Re:Definition & One of the Best Verses in Rap History
"1, 2, 3- Mos Def and Talib Kweli. We here to rock it on to the tip top, best alliance in hip hop wyaohh."
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Mos Def and Talib Kweli were raised in the 1970s and 80s, during the creation of Rap. In the 90s, they partnered together to become: Black Star. They created their critically acclaimed album, "Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star" soon after, where they intelligently examined black culture. This album also has many songs, and lines referring to the black empowerment- such as the song "Brown-Skin Lady", where the pair rap about rejecting the European standards of beauty. Even the album name refers to the pan-Africanist shipping company created by Marcus Garvey. I could go on and on about Mos Def and Talib Kweli as people, but now we are going to shift our focus to their incredible rhyme scheme, and why this song deserves to be taught as poetry.
I recommend you listen to the song, because one of the amazing things that Mos Def and Talib Kweli do is constantly switch their flow up, playing with the beat- which sounds great but unfortunately for us makes it very hard to rap the whole thing.
So now that you have listened to it- the link is above- let's deep dive into some of their rhyming schemes first.
First off, it is very hard to break these lines up and analyze them, because they fit perfectly into each other. Couplets are used, but the couplets always lead to the next one perfectly.
Let's start with some lines from Talib Kweli's verse:
These lines specifically are really good to showcase his rhyming abilities. Every yellow highlight is a word that rhymes with each other, same as with the blue. The purple highlight is simile.
Now lets progress, and look at his rhyming abilities paired with his meaningful lyrics and what they might be referring to:
Here, there are some internal rhymes, like "is" and "live"; or "Mos" and "Closest" that he pulls off in the song really well. But I want to talk more about the meaning in these lines. The first two lines refers to the "How to Make a Slave" which was a speech made by slaveowner Willie Lynch, where he says that the way to control slaves is by turning them against one another. He is talking here I think about the toxic cultural ideology of stepping on other people to get to the top, in this case he is rapping about wrong this is. I can infer that he believes in everyone rising up together. The next couple of lines are Kweli referring to the famous cultural icons of the time, saying that his friendship with Mos Def proceeds all of it.
Finally, I will touch on what I consider to be one of the best verses in all of rap history!! Yay!!
Okay confession: I tried highlighting the rhyme scheme, but its incredibly complex- so I will instead direct you guys over to this quick video, where someone attempts to. (In the comments, someone said he missed some rhymes, so apparently there is more!)
This is the Video with the rhyme scheme for Mos Def's verse!
As you can hopefully see, this is complex- even intense- I would say rhyming. That takes a long time to break down. This alone is something I see as helpful In a poetry class, just by technicalities alone! But I think the message of black empowerment is so important, and the look at black culture in the 1990s.
I think my question to you guys is- what is the best way to teach this poem? Through strictly hearing the poem, and discussing; or maybe hearing it and trying to map out the different rhymes?
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Mos Def and Talib Kweli were raised in the 1970s and 80s, during the creation of Rap. In the 90s, they partnered together to become: Black Star. They created their critically acclaimed album, "Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star" soon after, where they intelligently examined black culture. This album also has many songs, and lines referring to the black empowerment- such as the song "Brown-Skin Lady", where the pair rap about rejecting the European standards of beauty. Even the album name refers to the pan-Africanist shipping company created by Marcus Garvey. I could go on and on about Mos Def and Talib Kweli as people, but now we are going to shift our focus to their incredible rhyme scheme, and why this song deserves to be taught as poetry.
I recommend you listen to the song, because one of the amazing things that Mos Def and Talib Kweli do is constantly switch their flow up, playing with the beat- which sounds great but unfortunately for us makes it very hard to rap the whole thing.
So now that you have listened to it- the link is above- let's deep dive into some of their rhyming schemes first.
First off, it is very hard to break these lines up and analyze them, because they fit perfectly into each other. Couplets are used, but the couplets always lead to the next one perfectly.
Let's start with some lines from Talib Kweli's verse:
These lines specifically are really good to showcase his rhyming abilities. Every yellow highlight is a word that rhymes with each other, same as with the blue. The purple highlight is simile.
Now lets progress, and look at his rhyming abilities paired with his meaningful lyrics and what they might be referring to:
Here, there are some internal rhymes, like "is" and "live"; or "Mos" and "Closest" that he pulls off in the song really well. But I want to talk more about the meaning in these lines. The first two lines refers to the "How to Make a Slave" which was a speech made by slaveowner Willie Lynch, where he says that the way to control slaves is by turning them against one another. He is talking here I think about the toxic cultural ideology of stepping on other people to get to the top, in this case he is rapping about wrong this is. I can infer that he believes in everyone rising up together. The next couple of lines are Kweli referring to the famous cultural icons of the time, saying that his friendship with Mos Def proceeds all of it.
Finally, I will touch on what I consider to be one of the best verses in all of rap history!! Yay!!
Okay confession: I tried highlighting the rhyme scheme, but its incredibly complex- so I will instead direct you guys over to this quick video, where someone attempts to. (In the comments, someone said he missed some rhymes, so apparently there is more!)
This is the Video with the rhyme scheme for Mos Def's verse!
As you can hopefully see, this is complex- even intense- I would say rhyming. That takes a long time to break down. This alone is something I see as helpful In a poetry class, just by technicalities alone! But I think the message of black empowerment is so important, and the look at black culture in the 1990s.
I think my question to you guys is- what is the best way to teach this poem? Through strictly hearing the poem, and discussing; or maybe hearing it and trying to map out the different rhymes?
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