Rap University…

This idea came to me while listening to a Talib Kweli album… 

While I think all music can be further analyzed and deeply studied, I feel like rap is in its own unique category in many ways… I feel like in order to listen to rap and completely enjoy it, it needs to be analyzed… Most rap at first listen in accord to my own personal tastes, is not super pleasing to my ears… There are outliers, that I just genuinely enjoy at face value though… there are also versions of rap that are meant to just be catchy or danced to which are pleasing… I feel like the real true to life raps are more akin to poetry though… I have noticed if I take the time to learn the lyrics to rap songs, I do tend to enjoy them more… 

One of the things with rap, is that it packs a lot into a song… they are also generally at a faster pace and one song can often be packed with enough words to write an essay… they are too fast to just listen to and take everything in… if I can even manage to hear all of the words the first listen, to actually understand them at that pace and give them deep thought is very hard… I read at a certain pace when I read a book for a reason… I may often even re-read sentences or sections multiple times to further understand… for me, when I listen to rap the first time, I just drown out the words for the most part, besides like the main chorus… 

With rap, you basically have to find the lyrics and take the time to read them and learn them… analyze them in a way you would analyze literature or some speech… trying to get into the head of the musician and trying to understand the message they are trying to deliver… it’s really a distinct form of poetry in many ways… I am sure people would probably buy rap/poetry books just filled with the lyrics and no music and be completely content… but then to add music and tone of voice introduces a whole other element to the rap that draws us more into what is being said… 

I personally think to get the real sound of a rap; it needs to be analyzed… It will make it sound much better after analyzing the lyrics, especially if you can gain an emotional or empathetic attachment to the rapper… Also, if you memorize the lyrics and can actually hear them and feel them while you are listening along, it can make the experience more enjoyable… 

I think it could be an enjoyable hobby for a lot of people… that is where I got to thinking about Rap University… I personally like the added motivation to reading and studying things… I like getting assignments, writing prompts, discussions, and having a set schedule to keep me from the continued procrastination… It would be pretty cool to have a place where you could take classes on rap and you could study and discuss them with other people. Perhaps the classes could be designed by anyone and then people could take them for a nice low price… could of course have some way of verifying people’s credentials if they want to claim to be some sort of expert or something… could be cool though… maybe even a section of Rap University would be helping people learn how to rap… 

Poetry has never been so popular in my opinion… this unique style is really popular in a special way and only seems to be on the upward trend as the fear of cultural appropriation is lessening… I think as the restraints get loosened and it becomes cool or acceptable to rap about all aspects of life, this will get very big probably… People have tried to put borders on something that shouldn’t have borders, it shouldn’t be limited to a small area of the human condition… everyone should feel free to express themselves this way if they so wish… getting there, I’ll even admit it has been an awkward expansion in many ways… Just didn’t seem right seeing a lot of people trying to rap, almost unnatural… Perhaps in a way, it was like everyone felt that the people that created it should get their time to own it a while before it branched out… 

Which I checked, and the website is available… RapUniversity.com… it has potential for sure!