by Adam Bradley
Cold Crush Brothers
Coleman, Brian
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
Coles, Dennis. See Ghostface Killah
The College Dropout (Kanye West)
Collins, Derek
Comedy
“Coming into Los Angeles” (Guthrie)
Commercialism
Common
Common measure. See Ballad meter
Competition. See also Signifying
Conceit
Concept
Consonance
Content, and style
The Cool (Lupe Fiasco)
Co-opting. See Biting
Cormega
Corn, Alfred
The Cosby Show
Couplet
Cowboy (Keith Wiggins)
Craig G
“Crank That (Soulja Boy)” (Soulja Boy)
“Crazy” (Gnarls Barkley)
Criminal Minded
Crooked I, xxi-xxii
Cultural heritage
Culture of animosity
“Dance with the Devil” (Immortal Technique)
De La Soul
dead prez
“December 4th” (Jay-Z)
DeCurtis, Anthony
“Déjà Vu” (Jay-Z with Beyoncé)
Devin the Dude
D4L
Dickinson, Emily
Diddy
Digital Underground
Dilated Peoples
Diplomats
Dipset
“Disseshowedo” (Tajai)
Dissing. See also Signifying
Disyllabic rhyme
DJ Hollywood
DJ Khaled
DJ Kool Herc
DJ Premier
DJ Spooky (Paul D. Miller)
DMX
Don Juan (Byron)
The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (Shakur)
Donne, John
“Doo Rags” (Nas)
“Double Dutch Bus” (F. Smith)
Dozens. See also Signifying
“Dr. Carter” (Lil Wayne)
Dr. Dre
“Drama” (Ice-T)
Dramatic monologue
Dramatic voice. See also Voice
The Dream Tapes (Crooked I)
“Drug Ballad” (Eminem)
Dual rhythmic relationship
“Dumb It Down” (Lupe Fiasco)
Dylan, Bob
Dyson, Michael Eric
Eagleton, Terry
E-40
Eliot, T. S.
Ellison, Ralph
Emanuel, Rahm
Emcee Escher
Eminem (Marshall Mathers; Slim Shady)
and rhyme
and rhythm
and storytelling
and style
and wordplay
End rhyme
Enjambment
Epanados
Epistrophe
Epithets
Eponym
Evidence
Extended end rhyme
“Eye for an Eye” (Prodigy)
Fabolous (Fab)
Fatback Band
Faulkner, William
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Feet
FEMA. See Federal Emergency Management Agency
Ferrera, Abel
“Fetus” (Nas)
Fiction
50 Cent
“Fight the Power” (Public Enemy)
First-person narrative voice . See also Voice
Flavor Flav
Flow
and beat
Forbes magazine
Forced rhyme. See Transformative rhyme
Fra Lippo Lippi (Browning)
Free verse
Freestyling, vs. writing
Fresh Prince (Will Smith)
Frith, Simon
From Pieces to Weight (50 Cent)
Frost, Robert
Fugees
Full rhyme. See Perfect rhyme
Fussell, Paul
Gangsta rap
and signifying
and storytelling
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.
Geography, and style
George, Nelson
“Get ’Em High” (Kanye West)
Ghostface
Ghostface Killah (Dennis Coles)
“Ghostwriter” (Mad Skillz)
Ghostwriting
“Gilligan’s Island” theme
“Gimme Some More” (Busta Rhymes)
Glover, Melvin. See Melle Mel
Glover, Nathaniel. See Kid Creole
Gnarls Barkley
“Gold Digger” (Kanye West)
“The Good Life” (Kanye West)
“Good Times” (Chic)
Goodie Mob
Gorilla Zoe
“Gossip Folks,”
Grae, Jean
Grandmaster Caz
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
Grandmaster Flash (Joseph Saddler)
Gravediggaz
The Great Adventures of Slick Rick (Slick Rick)
Greek rhyme contests
The Greenhouse Effect (Roth)
The Guardian
Guerilla Black
The Guinness Book of World Records
Guru
Guthrie, Arlo
GZA
Hamill, Pete
Hamlet (Shakespeare)
“Hater’s Anthem” (Grae)
Havoc
Hendrix, Jimi
Heron, Gil Scott
Hill, Lauryn
“Hip-Hop: Art or Poison?” (CNN)
Hirsch, Edward
Hi-Tek
Holinshed, Raphael
Homer
Homonym
Homophone
Hopkins, Gerard Manley
Horrorcore rap
Hotstylz
How Ya Like Me Now (Kool Moe Dee)
Hughes, Langston
Human experience
Hurricane Katrina
Hymn to God the Father (Donne)
“Hypnotize” (Notorious B.I.G.)
“I Am Crack” (Santana)
“I Feel Like Dying” (Lil Wayne)
“I Gave You Power” (Nas)
“I Get Money” (50 Cent)
“I Got a Story to Tell” (Notorious B.I.G.)
