Everyone can agree that rap has changed throughout the years. At one point in time rap was a way to express one’s feelings about life, whether it was about community affairs, relationship problems, or education. But has rap shifted from being “rhythm and poetry” to being a catchy beat and repeated lines? Where is the substance? Where are the essential meanings? Here’s the biggest question: where is the imagery?
Imagery was once a huge aspect in old school rapping techniques. Every rapper would set you up in their own vision and tell their story from their own perspectives. You understood where they were coming from, as if it was happening to you. Forget about music videos. The way rappers described the story and used imagery in his\her music, you knew what everything was supposed to look like.
In Biz Markie’s “The Vapors”, he uses imagery to describing all the different people in the song. “Back in the days before this began, he used to try to talk to this girl name Fran. The type of female with fly Gucci wear, with big truck jewelry and extensions in her hair.”
Or in Jay-Z’s “99 Problems”, where he sets us up in the car with him as a police officer pulls him over. “The year is '94 and in my trunk is raw, in my rear view mirror is the mother fucking law. I got two choices y'all pull over the car or bounce on the double put the pedal to the floor. Now I ain't trying to see no highway chase with Jake. Plus I got a few dollars I can fight the case. So I...pull over to the side of the road and I heard "Son do you know why I'm stopping you for?" Cause I'm young and I'm black and my hat's real low, do I look like a mind reader sir, I don't know.”
Even Eminem's “When I’m Gone”, he uses endless images of him and his family, including his daughter and the way he treated the mother of his children.
“What happens when you become the main source of her pain, "Daddy look what I made" "Dad's gotta go catch a plane" "Daddy where's mommy? I can't find mommy, where is she?" "I don't know, go play, Hailie baby, your daddy's busy. Daddy's writing a song, this song ain't gon write itself" I give you one underdog, and you gotta swing by yourself. Then turn right around in that song and tell her you love her And put hands on her mother who's the spittin' image of her.”
That is rap. That is poetry. But is there any rapper in this generation that you can honestly say tells their story and put you right in the situation? Is there a rapper that actually talks about the real issues of the world and isn’t underrated? Or is rhythm and poetry dead?
