapping has all changed with time. Most people would underestimate the complexity of the music and the evolution it has undergone. The real roots of rap music began in the late 1980’s with the “Golden Age.” It was innovative and mostly based around the party scene. Gangsta Rap followed the Golden age and was very impactful on the young culture. After the Gangsta Rap era came the time in rap referred to as Crunk Rap which combined the country sound with the party lifestyle. Conscious

In the field of Modern Languages and Linguistics, words are of great importance. A language’s phonology (study of how sounds are organized and used), morphology (study of the form and structure of words), syntax (study of the rules that govern sentence structure), semantics (study of meaning of words, sentences, and expressions), pragmatics (study of aspects of meaning and language use and context), and phonetics (study of human speech sounds) all play an important part in everyday life. These have a major impact in understanding the intent of what is spoken or heard. Due to the importance of communication, literary elements such as metaphors (which are defined as a figure of speech in which a word or phrase

The theme of 123rd Street rap is one that can't be compared to any other poem. The reason for this is that it has such a deep reality to it and it is only a poem. One good reason to love this poem is it show someone to appreciate the life that one has and to not take what you have for granted. The line “Automatic bullets bounce off stoop steps”(Perdomo 2) should make anyone who doesn't live this everyday reality appreciate the life that they live. The poet saw the life that people have to live and put it into words and makes you understand in just a few lines.

As thorough and rewarding as Bradley’s close reading can be, it is this sole focus that becomes problematic in Book of Rhymes. He stays on the surface, privileging the discussion of linguistic elements over cultural impact. He begins his wordplay chapter with an anecdote about a friend who disapproves of the misogynistic and violent elements of the Notorious B.I.G.’s lyrics, a qualm addressed by Bradley in a customary manner: “It’s not what he’s saying, it’s how he’s saying it” (86). Bradley is partially correct; how he’s saying it is the aesthetically appealing aspect of hip hop, the reason millions of people around the world enjoy the music. But what he’s saying is the more compelling aspect. The environment that produced the attitudes reflected in hip hop, the source of Biggie’s misogyny and violent imagery, must be given its proper treatment in order to understand rap music on deeper levels than the beauty and complexity of its poetic structures.

1. Keyes points out that rap music derives from what she refers to as the “West African bardic tradition.” What is this tradition? What is the role of the griot in this tradition? What parallels do you see between the groit and a hip hop MC (the rapper, often the main writer of lyrics for a group)?

Have you ever wondered how we speak? How about why our communication is considered a language and other animal’s communication is not considered language? A wide range of beliefs exist on what defines language. Thus, by exploring the definition of language and lexicon, evaluating language’s key features, the four levels of language structure and processing, and the role of language in Cognitive Psychology, an understanding of what language is becomes clear. Let us begin by defining language and a term named lexicon.

My favorite type song is different from my least favorite type song by the beat, the way the words are organized, and the way that the people who sing it. In my favorite type of music, wich is usually rap, has big base drops and is very fast paced. In the slow paced music like poems it is obdviesly slow most of the time and there isn’t any base. I like to lay in my bed listening to rap music and it just soothes me for some reason I really don’t know why,but it just makes me feel better. Other slow paced music like poems being sung just makes me scream speed up,be louder, make some more noise,and vibrate these headphones.

c: Language is a set of symbols such as spoken, written or signed. It is used so people can

1.1 Explain each of the terms; a) Speech b) language c) communication d) speech , language and communication needs .

Language can be defined as a means of communication through spoken sounds, written symbols, or hand and body gestures. Subject to this simple definition language is neither human nor animal exclusive, meaning that all living creatures use some form of language to communicate. Humans have created the most advanced system of language. Human language has advanced to include listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing and visual representation. These components are known as the six language arts and while they are individual components they are as well interdependent. What you learn about one affects what and how you learn about the others.

During ages three to six, their early childhood language increases, where now they can produce more sentences, use social language, as well as tell stories and use their imagination. Middle childhood language, ages seven to twelve, increases their empathy towards other, allows them to use elaborate phrasing, and other parts of speech, such as adverbs, participles, and tense. Lastly, during adolescent language, they develop the ability to understand and use sarcasm, metaphors, and similes, along with a larger knowledge base of

‘Language’ is the learning of words and the skills required to form coherent sentences. It can include the learning to be bilingual – speaking two languages, for example, a pupil in Wales may learn to speak Welsh as well as English, learning the “rules” involved with language, for example, when describing words like ‘talk’ in different tenses, presence tense would be ‘I was talking’, the past tense would be ‘I talked’ and the future tense would be ‘I am going to talk’.

Key features of language include its words and their sub structures such as morphemes, graphemes and syllables at the writing level as well as reading or speaking, words, their meanings and contexts in which the words get spoken or read. Language has to be interpreted as a whole, and not just as the specific word. There must be an explicit pattern or structure. In order for language to be understood correctly, the meaning of words must be arranged in a given context. This is what constructs language; even though words are arbitrary themselves, in order to integrate as a language, they must be used in the appropriate context. This pre-established cultural context is what will enable effective communication. (Daniel Willingham, 2007, p. 1).

Language is something that we need and use for everything in our lives. Language is, “a symbolic communication system that is learned instead of biologically inherited.” (O’Neil, 2006). Language is communication that is either written down or spoken in words or sentences. We need to have a good understanding of language to learn, work and for our normal lives. You need to know language to be able to communicate with other people. Language has structure and meaning, for example words and sentences. Language also had tone, pitch, pace and volume. There are several types of language, receptive language, expressive language, emergent language. Receptive language is how you receive and understand language and expressive language is how

I changed my mind about rap music. Growing up, I never really liked it, the quick beats, the vast usage of inappropriate words not equipped for my adolescent ears disgusted me. I associated rap music as being "dirty," only discussing explicit topics and having no real meaning. While everyone else in high school was blaring Drake and Lil Wayne in the parking lots, I was perfectly okay with listening to Demi Lovato or John Legend. During my sophomore year of high school, my friend kept pestering me to listen to the Hamilton soundtrack, and even though the songs were raps, I realized I loved it. Eventually, I started to not associate all rap music as detrimental and discovered that some rappers rapped about important messages of adversity, conflict, and pain. This lead me to listen to Chance the Rapper's "Coloring Book, " Childish Gambino's "Red Bone and J Cole's "4 Your Eyez Only." I realized that rap is just poetry with accompaniment, poetry that has the rhythm and style to bring generations of people together.