Hip-Hop’s Oral Traditions
This post continues from a previous post.
I’m taking notes along the way toward recording some spoken word, and so far my notes have brought me to take a good look at Hip-Hop, and its various lyrical subjects.
Hip-Hop has been described in terms of a rich history, including: jazz scat; blues lyrics; street jive; even the African Griots’ tradition of using lyrical rhymes to brag, or to put-down their enemies. Such oral traditions have survived into today’s hip-hop music, but there are others.
Hip-Hop’s origins include DJ’s, whose primary function was to play the beats to please the crowd. Second to that, they’d talk out loud. At first, a DJ might find a clever introduction, give an occasional shout-out, or act as a caller might at a square dance and offer the audience instructions for what to do with their bodies.
These things are all common oral traditions in today’s hip-hop:
- the introduction,
- call-and-response,
- the boast,
- the dance-call.
- There are probably others.
The Introduction
Eminem is notorious for introducing himself, although many rappers do it. Eminem has several introductions, for several moods and personae: Marshall Mathers, his real name; Slim Shady; Ken Kaniff, his screen name; and Eminem, presumably taken from his initials. The title of one of his introductions is, ironically “The Real Slim Shady”:
“May I have your attention please?
May I have your attention please?
Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?
I repeat, will the real Slim Shady please stand up?
We’re gonna have a problem here..Y’all act like you never seen a white person before
Jaws all on the floor like Pam, like Tommy just burst in the door
and started whoopin her ass worse than before
they first were divorce, throwin her over furniture (Ahh!)
It’s the return of the… “Ah, wait, no way, you’re kidding,
he didn’t just say what I think he did, did he?”…
…
I’m Slim Shady, yes I’m the real Shady
All you other Slim Shadys are just imitating
So won’t the real Slim Shady please stand up,
please stand up, please stand up?
I’m Slim Shady, yes I’m the real Shady
All you other Slim Shadys are just imitating
So won’t the real Slim Shady please stand up,
please stand up, please stand up?”
He introduces himself when he calls his act “the ‘Ah, wait, no way, you’re kidding,
he didn’t just say what I think he did, did he?’” That’s his whole shtick, well introduced. In Marshall Mathers, he puts the act aside for a moment and introduces himself this way:
“You see I’m, just Marshall Mathers (Marshall Mathers)
I’m just a regular guy,
I don’t know why all the fuss about me (fuss about me)
Nobody ever gave a fuck before,
all they did was doubt me (did was doubt me)
Now everybody wanna run they mouth
and try to take shots at me (take shots at me)”
You can see the parenthetical echoes in that last quote, which brings us to the subject of call-and-response, that oft-cited element of black music, where one voice responds to another. Notably, in hip-hop, this can occur when an entire group introduces themselves, or when a pair of voices share the lyrics as a duet.
Over the next few days, I’ll be writing about these.