All She Wrote

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd74DZAR8G8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-7lpt8b8kY

I read the Book of Rhyme Introduction. Then I listened to T.I.’s some-what new joint “All She Wrote” featuring Eminem off his new album No Mercy. While listening to it and writing up a hotel management contract, it reminded me of something that book said, “That beat and the MC’s flow, or cadence, work together to satisfy the audience’s musical and poetic expectations: most notable, the rap establish and maintain rhythmic patterns while creatively disrupting those patterns, through syncopation and other pleasing forms of rhythmic surprise.” This song demonstrates this to the T. Now, I’m no music theory major but when T.I. drops in, he “disrupts” the prominent instrument and the chorus so abruptly that he “syncopates” a completely new beat by his rapping that is both a “surprise” and a “pleasure”. He completely throws off the listener by dominating the upbeat instead of the downbeat in each 4/4 time when he commences to rap (or vice versa). Nonetheless he creates a whole new song just by adding words with a dominant up beat and by stressing each word in the 2 and 4 beat of each bar. (I have attached the instrumental as the second link to demonstrate this too) Eminem chirps into the same rhythm halfway through his rhyme too depending on which version you listen to (in the version on his CD its immediately). Appropriately, this song is violent just from reading the title and how it signifys the end of the line (insert bitch). Eminem says:

“I'm sure you got that relationship memo by now

But in case you didn't

Imma stick this whole pad

full of sticky notes to your forehead and staple it.”

Being subtly violent he imitates T.I.’s rhythm nicely. On another note, I respect T.I. even if he claims to be the “King of the South.” All of his CDs have been at least decent throughout his career with a few exceptional singles. It is interesting though that Eminem decided to change his first verse in the original or “leaked” version, maybe he didn’t like rhyming about eating fartsicles. But I do like how T.I. came back with a third verse halfway through the bar that Eminem is rapping in and finishes the song off strong instead of weakly phasing out like some.

Had to drift away from violence for a little.