the rhyme king
truth.com
the Great White Hope
When one speaks of the evolution of rhyming in the modern age, it is impossible not to mention the man Rakim called the “the Muhammad Ali” of rap, Marshall Mathers, aka Eminem. As he gained notoriety as a battle rapper in the mid 1990s when he was already dropping compound and internal rhymes packed with punchlines Even though he was freestyle battling, his talent to put together complex rhyme schemes were paramount, as seen I’ve got so many ways to diss you/that I’m playful with you/I’ll let a razor slit you/till they staple stich you/everyone in this place will miss you/if you try to turn my facial tissue to a racial issue put him on the map. Notice that the compound rhyme here is four syllables ways to diss you/playful with you/razor slit you etc. 7 perfect compound rhymes in essentially two lines that finish with knockout punchline “try to turn my facial tissue to a racial issue”. The influence is noted, Rakim’s compound rhymes and Kane’s smashing of rhymes together and Finesse type punchlines, as Eminem baffled listeners with the constant onslaught of creative rhymes, which often had never been heard before. Whether battling or on his stunningly lyrical underground release “Infinite” or on his major label effort “Guilty Conscious”, Eminem proved himself over and over again to be a technical mastermind of rhymes.
I let the beat commence/so can beat the sense of your elite defense/ I got some meat to mince, a crew to stomp and two feet to rinse- Infinite
and Tell her you need a place to stay/you’ll be safe for days/if you shave your legs with Renee’s razor blades-Guilty Conscious
Another technique which Eminem has added to his repertoire is the of spreading assonance throughout a verses. With “Lose Yourself,” Eminem essentially “bends” his words into a fitting rhyme scheme. Here’s an example in where he intercuts two sets of vowel sounds together (lyrics bolded to indicate the long “o” rhyme and italicized to indicate the short “a” rhyme):
Oh, there goes Rabbit, he choked He’s so mad, but he won’t give up that easy, no He won’t have it, he knows his whole back’s to these ropes It don’t matter, he’s dope He knows that, but he’s broke He’s so stagnant that he knows When he goes back to his mobile home, That’s when it’s back to the lab again yo
Over the years many have deified Eminem as an emcee while others have claimed that he has been over hyped because of his skin color. Whatever the opinion is on his voice, his message, his albums or his legacy, when it comes to consistent rhyme schemes and the technical craft of lyric writing, there is no doubt that he rests very high on the list of all time greats. In previous examples he smashed together numerous similar sounding compound rhymes into two lines, while on “Stimulate” he has four different rhyme schemes being spread across two lines:
Like a flame(A) in the night(B), like a ghost(C) in the dark(D) There’s a ray(A), there’s a light(B), there’s a hope(C), there’s a spark(D)
https://rhymecology.wordpress.com/tag/eminem/
When one speaks of the evolution of rhyming in the modern age, it is impossible not to mention the man Rakim called the “the Muhammad Ali” of rap, Marshall Mathers, aka Eminem. As he gained notoriety as a battle rapper in the mid 1990s when he was already dropping compound and internal rhymes packed with punchlines Even though he was freestyle battling, his talent to put together complex rhyme schemes were paramount, as seen I’ve got so many ways to diss you/that I’m playful with you/I’ll let a razor slit you/till they staple stich you/everyone in this place will miss you/if you try to turn my facial tissue to a racial issue put him on the map. Notice that the compound rhyme here is four syllables ways to diss you/playful with you/razor slit you etc. 7 perfect compound rhymes in essentially two lines that finish with knockout punchline “try to turn my facial tissue to a racial issue”. The influence is noted, Rakim’s compound rhymes and Kane’s smashing of rhymes together and Finesse type punchlines, as Eminem baffled listeners with the constant onslaught of creative rhymes, which often had never been heard before. Whether battling or on his stunningly lyrical underground release “Infinite” or on his major label effort “Guilty Conscious”, Eminem proved himself over and over again to be a technical mastermind of rhymes.
I let the beat commence/so can beat the sense of your elite defense/ I got some meat to mince, a crew to stomp and two feet to rinse- Infinite
and Tell her you need a place to stay/you’ll be safe for days/if you shave your legs with Renee’s razor blades-Guilty Conscious
Another technique which Eminem has added to his repertoire is the of spreading assonance throughout a verses. With “Lose Yourself,” Eminem essentially “bends” his words into a fitting rhyme scheme. Here’s an example in where he intercuts two sets of vowel sounds together (lyrics bolded to indicate the long “o” rhyme and italicized to indicate the short “a” rhyme):
Oh, there goes Rabbit, he choked He’s so mad, but he won’t give up that easy, no He won’t have it, he knows his whole back’s to these ropes It don’t matter, he’s dope He knows that, but he’s broke He’s so stagnant that he knows When he goes back to his mobile home, That’s when it’s back to the lab again yo
Over the years many have deified Eminem as an emcee while others have claimed that he has been over hyped because of his skin color. Whatever the opinion is on his voice, his message, his albums or his legacy, when it comes to consistent rhyme schemes and the technical craft of lyric writing, there is no doubt that he rests very high on the list of all time greats. In previous examples he smashed together numerous similar sounding compound rhymes into two lines, while on “Stimulate” he has four different rhyme schemes being spread across two lines:
Like a flame(A) in the night(B), like a ghost(C) in the dark(D) There’s a ray(A), there’s a light(B), there’s a hope(C), there’s a spark(D)
https://rhymecology.wordpress.com/tag/eminem/
