so i found out about how in poetry they denote the rhythm, or the 'scansion,' using the concept of 'feet'

feet are like 'beats' in that you have a certain number per line. each one is a group of syllables, predominantly the same type of group for the whole poem/verse. so like 'iambic pentameter' means 5 feet per line, and each one is 'iambic', which is the term for two syllables grouped with the second one stressed. like
x=unstressed, / = stressed

to BE or NOT to BE that IS the QUEST(ion)
x.../...x.../.....x.../...x...../....x..../

(little extra syllable at the end... it doesn't have to be really strict, you can slur syllables together or have trailing ones at line beginnings or endings. that's why they say 'feet' instead of just counting syllables. counting syllables would be too strict, plus it doesn't indicate the stress)

as well as iambic there's other feet, like 'trochaic' which would be /x, and other combos like x/x, /xx, /x/, etc. single words on their own can be one of these by default, like the word KILLer is trochaic, you can't pronounce it any other way

so anyway i tried applying this to rap lyrics...
it doesn't work
why?

this might be stating the obvious, but

poetry has to carry the pulse of its own rhythm as it goes
in rap, the pulse is supplied by the music

ya dig?

basically in rap you can use SPACE, you can pause while the music continues then rejoin at a later beat, in poetry you cannot, each word follows directly after the last. in rap you can spread the words out like 'your niiiiine spray..... my miiiiiind spray...'

rap is like water waves, they flow through a medium
poetry is like light waves, they carry their own medium with them (light can go anywhere)

another reason why rap lyrics don't look so good on paper compared to poetry, perhaps?

still trying to get hold of this Tone Deff LP to see his notation system. i'm interested to see what it will be like. i'm thinking some sort of grid to write the words in, the grid boxes representing the timing

there's also the realm of 'free verse' which doesn't use this 'iambic pentameter' spiel. investigating that might yield something interesting

but what i'm finding is with rapping, there's just TOO MUCH INFORMATION to assess to be able to say something decisive like 'he's rapping in trochaic quatrameter' or whatever. sometimes the best you can do is pick out a particular characteristic that's unique to one rapper's style, like Method Man's distinctive 'pause flow' could probably be explained in musical terms satisfactorily. it's like if there's a character in a film who speaks a certain way, most people recognize something specific that defines their style, but to actually notate/explain EVERYTHING about conversational speech is a humongous task

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Why do you choose to mimic these wack MCs?
Why do you choose to listen to R&B?

"There are obviously many things which we do not understand, and may never be able to." Leela

*puts emceeing in a box*