Romantic Criticism of Hip-Hop
Poetry should be pleasing to the ear;
this simple idea is at the center of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s ideals on what
is good poetry (675). In addition to this simple thought, Coleridge also
believed that poetry should be substantive, that is to say, full of meaning and
not mere poetic drivel (682). These principles are why Coleridge is the perfect
critic to examine Nas’s song, “If I Ruled the World”
featuring Lauryn Hill, to determine if it fits the criteria to be called poetry.
The reason Nas’s song and Coleridge’s criticism mesh so well is partly because
Nas is in effect following Coleridge’s advise by writing/rapping in the common
tongue of his audience (678). Coleridge speaks of this when he says:
Whether subjects, which from their nature rejected the usual
ornaments and extra-colloquial style of poems in general, might not be so
managed in the language of ordinary life as to produce the pleasurable
interest, which is the peculiar business of poetry in impart (678)
Further,
Nas tends to avoid using poetic devices, instead replacing those devices with
his own imaginative discourse on where his society is and where he wants it to
go. This builds on Coleridge’s ideas that a poet must be imaginative or more
simply put, a poet must be original. This did not mean that a poet could not
write about the same subjects as those who came before. It simply meant that a
poet should use his own experiences to flavor his writing, thus making it his
own (676-677). This mirrors the thoughts of Coleridge’s friend and fellow poet
William Wordsworth in his description of poetic diction. Poetic diction
Wordsworth explains is when a poet uses stock poetic language, created through
original passion by an earlier poet, without having that earlier poet’s passion
(665). Further, Wordsworth also agreed with Coleridge on the ideal of using
common language in poetry (662). However, in order to understand the links
between the theories of Wordsworth and Coleridge’s and Nas’s song it is
necessary to first understand Nas’s lyrics.
So to better understand
the song here is a brief overview of what Nas’s song; “If I Ruled the World” is
about. This song is a snapshot of how Nas perceives life to be for many in his
neighborhood, but it is also a utopian view of that same life. Nas formats the
song in a binary way, generally starting a verse with his reality and then
flipping those negatives to show how he wished it would be. This song is a true
utopian vision of Nas’s own creation, incorporating his life experience of
growing up in the Queens
Bridge housing projects
into the content. This is an important distinction because many of the
positives he envisions would not be taken as such by audiences outside his
experiences. The following lines show Nas’s vision of his ideal situation, which
could be seen as a negative to many middle class readers, “Imagine smoking weed
in the streets without cops harassin” (Nas). And then later, “It sounds foul
but every girl I meet to go downtown” (Nas).[1]
These lines are his expression of the ideal life, simply because they
illustrate something that is lacking in his “real” life. This contrast is
expressed especially well in these lyrics, “Runnin from Jake, gettin chased,
hunger for papes/ … If I ruled the world and everything in it, sky's the
limit/I push a Q-45 Infinit” (Nas).[2]
Therefore we see that Nas is doing two things through this song: firstly he is
defining where he sees himself and his people in society. Secondly, he is
taking his self definition and showing what types of dreams this definition
leads to. Thus the overview shows it is safe to say that Nas is attempting to
use this song to explain how the people he represents live and what dreams
their lives lead them towards.
The first reason that
Nas’s song shines under the scrutiny of Coleridge’s poetic ideas is the simple
language used. This fits Coleridge’s view that it is easier to believe words
written in common language, even out of your mind fantastic activities, than
the simplest activities written in the abstract and fanciful words (675). The language Nas uses is kept simple in order
to reveal the story he is telling in its essence without clutter or poetic
devices. Nas in his writing, or maybe it is better to say rapping, eschews
fancy through lines like, “It wouldn't be no such thing as jealousies or B
Felonies/Strictly living longevity to the destiny/I thought I'd never see but
reality struck/Better find out before your time's out, what the fuck???” (Nas).
Thus through simple language, Nas is better able to display the difference
between his reality and the dream world he prefers. Also because Nas kept the
language simple and colloquial his listeners will be able to feel the emotion
of the words more powerfully than if he had written it without slang or in an
academic format. Also it is important to think as H. Samy Alim thinks: “When we examine Hip Hop lyrics, we
must ask who the intended audience is. In other words, who are the
"interlocutors" in this Hip Hop conversation?” (298). In a sense the form and vocabulary enables the songs
success through linguistic prestige.
This distinction that Nas
is speaking in a language that is easily recognizable to his audience is
important, but so is the content of his message. Many of the concepts in his
songs, even If I Ruled the World, are negative representations of the black
community he is striving to represent. This then leads some critics to see
hip-hop as overwhelmingly negative and not a true representation of the black
community. A notable example is John H. McWhorter who believes that:
The
formulaic rage of hip-hop and Spoken Word is not going away any time soon. But
it is a mere vaudeville, reflecting the true soul of black America no more than vaudeville reflected white America's a
century ago (McWhorter).
