RADIO: 'The Anthology Of Rap': Lyrics As Poetry
I'm kind of bummed that NPR no longer lets you embed their audio on blogs - they do however allow you to download segments as MP3s for easy classroom use!
Link to an excerpt of the book HERE.
Link to the book at Amazon HERE.
NOTE: If you're on a Mac, using Safari you may have to refresh your browser for the video to appear.
Be sure to listen to this interesting story from All Things Considered that compares the Sugar Hill Gang to Samuel Taylor Coleridge...
by NPR STAFF
November 7, 2010
Now almost 40 years old, rap burst out of the Bronx to become one of the dominant musical and cultural forces in this country. A new book, The Anthology of Rap, tracks the development of the genre — from New York house parties to Eminem and Jay-Z — by presenting lyrics from some of America’s greatest rappers as poetry. Adam Bradley, co-editor of the book, tells Weekend All Things Considered host Guy Raz that rap's origins had no words at all.
"Before there was rapping, there was DJing," Bradley says. "A DJ would be at a party playing songs and focusing on the breaks, those most exciting, energizing drum sequences, and running those back and forth to get the dancers excited. Then they had to do something on the microphone to keep people's attention ... so what developed out of DJing was the very concept of MCing: putting words in rhyme to the music."
Some of the earliest rappers began as DJs, Bradley says.
"Eddie Cheeba, DJ Hollywood, even Grandmaster Caz of the Cold Crush Brothers ... these are people who started often as DJs and then made the transition into the lyrical art."
"The great Chuck D of Public Enemy once said about Eddie Cheeba that he was as important to hip-hop as Ike Turner was to rock 'n' roll. You go into the lyrics and you can see just that," Bradley says. "Think about a phrase that's become really a part of the popular idiom, something like, 'Wave your hands in the air.' This is Eddie Cheeba in 1979. This is part of an oral tradition that stretches much further back than the actual history of recorded hip-hop."
Link to audio HERE.
November 7, 2010
Now almost 40 years old, rap burst out of the Bronx to become one of the dominant musical and cultural forces in this country. A new book, The Anthology of Rap, tracks the development of the genre — from New York house parties to Eminem and Jay-Z — by presenting lyrics from some of America’s greatest rappers as poetry. Adam Bradley, co-editor of the book, tells Weekend All Things Considered host Guy Raz that rap's origins had no words at all.
"Before there was rapping, there was DJing," Bradley says. "A DJ would be at a party playing songs and focusing on the breaks, those most exciting, energizing drum sequences, and running those back and forth to get the dancers excited. Then they had to do something on the microphone to keep people's attention ... so what developed out of DJing was the very concept of MCing: putting words in rhyme to the music."
Some of the earliest rappers began as DJs, Bradley says.
"Eddie Cheeba, DJ Hollywood, even Grandmaster Caz of the Cold Crush Brothers ... these are people who started often as DJs and then made the transition into the lyrical art."
"The great Chuck D of Public Enemy once said about Eddie Cheeba that he was as important to hip-hop as Ike Turner was to rock 'n' roll. You go into the lyrics and you can see just that," Bradley says. "Think about a phrase that's become really a part of the popular idiom, something like, 'Wave your hands in the air.' This is Eddie Cheeba in 1979. This is part of an oral tradition that stretches much further back than the actual history of recorded hip-hop."
Link to audio HERE.
Link to the book at Amazon HERE.
Book trailer...
NOTE: If you're on a Mac, using Safari you may have to refresh your browser for the video to appear.
Views: 19
© 2025 Created by Ryan Goble.
Powered by
