Hip-Hop, Echo & Flow
Transitioning from the blues, hip-hop has become one of the most widely known genres of music. That being said there is a huge absence of respect for the poetic form, as it is not easy to interpret nor appreciate its form. Tracie Morris writes, “Some folks don’t understand hip-hop because they don’t know how to listen” (Morris 223). A few things to keep in mind when listening to hop-hop are the flow and echo. The flow refers to the “patterns and intricacies” of the rhyme, whereas the echo is the way the words fit with the rhythm and the beat as a whole (Morris 223). Both the flow and the echo of hip-hop affect the way one hears the actual music and writing. Flow is a necessary component of hip-hop freestyling as well. Classic hip-hop music follows the abab or abcb pattern where occasional slant rhymes can be added to the syllables. Throughout the hip-hop era, many different artists have introduced many new things. The talented pair Eric B. and Rakim introduced the quantum leap, a rhyming technique that provides internal rhyme, slants assonance, and consonance at the same time. We become aware of these techniques in Eric B. and Rakim’s song, “Follow the Leader” (Morris 224).
Stop buggin’, a brutha said
Dig ’em/ I neva dug ’em
he couldn’t follow the leader long enough
so I drug ‘em
Rakim’s use of rhyme produces a so-called soundscape for the audience. This ultimately signifies the use of oral language, reading and writing. The recording also illustrates the use of internal rhyme throughout the first verse and the rest of the song. Morris described this as “counterpoint the sounds (conventional music, cutting, and scratching)” (Morris 224). The use of many of these newfound techniques has been the backbone of hip-hop since the start of the twentieth century.
Similarly, along with many other modrn day artists, The Notorious B.I.G’s addition to the upgrades in hip-hop is over manipulation of stressed words. This ultimately changes the patterns of the traditional rhyme schemes and internal rhymes. We now understand this to be called scansion. B.I.G. focuses on the use of scansion to relate more to the Spanish-speaking artists and writing to emphasize their unique language.
Morris, Tracie. “Hip-Hop Formations: Open Your Ears.” An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the Diversity of Their Art. Edited by Anne Finch and Kathrine Varnes. U of Michigan P, 2002, pp. 223–227.
