Giving credit where credit is due

I’m going to be totally honest with you here: I love rap music. That being said, I am very cognizant of the negative messages often present in lyrics of the rap genre. I realize that violence, sex, misogyny, substance abuse, and many other negative subjects are often glorified by the genre. One study done by the University Of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that 80 percent of rap songs in the top 279 songs on the 2005 Billboard charts mentioned substance use. That’s more than twice the amount of any other genre. Even rap legend Jay-Z has stated rap lyrics often perpetuate violence in today’s society.

Regardless of all of this negativity, I still thoroughly enjoy rap music and feel that it definitely deserves some credit. Thus, I would like to take a moment to commend rappers for their brilliant use of literary devices. Today’s rappers are masters of many literary devices: simile, metaphor, allusion, hyperbole, pun, etc. Regardless of the often offensive or disgusting content of the lyrics, some of the puns and metaphors rappers come up with are pretty incredible.

Granted he is comparing a woman to a kitchen appliance but when Flo Rida proclaims "shawty was hot like a toaster" in his hit “Low” I find his creative use of simile pretty impressive. And when Timbaland and Justin Timberlake describe how they “got you open all night like an I-Hop” in their song “Carry Out” they use allusion and simile in the same sentence: that takes skills.

Drake uses hyperbole masterfully in his song “Best I Ever Had” when he claims he has a “buzz so big [he] could probably sell a blank disc.” Obviously, no one (especially not him) is famous enough to be able sell a blank disc, but it sounds so good doesn’t it?

I like to think of Lil Wayne as the master of puns in the rap industry. His song “Lollipop” contains pun after pun comparing himself to a lollipop, example “he’s so sweet, think I want to lick the rapper [wrapper].” I can really appreciate how creative rappers are with their use of literary technique.

Now on a more serious note, I will leave you with my favorite line from a rap song ever. This line is from Kid Cudi’s song “Soundtrack 2 My Life” off of the album “Man On The Moon: The End Of Day:” “Ignorance is coke man, ignorance is bliss. Ignorance is love and I need that s**t.” I realize that’s a lot of metaphors for one lyric, but think about it.