Rap Genius Assignment

In many ways, hip hop has been the music of urban America for the past 30 plus years. The archive of song lyrics at Rap Genius will thus be useful to us as we think about how various rap artists have depicted the cities they live in, and about these emcees have theorized urban space more broadly.

Rap Genius, Wikipedia for Hip Hop Lyrics

For those that don’t know, Rap Genius is Wikipedia for rap lyrics. As with Wikipedia, the website is managed by a staff but most of the content is created by users who sign up for accounts. (For this class, you will have to sign up for an account at Rap Genius. It's easy: all you need is a "nickname" (try this Wu-Tang name generator; that's how Donald Glover and "Lucky_Desperado" got their rap names) and an email address--don't forget your password!)

Rap Genius in English Class? WTF?

We will be using Rap Genius both to explore the literature of hip hop in relation to the primary texts and themes of the course, as well as to collectively annotate songs and poems that I have uploaded to the site that are part of our coursework proper.

Part of Rap Genius's mission is to “critique rap as poetry." Thus, you will be utilizing your literary critical thinking skillz as you "explain" lyrics and "suggest improvements" to existing explanations of lyrics on the website.    

Moreover, annotating a text in detail, whether a poem or a song, is a step towards developing larger analyses, and can be thought of as part of the essay-writing process. You might end up using a brief close reading of a song as an introduction to a traditional paper for the class.  

Rap Genius has also have created an intuitive and dynamic annotation platform that allows users to create good-looking online content with relative ease. Developing a digital literacy in Web 2.0 technologies like Rap Genius is also critical for students in terms of college preparation. 

Rap Genius Assignment and Extra "Street" Cred(it)

We will begin working in Rap Genius by annotating one of the primary texts for the course, Stephen Crane's Maggie, A Girl of the Street. I have uploaded several key passages in the first half of the book for us to work on "explaining" online. Your first assignment is to add at least one explanation (or "suggest an improvement") to at least one of these passages:

• "The Honor of Rum Alley" (I)

• "A Dark Region"(II)

• "Jimmie's Occupation" (IV)

• "Mud Puddle Blossom" (V)

• "The Theater" (VIII)

Your explanation or suggestion should be substantial and include a link and an image or video. Linking to another "lyric" or song within Rap Genius  is extra credit. Here's an example:

You will also receive extra credit throughout the term for "city-themed" explanations on Rap Genius. I will be able to monitor your contributions via the point system and your profile on the site.

The 411 on Rap Genius

Rap Genius allows users to select text from a song and annotate, or as they say, "Explain," it in a pop-up bubble. White lines need explaining. Yellow lines have an explanation.   

Users also can “Suggest an improvement” to existing explanations by clicking on the yellow lines and editing within existing explanation bubbles. Editors on Rap Genius like myself can then “accept” changes and then further edit bubbles to provide users the best explanations possible.

Within bubbled explanations, it’s easy to embed images and video simply by pasting in the image URL or YouTube URL. (Note: to get an image URL, you can navigate to the image page or, on a Mac, simply "control click" on the image and "Copy image URL.")

You can also create links by just a little bit of coding (note that there is no space between brackets and parentheses below)--this is as complicated as your work in Rap Genius will get:

[words to link in brackets](link URL)

Editing Guidelines (But What Do I Say?)

Again, our goal here is to annotate texts, to provide explanations of textual meaning. Here are some questions to consider:

• What literary and poetic devices like imagery, metaphor, and enjambment are at work in the song or poem? 

• How does the theme in the song or poem connect to the themes of other literary texts, especially those mentioned in the song itself? 

• What relevant historical events are referenced in the lyrics or could help understand the meaning of the lyrics?

The first "Commandment" of Rap Genius reads as follows:

1. If you don't know whether a line should be explained, ask yourself: "Is this interesting"? If not, skip it or find a way to make it interesting** (THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE OF RAP GENIUS!!! DONT EXPLAIN IT UNLESS ITS INTERESTING!)

And here are a few more specific suggestions about how to make an interesting explanation from the Editors of Rap Genius (more can be found at the Rap Genius "Rap Genius for Beginners" page:

• go factual
• go funny (especially good for obvious lines)
• analyse [sic] the rhyme scheme
• break down the multiple meanings
• compare and contrast themes with other songs from that artist, region or genre
• give some background on the lyric

Here are a few of my own "Explanations" that I am most proud of:

• From Killer Mike, "American Dream"

• From Killer Mike, "Anywhere But Here"

• From The Roots, "Stomp"

• From Company Flow, "Patriotism"

• From Dead Prez, "It's Bigger Than Hip Hop"

• From Black Star, "Respiration"

• From Black Star, "Thieves in the Night"

• From Death Grips, "System Blower"

• From Plan B, "Ill Manors"

Rap Genius Style Guide, or, "Styles Upon Styles Upon Styles" 

There is  an etiquette for the formatting and style of RG just as there are with formal English essays. 

While the writing at Rap Genius is relatively informal, proper grammar is still expected.

Just as in more conventional paper-writing, songs should be in quotes and other titles should be appropriately formatted.

You cannot simply copy and paste from Wikipedia and other reference sites—that’s plagiarism anywhere you are writing. The fun thing about Rap Genius is that you can be rewarded for using your own voice!

As in conventional English essays, arguments need to be backed up with evidence. This is easier o do than using MLA format; simply link to a website that supports your point. 

Lastly, as with all digital writing, be sure to double-check, AKA proofread, your "published" explanations and suggestions to make sure links work and images and video are properly embedded.

For More Help

Here are some internal pages at Rap Genius that will help you as your work on annotations, though some of it is repeated above (I think the second link is the most helpful):

• Rap Genius for Beginners (a do's and don'ts list, from which the above images are taken)

• Rap Genius Contributor Guidelines (some formatting tips and a 10 commandments list"