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A review by robk
The Anthology of Rap by Chuck D, Common, Adam Bradley, Andrew DuBois, Henry Louis Gates Jr.
3.0
While I love the concept of this anthology, I feel it is deeply flawed for a number of reasons.
1.) The performance of rap lyrics seems inseparable from the actual written word. It is different from poetry in this sense. The anthology should come with an audio companion. I realize that obtaining the rights to this quantity of music would be horrendously expensive and therefore it is impractical, but it seems incomplete. Thank goodness for youtube.
2.) The lyrics themselves should contain some annotations or footnotes. Bradley mentions in the introduction that geographical vernacular plays an important role in the interpretation of rap lyrics, but he does little to help convey the nuances of language to the reader. Perhaps the onus of interpretation falls on the reader, but to those of us who grew up in the sticks in Idaho, a little translation help would have gone a long way.
I'm not sure Bradley legitimizes the academic study of rap lyrics with this anthology. He definitely helps spur along the conversation, but I think more needs to be said. Perhaps more detail about individual artists and their impact on society/thought/style/whatever, though the short bios provided were not too shabby.
The greatest value, for me, lies in having an excellent resource to use when teaching my secondary students about the similarities between lyrics and poetry. This book could be a valuable asset to secondary teachers trying to find meaningful, important rap lyrics to stimulate the classroom learning environment during a poetry unit.
1.) The performance of rap lyrics seems inseparable from the actual written word. It is different from poetry in this sense. The anthology should come with an audio companion. I realize that obtaining the rights to this quantity of music would be horrendously expensive and therefore it is impractical, but it seems incomplete. Thank goodness for youtube.
2.) The lyrics themselves should contain some annotations or footnotes. Bradley mentions in the introduction that geographical vernacular plays an important role in the interpretation of rap lyrics, but he does little to help convey the nuances of language to the reader. Perhaps the onus of interpretation falls on the reader, but to those of us who grew up in the sticks in Idaho, a little translation help would have gone a long way.
I'm not sure Bradley legitimizes the academic study of rap lyrics with this anthology. He definitely helps spur along the conversation, but I think more needs to be said. Perhaps more detail about individual artists and their impact on society/thought/style/whatever, though the short bios provided were not too shabby.
The greatest value, for me, lies in having an excellent resource to use when teaching my secondary students about the similarities between lyrics and poetry. This book could be a valuable asset to secondary teachers trying to find meaningful, important rap lyrics to stimulate the classroom learning environment during a poetry unit.