Book Review Spotlight: Adam Bradley Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop
-- Library Journal, 02/02/2009
Bradley, Adam. Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop. Basic Civitas: Perseus. Mar. 2009. c.272p. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-465-00347-1. pap. $16.95. MUSIC
With hip-hop's tremendous growth over the last decade, the amount of literature covering the genre has 
increased considerably. Yet, few books have been devoted exclusively to the poetic elements of hip-hop. Having studied under such luminaries as Cornel West and Henry Louis Gates Jr., Bradley (literature, Claremont McKenna Coll.) is emerging as a pioneering scholar in the study of hip-hop. Here, he shows that rap can be analyzed as literary verse while recognizing its essential identity as music. Dissecting hip-hop's dual rhythmic voice—rhymes over beats—Bradley uncovers rap's poetic tradition as well as its progressive contributions to the medium of poetry. He explains terms such as assonance and consonance through the lyrics of Keats and Eminem. Rap is a relatively new genre of music, but lyrical analysis reveals the use of intricate structures steeped in poetic tradition. This refreshing read challenges common assumptions that hip-hop is simple or mundane. Recommended for all public and academic libraries; this will particularly appeal to hip-hop artists and aficionados, poets, and literature students and scholars of the hip-hop generation or younger.—Joshua Finnell, McNeese State Univ. Lib., Lake Charles, LA
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