I must say: this interpretation is immensely refreshing and original. It is not often that two such polarised spheres are linked and even less often that they work. All I can say is thanks for sharing it.
I think an interesting comparison is that of honour: the aidos/ kudos element of both the homeric poems and of the rap world. The way petty incidents such as name-calling ( ie. Tu-pac, Biggy-Smalls) can explode out of all logical proportion. Indeed this is the very opening of the Iliad where the wrath of Achilles is aroused by Agamemnon's insulting behaviour. Likewise, the modern world has seen the death talented young men such as Tupac in their prime for a moment of glory. Ir is a universal issue but particularly poignant here. -Natasha At 10:24 20/10/98 EDT, you wrote: >Is Homer the first rap poet? First, a few comparisons: > >1) use of sex and violence- all through the Iliad... = gangster rap >2) political edge- definitely in the catalogue of ship... = Public Enemy >3) stereotyping of women (beautiful prizes) - LL Cool J's girls = >Achilles and Agammennon duking it out over some bride prizes >4) use of narrative >5) the style of how the epic poem was done for an audience- >bard = MC on the mic >lyre player to accompany the speaker with music= DJ on the turntable > >Second, > >in some ways, rap music is a national American music in the same way that >Homer wrote for the Grecian society and Virgil did for the Romans. Both >dealt with the storyline and characters in a direct and forthright way. >Rock and roll sings the music but rap like the epic poetry of old speaks >with different inflections for different themes. After all, KRS One >doesn't deliver two rap songs in the same manner. > >any thoughts on the matter? > >most sincerly, >Albert > > >But we could, on the contrary, say that we clasp that good in an embrace >which >is all the fonder and all the tighter in that we see it as less surely >ours, and fear >that it may be taken from us. > >-from Montaigne's "That difficulty increases desire" translated by M. A. >Screech > >___________________________________________________________________ >You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. >Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com >or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. >Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message >"unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You >can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
