Warm-Up: Listen to the song
Billie Holiday – “I Got a Right to Sing the Blues”
I got a right to sing the blues
I got a right to moan and sigh
I got a right to sit and cry
Down around the river
A certain man in this old town
Keeps draggin' my poor heart around
All I see for me is misery
I got a right to sing the blues
I got a right to moan and sigh
Right to sit and cry
Down around the river
Soon that deep blue sea
Will be callin' me
It must be love say what you choose
I got a right to sing the blues
What do you think the song is about?
Poetic Devices
Similes and Metaphors
• Simile: comparison of two unlike things,
where a subject is said to have the qualities of
another thing without being the other thing.
• Metaphor: comparison of two unlike things,
where the subject is said to be another thing –
comparison without “like” or “as”
Similes in Hip-Hop
• “When I travel through the town, I roll with the
squadron / RAWR RAWR, like a dungeon dragon”
– Busta Rhymes, “Scenario”
• “In battles I rip it and it gets hectic after / I flip the
script like a dyslexic actor / you ain’t a factor”
– Tajai, “Disseshowedo”
• “I got a question, it’s serious as cancer: / who can
keep the average rap dancer / hyper as a heart
attack, nobody smiling / ‘cause you’re expressing
the rhyme that I’m styling?”
– Rakim, “I Ain’t No Joke”
Metaphors in Hip-Hop
• “Hov got flow, though he’s no Big and Pac but
he’s close / how am I s’posed to win? They got me
fighting ghosts.”
– Jay-Z, “Most Kingz”
• “Yes, I call the shots, I am the umpire / I sprinkle
holy water upon a vampire”
– Nicki Minaj, “Moment 4 Life”
• “Arthritis in my hand from writing / but I’m a
doctor, they don’t understand my writing!”
– Lil Wayne, “Dr. Carter”
Hyperbole
• Deliberate exaggeration
– Make a point
– Emphasize
– Humorous or dramatic effect
Hyperbole in Poetry and Hip-Hop
• "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No. This my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red."
William Shakespeare, Act II, Scene II of Macbeth
• “I just bought me a platinum football field”
– Birdman, “#1 Stunna”
• “A lot of MCs today really know how to please /
but I gave birth to most of them MCs!”
– Roxanne Shante ”
Lupe Fiasco
• American rapper, from Chicago.
• Became known in 2006 with his album Food
and Liquor and the single “Kick, Push”
• Outspoken about anti-establishment political
views as well the conflict between artistic
expression and commercialization of music
• Single “Superstar,” released in 2007, became
his biggest hit (until 2011’s “Show Goes On”)
“Super Star”
Listen to the song and read along with the lyrics.
Find examples of simile, metaphor, hyperbole in
these lyrics.