Hip Hop and Consonance
Hip Hop was developed following the wave of rock, synthesized and heavily distorted forms of verse/sound. Thus, one of its characteristics is the specific diction of the verses, often using abbreviated and slang terms, which adds to the tone of each example. However, the rhyme, specifically the consonance of the verse is perhaps the most important element of hip hop.
Get Jonathan Hastings’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
“Stop buggin’, a brutha said, Dig ’em/ I neva dug ’em… so I drug ’em(Rakim 224).” These few lines here written by Rakim, a famous artist of the late eighties. The continued beat in this small section provides a certain sound, as if you can hear the verse being vocalized as you read it. That beat framed by these words is a fundamental part of hip hop music. Each song has a particular flow, a tempo at which you can nod your head along to. There is an importance to the rhyme, as it creates points of connection throughout the verse, sewing the lines together. “cuts create sound effects…you follow the records he wrecks(Rakim 224).” Each rhyming word is far heavier than the other lines, making an up and down patter to the words themselves, similar to the rising and falling of one’s head nodding to the beat.
Morris, Tracie. “Hip-Hop Rhyme 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.
Rakim “Follow the Leader.” 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. 224.