“I Know You Got Soul” (Eric B. & Rakim)
“I Used to Love H.E.R.” (Common)
“I Want You (Remix)” (Lloyd)
Ice Cube
Ice-T
Identity (persona)
“If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” (Baldwin)
Illiad (Homer)
“I’m Bad” (LL Cool J)
I’m Not a Writer’m a Biter (Jay-Z)
“I’m Your Pusher” (Ice-T)
Imitation
Immortal Technique
Imperfect rhyme (slant rhyme, near rhyme)
Impersonation
“Industrial Revolution” (Immortal Technique)
Infinite (Eminem)
Ingenuity
Innovation
and style
Inspectah Deck
Internal rhyme
“Intro” (Notorious B.I.G.)
Invulnerability
Iron Man (Tony Starks)
“Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” (Jay-Z)
Jackson, Henry. See Big Bank Hank
Jagger, Mick
Jam Master Jay
Jamerson, Troy Donald. See Pharoahe Monch
Jay-Z
and rhyme
and rhythm
and signifying
and storytelling
and style
and wordplay
Jealousy, and style
Judas (ballad)
“Juicy” (Notorious B.I.G.)
“Just a Friend” (Biz Markie)
Just Blaze
Kamikaze (Twista)
Kanye West
“Kashmir” (Led Zeppelin)
Kass, Ras
Keats, Jo
hn
Kelefa Sanneh
Kelley, Robin D. G.
Kennedy, Jamie
Kenning. See also Signifying
Kid Creole (Nathaniel Glover)
“Kill You” (Eminem)
King, Stephen
“King Tim III (Personality Jock)” (Fatback Band)
Kool G Rap
Kool Moe Dee
Kooser, Ted
Kowit, Steve
Krims, Adams
KRS-One
Kurupt
Kweli, Talib
“Laffy Taffy” (D4L)
Last Poets
“Lazy Sunday” (Saturday Night Live sketch)
Led Zeppelin
Legacy, of rap
Levitin, Daniel
Life After Death (Notorious B.I.G.)
“A Life in the Day of Benjamin Andre (Incomplete)” (Andre 3000)
Lil Wayne (Weezy)
Linguistic prosody
Literary poetry
and rhyme
and rhythm
and storytelling
and style
and wordplay
LL Cool J
Lloyd
“Lollipop (Remix)” (Lil Wayne)
Long Beach
“Lookin Boy” (Hotstylz with Yung Joc)
Los
Los Angeles Times
“Lose Yourself ” (Eminem)
The Lost Tapes
Loud Records
The Love Below (Andre 3000)
Ludacris
Lupe Fiasco
Macbeth (Shakespeare)
Mad Skillz
Maher, Bill
“Make the Music with Your Mouth, Biz” (Markie)
Malice
Malraux, André
Marley Marl
Marsalis, Wynton
Mase
Mathers, Marshall. See Eminem
Mayes, Frances
MC Butchy B
MC Lyte
MC Shan
Melle Mel (Melvin Glover)
“The Message” (Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five)
Metaphor
Meter. See also Accentual meter; Ballad meter
Method Man
Metonymy
Metric perfection
Miller, Paul D. See DJ Spooky
“A Milli” (Lil Wayne)
Milton, John
Misogyny
Missy Elliott
Mitchell, Adrian
Mobb Deep
“Mona Lisa” (Slick Rick)
“Money Is My Bitch” (Nas)
Monosyllabic rhyme
Moods
Mos Def (Dante Terrell Smith)
MTV
MTV News
Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare)
Multisyllabic rhyme
Musical knowledge
“My Adidas” (Run-DMC)
My Last Duchess (Browning)
“My Summer Vacation” (Ice Cube)
Narrative voice. See also Voice
Nas
Near rhyme. See Imperfect rhyme
New York Times
“Niggas Bleed” (Notorious B.I.G.)
“99 Problems” (Jay-Z)
9th Wonder
no Kintô, Fujiwara
Nonlinear narrative
Notorious B.I.G. (Biggie Smalls; Biggie; Big)
and rhyme
and signifying
and storytelling
and style
and wordplay
Nursery rhyme
N.W.A.
Ode on a Grecian Urn (Keats)
Odyssey (Homer)
Ol’ Dirty Bastard
One Be Lo
“One Love” (Nas)
“One Mic” (Nas)
O’Neal, Shaquille
Onomatopoeia
Oral poetry
“Ordo Abchao (Order Out of Chaos)” (Ras Kass)
Originality
and style
OutKast
Overdetermined rhyme
Owen, Wilfred
Ownership
Pac. See Shakur, Tupac
Page, Jimmy
Paradise Lost (Milton)
Paris
Parker, Lonnae O’Neal
Parnell, Chris
Parody
“Party Life” (Jay-Z)
Pater, Walter
Perfect rhyme (full rhyme, true rhyme)
Perkins, William Eric
Persona
Personal style . See also Style
Personification
Pharcyde
Pharoahe Monch (Troy Donald Jamerson)
Phrasing
Picasso, Pablo
“Picking Boogers” (Biz Markie)
Piers Plowman
“Pink Cookies in a Plastic Bag” (LL Cool J)
Plies
Poe, Edgar Allan
Poetic freedom
Poetics (Aristotle)
Politics
Porter, Cole
Posdnuos
Predictability
Prince
Prince Paul
“Proceed” (The Roots)
Prodigy
Profanity
Prosopopoeia
Pryor, Richard
Public Enemy
Pun
Punning simile. See also Simile
Pusha T
Q-Tip
“Queens Get the Money” (Nas)
Racial stereotype
Raekwon
Rakim
Rap Report Card
Rappaport, Alex
“Rapper’s Delight” (Sugar Hill Gang)
The Rapper’s Handbook (Emcee Escher and Rappaport)
Rapping about rapping
“Rap’s Poet” (Brown)
Ras Kass
Raydio G
Ready to Die (Notorious B.I.G.)
“The Real Slim Shady” (Eminem)
Real Time
Reality
Reality of lack
Reality rap
Reasonable Doubt (Jay-Z)
Rebirth of a Nation (Public Enemy)
Redman
Reeves, Marcus
“Regiments of Steel” (Chubb Rock)
Region, and style
“Renegade” (Jay-Z)
Repetition
style as
See also individual forms of repetition
Repititio
Resurrection (Common)
“Rewind” (Nas)
Rhyme
and alliteration
and apocopated rhyme
and assonance
and beat
Rhyme (continued)
and broken rhyme
and chain rhyme
and changes over time
and childhood songs
and coercive rhyme
and consonance
and couplets
definition of
and disyllabic rhyme
and end rhyme
and extended end rhyme
and free verse
and imperfect rhyme
and ingenuity
and innovation
and internal rhyme
and literary poetry
and monosyllabic rhyme
and multisyllabic rhyme
and nursery rhyme
and overdetermined rhyme
and perfect rhyme
and poetic freedom
and rhyme leash
and sound and sense
and transformative rhyme
and unconscious mind
Rhyme leash
Rhythm
and accentual meter
and altered pronunciation
and ballad form
and beat
and beat and flow
and break
and breath control
and cadence
definition of
and dual rhythmic relationship
and enjambment
and feet
and flow
and four-stress accentual verse
lack of
and linguistic prosody
and literary poetry
and meter
and metric perfection
and nursery rhyme
and phrasing
and rhythmic weight
and scansion
and scat
and song lyricist
and speed rapper
and sprung rhythm
and stress
and syllables
and syncopation
and tempo
Rhythm Science (DJ Spooky)
Rhythmic weight
“Ride or Die” (Jay-Z)
“Ridin’ Dirty” (Chamillionaire)
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Coleridge)
Roach, Max
Robinson, Sylvia
“Rollin’ with Saget” (Kennedy)
Rolling Stone magazine
Roots
Ross, Rick
Roth, Asher
“Rough Justice” (Jagger)
Run-DMC
Runnin’ Off at da Mouth (Twista)
RZA
Saddler, Joseph. See Grandmaster Flash
Salon.com
Samberg, Andy
Santana, Juelz
“S.A.N.T.A.N.A.” (Santana)
Saturday Night Live
Scansion
Scat
Schoolly D
Scorpio
Seinfeld
“Sekou Story” (Nas)
Senneh, Kelefa
Shakespeare, William
Shakur, Tupac (Tupac; Pac)
Shanté, Roxanne
Sha-Rock
Shelley, Percy Bysshe
“She’s Alive” (Andre 3000)
Shock-G
Shyne
Signature style. See also Style
Signifying
and boasting
and braggadocio
and comedy
and commercialism
definition of
and dissing
and dozens
and gangsta rap
and invulnerability
and kenning
and O’Neil vs. Bryant
and parody
and toasts
See also Battle rap; Cipher; Swagger
The Signifying Monkey (Gates)
“The Signifying Monkey” (toast)
“The Signifying Rapper” (Schoolly D)
Simile
and tenor
and vehicle
See also Punning simile
“Simon Says” (Pharoahe Monch)
Skelton, John
Skeltonics
Slant rhyme. See Imperfect rhyme
“Sleazy Gynecologist” (Slick Rick)
Slick Rick
Slim Shady. See Eminem
Smith, Dante Terrell. See Mos Def
Smith, Frankie
Smith, Stephen A.
Smoke Some Kill (Schoolly D)
Smoothe da Hustler
Snoop Dogg
“So Many Tears” (Shakur)
Song lyricist
Soulja Boy
Souls of Mischief
“Sound of da Police” (KRS-One)
Spady, James G.
Spears, Aries
Speed rapper
Spielberg, Steven
