Hip-hop is roundly criticized as a "violent" art form. As of late, rap lyrics have even been drawn into court proceedings as "proof" of the writer-in-question's murderous obsessions. Outsiders fail to realize, however, that -- inasmuch as some rappers talk about their violent "realities," using lyrics to explore their circumstances and/or brag about their exploits -- gun-talk and "murda-muzik" are, for 99% of rappers, part of an elaborate genre convention. To the general literalist public: Rappers and other assorted Others DO have the ability to be metaphorical, ironic, or darkly humorous... and they exercise it regularly.
But let's be clear, a big component of rapping is "battling" -- a form of verbal violence. There's a certain fit between wordplay and gunplay, which probably goes a long way towards explaining why gun-talk and ki-shifting is hip-hop's reigning convention.
As far as I see it, there are at least three ways to step outside contemporary hip-hop's genre conventions:
1. A rapper can simply not acknowledge them, and rhyme about anything but guns/drugs without referring to the fact he's not rhyming about guns/drugs.
2. He can draw attention to the fact that he doesn't rap about guns/drugs while pointing out his opponent's tendencies -- usually self-fictionalizing -- to rap about guns/drugs. To see a good example of strategy #2 in action, check out Round 1 of the Serius Jones vs. Murda Mook SMACK battle, one of my favorites. Pay particularly close attention to Serius' verse (he's the first to rap):
Do I also need to point out that battling represents an organic rhetorical tradition?
3. He can call his opponent's bluff. Which is just what E-N-J did recently to Nyckz on this YouTube fav:
I'm not sure if that was the most positive or negative move in hip-hop history (there's a "true story" video floating around out there, but it doesn't do anything to clarify the situation). Positive or negative, that's a huge punch right in the face genre convention.
Literally.
(Thanks, Rafi)
