Book of Rhymes Quotes

“Hip-hop is a beautiful culture. It's inspirational, because it's a culture of survivors. You can create beauty out of nothingness.”
― Mos Def, Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop

“MCs don't just rhyme sounds, they rhyme ideas.”
― Adam Bradley, Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop

“Unlike the rhythms of literary poetry, then, the rhythms of rap are governed by something outside of the MC's own literary conceptions. Rap's beat serves an analogous purpose for the MC that meter does for the literary poet: Namely, it sets out the terms of a rhythmic ideal. One might even consider hip hop's beat as poetic meter rendered audible, clarifying the relationship beween metrical perfction and rhythmic innovation.”
― Adam Bradley, Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop

“Rappers at their best make the familiar unfamiliar through rhythm, rhyme, and wordplay. They refresh the language by fashioning patterned and heightened variations of everyday speech. They expand our understanding of human experience by telling stories we might not otherwise hear.”
― Adam Bradley, Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop