Abstract
This thesis examines the way in which Hip Hop affects language, communication, and the way it reshapes meaning. The poetics of Hip Hop document variations in slang and colloquialisms and other innovations in language. Through the textual analysis of select poems, this thesis demonstrates that the emcee has a unique understanding of poetic conventions, such as rhyme, metaphor, and simile, and uses them to produce a poetry that is carving its own niche in American Literature and popular culture.
Furthermore, this thesis analyzes some of the various methods that Hip Hop uses to interact with language, including the freestyling, the freestyle battle, and writing rhymes. By exploring the interaction between the poet, the word, and the world, this thesis seeks to bring to light the many contributions that Hip Hop makes to poetics and how these contributions affect not just the Hip Hop community, but the world at large.
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