The counter argument to McWhorter is seeing how
Nas’s words are accepted, in his neighborhood, as truth. This is part of
Coleridge’s argument about common language but it is also about common
experiences. But the reason Nas’s interpretations of what he sees as common
experiences are so readily accepted is because he speaks those experiences in a
way that they sound like his people’s life. This shows that the best argument
for the validity of the context is in the validity of the language itself.
Coleridge expounds even
further on this theme of fancy adding a second and opposing term, imagination.
He makes the distinction that fancy is simply the synthesizing of someone
else’s memory, whereas imagination is the use of your own personal experience. So
according to Coleridge, imagination “is essentially vital, even as all objects
(as objects) are essentially fixed and dead” (676). Therefore, it is important
to note, how Nas speaks about his life (we suppose) and not about how others
experienced life. This leads to the conclusion that he is not merely recycling
material, but creating thoughts from the well of his experience.
Coleridge in his work Biographia Literaria concludes by saying
that the beauty of good poetry is truly found, when the words are able to
reinvent the familiar (681). This is
what Nas does; he tells stories of urban reality in such ways that even the
people living in that reality stop to listen. He does this through lines like,
“I'd open every cell in Attica send em to Africa”
(Nas). This line is so poignant in how it expresses the common theme of having brothers,
cousins or even parents in jail and wishing them free. But instead of simply
freeing them, back to the situation that led them to jail, Nas wishes them free
to a “better place” and a new start. Even when Nas is speaking of the ills
surrounding his people, he does so in simple but refreshing language, “So many
years of depression make me vision/The better livin, type of place to raise
kids in/Open they eyes to the lies history's told foul” (Nas). This again shows
how Nas gives new perspective, even a new feeling to old problems.
Wordsworth and Coleridge
agree on almost everything but in that agreement they do tend to phrase their
ideas differently. One of these differences is the idea of poetic diction which
Coleridge speaks about but Wordsworth catalogs and defines. The definition in
the introduction shows what poetic diction means but how it works is actually
much simpler. Wordsworth himself says that:
With the progress of refinement this diction became daily more and
more corrupt, thrusting out of sight the plain humanities of nature by a motley
masquerade of tricks, quaintness, hieroglyphics, and enigmas (666).
Basically poetic diction is simply copying great
writers without any personal feeling.
Which then results in those poems which are beautifully written, but for
some reason have no resonance, since the poet was writing with recycled
emotion. Further these poems generally use antiquated language not the common
vernacular of the day, which distances them from the audience and the poet
(665-667). Wordsworth makes the distinction that the ancient poets, who many of
the poser poets are copying, use language that seems distant, but in many cases
is the actual oratorical language and style of the day (666). This idea of
poetic diction bridges Coleridge’s ideas of common language and passionate
relevance (676,682).
Much of what Wordsworth proclaims in
his preface and appendix to Lyrical
Ballads seems tailored to the discussion of hip-hop. This is because in
hip-hop we see an abundance of passionate writing and at least in Nas’s case
that writing seems original.[3]
Further as this essay has thoroughly explained, Nas is quite adept at writing
in the common vernacular of his neighborhood, conveying both the language and
the passion of his “people.” An example of this is his line: “Gimme one shot I
turn trife life to lavish” (Nas). These lyrics are saying, in New York, Black street slang, how if given the
opportunity he would turn his bad life of crime and poverty to a good life of
legal riches. This exemplifies the ideal of Wordsworth that not only must a
poet speak in a common way, a poet also must speak about relevant issues (663).
Wordsworth here is making the distinction that language while important cannot
make unimportant events relevant. In essence Wordsworth is echoing Aristotle,
who made the claim in his Poetics
that the most important part of a story is the plot (95). Wordsworth puts forth
an example of two different poems with near identical meter, language and even
commonness of language, but as Wordsworth states, “but the matter expressed in Dr. Johnson’s stanza is contemptible” (663).
The poetry of hip-hop is
not something that appeals to everyone, but that is not because it cannot live
up to the ideals of what poetry is. This is because Nas’s lyrics can actually
be seen to epitomize many of the basic tenets of Coleridge and Wordsworth,
including Wordsworth theoretical cornerstone, the negativity of poetic diction.
This is because Nas’s lyrics never lack in passion or purpose. Further Nas
consistently uses language that is nothing except the speech of his streets and
people, or as Coleridge would say, common language. Also, to reiterate,
because Nas keeps the language simple and colloquial his listeners will be able
to feel the emotion of the words more powerfully than if he had written it
without slang or in an academic format. In a sense the form and vocabulary
enables the songs success through linguistic prestige. Therefore it is quite
clear that Nas’s poetry, or song, is a powerful thing that embodies his people
because it is the problems of his people spoken in their language. This then
explains the popularity of hip-hop music, or essentially music in general
because as a rule music has to be on the cutting edge of language in order to
keep the attention of its listeners.
Works
Cited:
Alim, H. Samy
“Street-Conscious Copula Variation In The Hip Hop Nation.” American
Speech: A Quarterly of Linguistic Usage 77.3 (2002): 288-304.
