RESEARCH

As we speak to one another, we are driven by context and vocabulary. When we are bored with the ‘common words’ we get creative and use words of our own creation. While historically, this has been called creating a neologism, a contemporary term for word creation is postscriptionism. William Shakespeare is one of the most famous postscriptionists. Back in the 1500’s, some of the words that we now use were considered nonexistent until William Shakespeare used them in his writings and now he is considered a genius for it, such as ‘advertising’, ‘courtship’, and ‘mimic’. Similarly, a lot of the African American youth of today might be familiar with the terms invented in Hip hop today, such as, ‘Twerk’, ‘Fleek’, and ‘Phat’. These particular terms were used so much that they made it as far as the Oxford Dictionary. Fleek is a word that was invented in a Vine video in which a female described her eyebrows as ‘On Fleek’. In the Oxford Dictionary it is defined as ‘Extremely good, attractive, or stylish.’ The connection between Shakespeare & Hip Hop is based on language, iambic pentameter, vocabulary, postscriptionism, and societal connections.

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What is the significance of learning about the connection between Shakespeare and Hip hop? I care because I look at Hip Hop and see the message beyond the lyrics. I see patterns and repetition that I didn’t know how to look for when I was younger. Now, I am seeing the fluctuations between historical writings like Shakespeare and modern music. Sometimes, we rap and sing in iambic pentameter. We express our emotions using words created by Shakespeare himself. To find similarities between Shakespeare and Hip Hop is to find yourself surfing through time and eras and realizing that you are living it. In many ways Shakespearian sonnets and plays have influenced our world of, not only music, but language itself. We have made poetry into song.