Verbal Art Performance in Rap Music: The Conversation of the 80s

Abstract

Rap music is a popular musical genre which makes extensive use of rhyme, nonsense syllables and music.New York's South Bronx and Harlem are credited as its birthplace.This style of rapping can be traced to that of black radio disc jockeys (deejays).One such deejay known for his rapping rhymed lines was Douglas "Jocko" Henderson, ''the most popular of radio personalities" (in New York), whose '1280 Rocket' show on WOV anticipated a hip hop (1) fascination with themes from outer space:From way up here in the stratosphere, We gotta hollar mighty loud and clear 'ee-tiddy-o and how yo do! (Hager 1 9 8 4 : 4 5 ) Kurtis Blow, the self-proclaimed Godfather of rap music, stated that "the thing that broke rapping out of Harlem and the Bronx and made people take notice was Deejay Hollywood's appearance at the Apollo Theatre" (Billboard 1980, Feb. 16 : 5 7 ) .The style of rappiiirchi-acteristic of Hollywood is the 'coordinated rap' which basically allows the deejay to talk to his audience in a conversational fashion which further elicits call-response between deejay and audience.The 'coordinated rap' may be considered the foundation from which the present-day rap evolved.The rap as it is known today is a recent musical genre.Unlike many other black musical forms where music takes precedence, in rap music talking or rapping becomes the highlight of performance.Performance in rap music is based on black speech acts ( i .e .the dozens, signifying, sounding), and on rhetorical skills such as braggadocio, metaphor, play on words, mimicry, and folk expressions.A number of folklorists and linguists have devoted much attention to these speech acts and other rhetorical folk idioms, particularly those of the black urban community.(2) In general, rapping .is a stylized form of conversational folklore which is defined as a