Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop »

Adam Bradley, a Harvard PhD, is Assistant Professor of English Literature at Claremont McKenna College. He lives in Claremont, California.

One of hip-hop studies’ brightest young scholars celebrates the lyrics of hip hop as the most vivid, most revolutionary form of American poetry today

The New York Times - Baz Dreisinger

…essentially English 101 meets Hip-Hop Studies 101…Bradley, who teaches literature at Claremont McKenna College in California, distinguishes himself from the growing glut of hip-hop scholars by writing a book about rap, as opposed to hip-hop: not a study of the culture or a history of the movement, but a formalist critique of lyrics—almost an anachronistic effort in the era of cultural studies.

Prologue

Rap Poetry 101

Part One

1 Rhythm

2 Rhyme

3 Wordplay

Part Two

4 Style

5 Storytelling

6 Signifying

Epilogue

Credits

Notes

Index