Analysis Of `` The Breakbeat Poets `` By Langston Hughes,...

Think of a poet. Who came to mind? Was it Shakespeare, Langston Hughes, Ralph Waldo Emerson? What about Eminem or Jay-Z? They are both poets too, but in a different way. They go by the title â€Å"rapper†, basically a synonym for poet, and Hip-Hop is their form of poetry is. Kevin Coval amusingly says that rap â€Å"dusted poetry off, took it out the closet, put Js on its feet, and told it to speak to the people, all the people,† and that hip-hop saved poetry from becoming â€Å"classical music,† meaning that rap prevented poetry from becoming an old, out-dated art form and renovated it for the next generation (20). Coval’s book, The BreakBeat Poets, says the creation of hip-hop music was by â€Å"latchkey kids in the crack era, left to their own devices to experiment wildly and make language and art new and meaningful,† and goes on to say its purpose is to, â€Å"move the crowd, relate to the crowd, and save the crowd,† and Kendrick Lamar do es these things perfectly (18). Through the use of clever wordplay and rhyming skills mixed with great story telling, Kendrick is bringing rap music back to its â€Å"roots† while introducing a â€Å"style† of his own, which is why one can argue that Kendrick Lamar is the â€Å"savior† of the rap game and its listeners. Kendrick brings rap back to its â€Å"roots† by reintroducing the narrative aspect of old school rap. When rap was first taking off in the late eighties, one group in particular helped mainstream it, N.W.A. Consisting of Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and Easy-E, this group