Aristotle “Poetics.” The
Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: Norton, 2001.
90-117.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor.
“Biographia Literaria.” The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism.
Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York:
Norton, 2001. 674-682.
McWhorter,
John H. “Up from Hip-Hop.” Commentary 115.3
(2003): 62-65.
Nas Featuring Lauryn
Hill. “If I Ruled the World (Imagine That).” It Was Written. Columbia, 1996.
Wordsworth, William.
“Preface To Lyrical Ballads.” The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism.
Ed. Vincent B. leitch. New York:
Norton, 2001. 648-668.
Artist: Nas f/ Lauryn Hill
Album: It Was Written
Song: If I Ruled the World
Typed by: OHHLA Webmaster DJ Flash
Intro: Nas (Lauryn Hill singing in the background)
Life..... I wonder....
Will it take me under.... I don't know
Verse One: Nas
Imagine smoking weed in the streets without cops harassin
Imagine going to court with no trial
Lifestyle cruising blue behind my waters
No welfare supporters more conscious of the way we raise our daughters
Days are shorter, nights are colder
Feeling like life is over, these snakes strike like a cobra
The world's hot my son got not evidently
It's elementary, they want us all gone eventually
Trooping out of state for a plate knowledge
of coke was cooked without the garbage we'd all have the top dollars
Imagine everybody flashin, fashion
Designer clothes, lacing your click up with diamond vogues
Your people holdin dough, no parole
No rubbers, go in raw imagine law with no undercovers
Just some thoughts for the mind
I take a glimpse into time
watch the blimp read "The World Is Mine"
Chorus: Lauryn Hill, Nas
If I ruled the world Imagine that
I'd free all my sons, I love em love em baby
Black diamonds and pearls Could it be, if you could
be mine, we'd both shine
If I ruled the world Still livin for today, in
these last days and times
Verse Two: Nas
The way to be, paradise like relaxin black, latino and anglo-saxon
Armani exchange the reins
Cash, Lost Tribe of Shabazz, free at last
Brand new whips to crash then we laugh in the iller path
The Villa house is for the crew, how we do
Trees for breakfast, dime sexes and Benz stretches
So many years of depression make me vision
The better livin, type of place to raise kids in
Open they eyes to the lies history's told foul
But I'm as wise as the old owl, plus the Gold Child
Seeing things like I was controlling, click rollin
Trickin six digits on kicks and still holdin
Trips to Paris, I civilized every savage
Gimme one shot I turn trife life to lavish
Political prisonner set free, stress free
No work release purple M3's and jet skis
Feel the wind breeze in West Indies
I make Coretta Scott-King mayor the cities and reverse themes to Willies
It sounds foul but every girl I meet to go downtown
I'd open every cell in Attica send em to Africa
Chorus: Lauryn Hill, Nas
If I ruled the world Imagine that
I'd free all my sons, I love em love em baby
Black diamonds and pearls Could it be, if you could
be mine, we'd both shine
If I ruled the world Still livin for today, in
these last days and times
And then we'll walk right up to the sun
Hand in hand
We'll walk right up to the sun
We won't land
We'll walk right up to the sun
Hand in hand
We'll walk right up to the sun
We won't land
Verse Three: Nas
You'd love to hear the story how the thugs live in worry
Duck down in car seats, heat's mandatory
Runnin from Jake, gettin chased, hunger for papes
These are the breaks many mistakes go down out of state
Wait, I had to let it marinate we carry weight
Tryin to get laced, flip the ace stack the safe
Millionaire plan to keep the gat with the cop camera
Makin moves in Atlanta, back and forth scrambler
Cause you could have all the chips, be poor or rich
Still nobody want a nigga havin shit
If I ruled the world and everything in it, sky's the limit
I push a Q-45 Infinit
It wouldn't be no such thing as jealousies or B Felonies
Strictly living longevity to the destiny
I thought I'd never see but reality struck
Better find out before your time's out, what the fuck???
Chorus: Lauryn Hill, Nas
If I ruled the world Imagine that
I'd free all my sons, I love em em baby
Black diamonds and pearls Could it be, if you could
be mine, we'd both shine
If I ruled the world Still livin for today, in
these last days and times
If I ruled the world, if I ruled, if I ruled Imagine that
I'd free all my sons, if I ruled, if I ruled
I love em love em baby
Black diamonds and pearls, black dimaonds Could it be, if you could
black diamonds be mine, we'd both shine
If I ruled the world Still livin for today, in
these last days and times
If I ruled the world, if I ruled
if I ruled, I'd free all my sons
black diamonds, I love em love em baby
Black diamonds and pearls, if I ruled
If I ruled the world
If I ruled the world
I love em love em baby!!
[1] Downtown here means to give oral sex.
[3] Writers
note: As hip-hop has evolved we are starting to see many of the same problems
with poetic diction which Wordsworth was lamenting about poetry in his day.
Many of the newer hip-hop artists seem to be carbon copies of their more
imaginative predecessors.
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