Here is something for you to check out.. Instead of me writting about it, i rather have you read it direct from the author's people....-P
In a society where debates over lyrical content often overshadow the complex craft that is Rap or MC'ing, a significant poetic genre is going under-recognized.
A book of rhymes is where MCs write their lyrics and is thus, where Rap becomes poetry. In BOOK OF RHYMES: The Poetics of Hip Hop March 3, 2009, literary scholar Adam Bradley explores the poetic intricacies of MC'ing, explaining how "My flow is in the pocket like wallets / I got the bounce like hydraulics" compares to "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? / Though art more lovely and more temperate." Bradley, who was trained in Black Studies by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Cornel West, and in poetics by poetry critic Helen Vendler, dissects the basic components of poetry, revealing the ways in which MC'ing not only conforms to, but has advanced the medium.
This relationship between tradition and innovation is exemplified in Rap's dual rhythmic voice. This convergence of rhymes over beats represents the MC's greatest contribution to the rhythm of poetry, and while it is an innovation to the art form, it retains allegiance to the rules of meter that define so much classic literary poetry. In establishing Hip Hop's place within the world of poetry, BOOK OF RHYMES further clarifies that to overlook Hip Hop lyricism is to miss the vanguard of poetry today.
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