Seemingly throughout the african history, as well as in their new location in North America, there has been a tradition of wordplay, and competitions of the same sort. In modern times this has come to be known as rap and/or freestyle. Basically the rules are simple, you want to speak in such a way that it flows seemlessly, within a given beat, while still building a statement that makes sense, and gets the crowd going.
Alot of the time most of what is said are ad hom attacks, and that is where alot of people loose the message - because they’re looking too hard for it. Philosophy is frusterating sometimes because while there are boundaries and rules, it’s ultimately a flawed form of expression. How do you solve the mind body problem using words? Rap however, solves this dilemma by accepting words for what they are, desciptions. Any sport of competition is the ideal society; everyone knows the rules, and they are enforced immediately. Rap as it exists nowadays is different, because the audience is so massive. But in any freestyle, say in a local club, the winner is decided definitively. These are the roots of rap.
In true production rap albums the trick is to combine the beats and rhymes in such a way that is either a) A direct response to some person or group or b) An artistic route.
A)
Here we see Em talking to the media basically. And it works on a couple levels because he makes a point, but he also presents it so well (The song is called ‘Renegade’ if you wanna listen). This is at the heart of rap, it doesnn’t matter if what you’re saying is the most sound argument… it’s not so much what you say… but how you say it.
Let’s look at an attack…
B)
Again, you might see this… see a bunch of ‘motherfuckings’ and say to yourself ‘this is shit’. Philosophically is is shit, but that doesnn’t mean there isn’t a depth to rap. It is perhaps the most elaborate form of the spoken word. Especially the guys that freestyle on the spot… some of that is unreal.
Now… this is not to say there isn’t a dark side to rap, at least today. The industry has developed in such a way that true artists that want to approach the music from a poetic point of view simply do not get a real chance. And it is political, but flooding the market with shitty music with no real content or catalyst for thinking, the effect is that it keeps the inner city black youth ignorant in a certain way. Creative attacks have turned to flat our death threats and even violence as we’ve seen with tupac/biggie and stuff like that. The ignorance of the streets can lead to sensless, and illogical violence when the big artists don’t separate themselves from it.
Rap is certainly flawed, maybe moreso than any other form of music… but it does have its good artists, and high points.
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Same old story… Here you go: 
, Ill be sure to [-o< for you.