The Fall of Lyricism?
Lyrics. We all know what they are, and we all know lyrics to countless songs, but do we all have the same perception of lyrics? Do we all expect the same thing from lyrics? Hip hop is one of those genres that often finds itself in the limelight. Some may say it’s always being hated on, or that it’s always got a negative connotation associated with it. Often times, the debate is about the words and ideas in the songs- the lyrics, and the overall message the song portrays.
Let’s face it. Most people can say they have heard a hip hop song in their lifetime whether they listen to rap on a regular basis or not. The mainstream music is everywhere; in the stores, on TV, in the car. Hearing a rap song on the radio is almost inevitable now days. And the mainstream music is the culprit of driving lyricism seemingly into nonexistence. In the figure below, lyrics of 20 different hip hop songs from Billboard’s “Hot 100” chart in the years 2000–2010 have been studied and analyzed by Gretchen Cundiff, an Elon University Communications Major.
40% of these songs are coded strictly for violent language. One may note that violent language has been in hip hop since it originated and ask how this is relevent to the fall of lyricism. To answer that question, let’s take a closer look at one of these songs. Ludacris’ song, “Southern Hospitality,” although from 2001, shows the focus on violence, money, drugs, women, and alcohol. It also provides evidence that even fourteen years ago, hip hop was heading off course from it’s storytelling roots. Since 2001, the hip hop scene has been flooded with songs praising drugs, money, fame, violence, sex, and women. These songs are commonly acompanied by catchy beats, making them go to songs for clubs. When people are trying to dance the last thing they are worried about is internal rhymes and clever wordplay.
Earlier this year Wu Tang’s GZA took to Medium to voice his concern about the disappearance of lyricism and meaning in hip hop: “Rappers aren’t grabbing you anymore, it’s not pulling me in. What can I get from talking about my car? It’s irrelevant.” In “GZA Speaks: The Lost Art of Lyricism,” GZA notes that music is forever changing and rap lyrics aren’t nearly what they used to be. When people think of the Golden Age of hip hop, the age in which rap was about crafting the most intillectual rhymes and creating songs with decipherable lyrics, artists like Nas, Biggie, and GZA’s Wu Tang Clan are a few artists who may come to mind. For GZA, it was Big Daddy Kane that he gravitated towards. “When Kane came out as an artist, I’d get chills from his music because it would be so dope and so lyrical and so strong and so fresh and so new,” GZA expresses. These artists dominated the game unlike today’s mainstream hip hop artists who GZA says have “sterile imaginations.” GZA compares the club scene and party type songs of today to those written by one of the greats — Nas. “He’s done his party type music, but he’s always been lyrical with it and had good analogies and had good wordplay and good sentence structure and good visuals without talking about running the block and smoking people.” For example, in Nas’ song “Money over Bullshit,” Nas is rapping about women, money, guns, and drugs, but his use of intellect, wordplay, and sentence structure set it apart from repetitive mainstream songs of today like “Versace” and “Hannah Montana” by Migos or even “Southern Hospitality” by Ludacris.
Although he is genuinely disappointed that artists today aren’t doing hip hop justice, GZA doesn’t deny the fact that there are still some great lyricists out there, which Jeff Peretz would definitely agree with. In his Medium blog post, “NYU Prof Says Kendrick Lamar Made the Most Musical Hip-Hop Album Ever,” Peretz names Lamar “the most instinctually developed MC alive” because of his creativity and performance in his newest album To Pimp a Butterfly. Although I’m sure GZA would not totally agree with that statement, I believe he would agree with some of the evidence Peretz uses to back up his statement. Peretz points out that Lamar uses a variety of rhythmic patterns, as well as a variety of pitches and tones in his rapping which exude multiple emotions. He continues on to say, “Lamar’s ability to start a phrase on any beat and then rest and pick back up on any beat all while dictating the groove puts him in the same exclusive category as Nas…” Similarly, he applauds Lamar for incorporating literary devices and wordplay to ultimately convey a message to his listeners.
M.K. Asante Jr., a master storyteller himself, weighs in on the issue of hip hop’s cultural purpose of expression and empowerment in his book, It’s Bigger than Hip Hop. Hip Hop has historically been used to shed light on issues and struggles within the black community. Artists like Ice Cube, N.W.A., Dead Prez, and most recently T.I. have all made songs speaking out against police brutality. Now days it’s as if songs like these don’t make it to mainstream media. Asante offers an explanation to this, “… rappers whose lyrics fall into the abyss of negativity are not usually demarcated as “negative” or “ignorant”; however, [rappers] who rhyme against selfdestruction are always marginalized as “conscious,” “alternative,” or “political” rappers, tags that sling them into categorical ghettos and thus help to place them outside the earshot of the masses.”
In spite of the fact that the philosophy behind hip hop is different now, there are still artists out there who are creating masterful poetic raps. Lyricism isn’t what it used to be, and it may be hanging on by a thread, but the art form is not yet dead. As GZA says in his song “Liquid Swords,” “enter the chamber and it’s a whole new sound.” Hip hop has a whole new sound. Maybe with the new sound the lost art of lyricism will be found and hip hop will once again make its founders proud.
