Poetry and Rap

Bex Rizo (She/Her)

Editorial Team Member

Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of poetry. I have always liked poetry but didn’t really get too into it until Sophomore year of high school. I was listening to an interview the other day and in the interview, the author of one of my all time favorite poetry books said this about poetry and it really resonates with me. People either find poetry to be extremely “intimidating” or completely “underestimate” it. I really like this because it is so true. The underestimation is a perfect example of how some poetry is taken seriously and some is not.

Along with loving all things writing I also have a strong love for music. Something I think shocks people is the fact that I like every genre of music. Seriously, if you name it I probably liked it at one point. To name just a few: Metal, grunge, Emo, Midwest Emo, classical, Jazz, pop, and even country; those are just a few but you get the point. One of the genres I have recently gotten into though, is rap. This is probably due in part to me already liking some rap artists in the past but the reason I would say I really got into it is my boyfriend. He loves rap, specifically the musician Kendrick Lamar. Something about his music that I really like is how every detail of his lyrics has some sort of underlying meaning and can be interpreted in multiple ways. For example, in his hit album Damn. He is telling a story from two perspectives. The idea is you get two different stories depending on if you listen to it in reverse order or not. 

To me though, the album that really sparked my interest in this artist, was his album To Pimp a Butterfly. This album is truly a work of art that discusses many issues that the Black community faces. It brings up struggles of systemic racism, inequality, as well as fighting among the community that further solidifies the view some people have of their community. The last song in this album might be my favorite song ever. It is called Mortal Man and half of the song is Kendrick Lamar talking. When he is doing this, he starts off with a poem that I really like. And ends it by having a “conversation” with the late Tupac Shakur, where he reads him an additional poem describing what his world is like.  This is it:

“The caterpillar is a prisoner to the streets that conceived it

Its only job is to eat or consume everything around it

In order to protect itself from this mad city

While consuming its environment

The caterpillar begins to notice ways to survive

One thing it noticed is how much the world shuns him

But praises the butterfly

The butterfly represents the talent, the thoughtfulness and the beauty within the caterpillar

But having a harsh outlook on life, the caterpillar sees the butterfly as weak

And figures out a way to pimp it to his own benefits

Already surrounded by this mad city

The caterpillar goes to work on the cocoon

Which institutionalizes him

He can no longer see past his own thoughts, he's trapped

When trapped inside these walls certain ideas take root, such as

Going home, and bringing back new concepts to this mad city

The result?

Wings begin to emerge, breaking the cycle of feeling stagnant

Finally free, the butterfly sheds light on situations

That the caterpillar never considered

Ending the internal struggle

Although the butterfly and caterpillar are completely different

They are one and the same”

Reading so much poetry has made me realize there is a strong connection between rap and poetry. Furthermore, it made me realize there is a common misconception about rap, that it’s not “real” music or it somehow takes less talent to produce than other genres. But to me, poetry and rap are one in the same. They both shed light on issues in creating verse using rhymes and a meter to get across what they are trying to say. These days, it is hard to find what people call “good” poetry, or at least you hear that a lot. I don’t buy that though; just because a poem isn’t Shakespeare does not mean it isn’t poetry. That interview I mentioned was the author, Jason Reynolds discussing his poetry book in verse,  Long Way Down. This book is filled with beautiful poetry that evokes emotion even if you yourself have never experienced the issues he touches on. 

Some people have criticized his poetry though, saying it isn’t as good as the “classics.” I disagree. Anyone can create poetry and anyone can enjoy it. I think that is the thing I love most about poetry, rap, music in general; it means something different to every person. Just because you don’t “get” rap or poetry doesn’t mean it is automatically bad, it just means you don’t like it.