Source link : https://las-vegas-news.com/the-unexpected-link-between-poetry-and-modern-hip-hop/
Most people would never put Shakespeare and Kendrick Lamar in the same sentence. One composed sonnets for the Elizabethan court, the other raps over trap beats for sold-out arenas. Honestly, on the surface, they couldn’t look more different. Yet the more you dig into both worlds, the more an undeniable truth emerges: poetry and hip-hop are not just distant cousins. They’re cut from the same cloth. The history runs deeper than most realize, and the parallels are far too consistent to be coincidental. Get ready to look at your playlist completely differently. Let’s dive in.
The Ancient Roots That Both Art Forms Share
Here’s the thing most people miss: hip-hop didn’t just appear out of nowhere in the Bronx in the 1970s. The roots of rap can be traced much further back in history to the West African griot tradition. Griots were historians, storytellers, poets, and praise singers. Think of them as the original MCs, traveling from village to village, preserving memory and culture through rhythmic speech and song.
Griots were the primary keepers of oral tradition in West African societies, preserving genealogies, historical narratives, and cultural values through storytelling, poetry, and song. The parallel to modern rap is stunning when you hold the two side by side. Griot tradition has greatly influenced modern hip-hop. The tradition of speaking a song to rhythm draws directly from griot…
—-
Author : Matthias Binder
Publish date : 2026-02-25 11:03:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
—-
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8