You Talkin' to Me? by E.J. White
Author:E.J. White
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2020-12-15T00:00:00+00:00
Witty Unpredictable Talent and Natural Game
Wit and cleverness, twists and knowing allusions, inform hip-hop as they do other New York varieties of art. One part of wit, surprise, may appear in the rhythmic performance of a song. Wit can also present itself through wordplay. In rap lyrics, wordplay might parody nursery rhymes, advertising messages, or political catchphrases in order to suggest new dimensions of those commonplaces. It might recontextualize low language in order to suggest a mastery of low worlds (âSkip the bull âcause we matadorsâ).73 It might extend the tradition of the ritual boast (âIâm more amazing than Grace is when I say shit / You should say âAmenâ after my name, kidâ).74 It might simply play and tease (âDonât you know how you do the voodoo that you do so wellâ).75 Wordplay refreshes language; it also enables writers to frame their subjects in new ways. âItâs one thing to say, âI sell bricks, I sell bricks,âââ the New Yorkâborn rapper Pusha T, using slang from the drug trade, once told an interviewer. âBut when you saying âTrunk like Aspen / Looking like a million muthafuckinâ crushed aspirins,â dog, we getting back to the colors.â76
But the language of rap is not merely startling as a form of wit. Often, it is startling in the sense that profane language (which abounds in rap lyrics) is startling, aiming to speak straightforwardly; to grab the attention; to offend; to use every part of language; to communicate anger, alienation, and revolt. Rap music references crime, drugs, poverty, sex, violence, and weapons more than most other musical forms do, and writers often draw on informal idioms from these domains (dirty, dough, feel on, gear, heat, hot, paper, pop, and so forth). Writers may also use calculatedly aggressive slang (bomb or burn for graffiti tagging; rope for a necklace; spitting for writing or rapping; slay for âimpressâ; and, as compliments, bad, ill, sick, and sometimes motherfucker). These idioms serve, in part, as deliberate provocations, what Umberto Eco calls (in another context) âsemiotic guerilla warfare.â77 They reinforce the idea of power from below through the performance of speech from below. The New York rapper Jay-Z, who used to sell drugs, uses slang, wordplay, and a mixture of âhighâ and âlowâ subjects to describe his criminal past as an extension of American domestic and foreign policy agendas:
Canât you tell that I came from the dope game
Blame Reagan for making me into a monster
Blame Oliver North and Iran-Contra
I ran contraband that they sponsored
Before this rhyming stuff we was in concert.78
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