John Erck - Rap Poetry Reflections...
Alexs Pate and Melisa Riviere both did a fabulous job discussing rap poetry and the role it plays in hip-hop. I specifically liked Melisa’s input. Melisa focused on the role that capitalism has played with respect to rap poetry. Traditionally, rap has been an under ground localized form of personal expression. Since rap’s birth, capitalism has steady exerted pressure on this notion. As stated by Scott Thill in Wiretap: Ideas for a New Generation, “Hypercapitalism has made hip-hop the preferred mode of artistic expression in the new millennium, and how such commodity fetishism has sucked away some of its racial, economic and sociopolitical contexts.” (Thill, 12) The result is a disconnect between what the general public considers to be rap and what is truly authentic rap poetry. The internet has increasingly changed this phenomenon though. Before the internet, wide scale record distribution was the biggest barrier facing rap poets. Today, artists are able to distribute their music to the entire globe instantly. Website such as myspace, facebook, and youtube have been the major catalysts. So, today with distribution no longer being a barrier, rap music has pervaded the globe and truly become an international phenomenon.