The Half Metaphor
I’m not sure who was the first to do it. You’ve probably heard Young Money standouts Drake and Nicky use this method pretty heavily. Its when a line is spit, then finished with a word that compares to said line. Now, even though the term metaphor is usually used to describe rap punchlines, most of them are actually similes. A simile being a comparison using the words like or as whereas a metaphor is a looser comparison that DOESN’T use like or as. For example
Metaphors:
“I’m Christopher Columbus. Yall just the pilgrims.” Kanye West- “Swagger Like Us”
“I talk jewels and spit diamonds” Jay-z -”Cashmere Thoughts”
“My life is a video and the women want their cameo” Lil Wayne- “Wasted freestyle”
Similes:
“Nigga please, LIKE short sleeves I bear arms.” Jay-z – “Brooklyn’s Finest”
“Time is illmatic, keep static LIKE wool fabric.” Nas- “Life’s a Bitch”
“All its taking, is some marijuana and I’m making, MCs break fast LIKE flapjacks and bacon.” Notorious B.I.G.- “The Wickedest”
“I love rocking tracks LIKE John Coltrane loved Naima” Talib Kweli “Astronomy(8th Light)”
“You can’t catch me in the street without a ton of reefer/Thats LIKE Malcom X catching the jungle fever” Nas “Halftime”
OR…
“I’m AS ill AS a convict who kills for phone time.” Nas- “Halftime
“The flow cold AS the shoulders of gold digging hoes when a broke nigga approach them” J.Cole- “A Star is Born”
“Balloon bang pop, hot AS a bang spot in Bangkok.” Mos Def- “Murder of a Teenage Life”
For the sake of clarity I’ll call the aforementioned method a half-metaphor. It uses the loose association of a metaphor and stretches it even further, relying on the assumption that the listener is able to make the connection between the two things being compared. For example:
“They must be talking to theyselves Hov… Hands free.” Drake “Light Up”
“We make magic boy….Roy and Siegfried.” Lil Wayne-”Ignorant Shit freestyle”
This is a method that you may also have heard Kanye West use occasionally. He, along with Jay-z, who may have been the first that I had ever heard use half-metaphors, both have a couple in their verses on Blueprint 3′s “Hate”. Kanye starts off with:
“How much they hated…Barry. Kiss girls like Katie Perry/I am never sprung but I spring her…Jerry”
And Hov follows with lines like…
“I can’t even stomach myself….ulcer”
“Al Roker… I used to knock pounds off”
and
“I stretch work…yoga.”
Another song (also featuring Mr. West) that has multiple instances of half metaphors is Drake’s “Forever”. Drake spits:
“In your city faded off the brown… Nino.”
“Swimming in the money come and find me… Nemo./If I was at the club you know I balled(bald)… chemo.”
And on Ye’s verse:
“He ain’t even go to class… Bueller”
It seems to be a pretty new technique. But if anyone can tell me who was the first to use it or give me an instance of an old school rapper using it please do so in the comments section.
Resolutions Schmesolutions…
2011. Wow. Already. Its a new year, and you know what that means. New Years resolutions talk. Now personally, I don’t believe in resolutions. I believe that time is a mental construct and I’m knocking anyone else, but I see no reason why one would choose the beginning of a new year to make needed changes and look to improve upon one’s self. I make resolutions on a daily basis. And just like everyone else I succeed at times and others I fail. I’d like to think that my way is superior though because it affords me consistency. You know the old cliche “success is a journey not a destination”? I’d liken it to that. I can proudly and honestly say that I have not thought of a single resolution for the new year. My old directives, goals, and principles are perfectly aligned with where I want to go and remain, as always, at the forefront of my mind.
Funnyyy
I live like I type: fast n wit tons of mistakes
Complex.com’s “Quote of the Day”
http://www.complex.com/music/2011/01/quote-of-the-day-cameron-diaz-copped-weed-from-snoop-dogg
4/20/11…
Detox finally drops…
Yeah, he's not even excited anymore...
Kick Heard Round the World
So I may have seen the dopest thing I have ever seen in MMA… Ever. Thinking about it later, I had an epiphany. I was thinking sports in general and why we watch them in the first place. Now I’m one those guys who, with every competitive sport/game subconsciously finds a way to relate it to life. Every guy does this on one level or another(… search your feelings, you know this to be true.) Case in point, the long awaited Ben Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis fight. I had marked December 16 on my mental calender months ago just to see this fight and it did not disappoint. Pretty solid back and forth action through 4 rounds. A lot of almost submissions on both accounts. A lot of seemingly impossible escapes. 5th round starts… Pettis is getting the upper hand in standup/striking with combos. With just over a minute left in the fight, a title fight no less, Pettis gets the stones to pull off this shit…
Yeah…. Damn. And now YOU have seen the most awesome thing ever in MMA. You’re welcome. The only thing that sucks about seeing something so amazing is the fact that I was rooting for Ben Henderson… Yeah the guy who ate the canvas directly after eating a kick straight out of a Jet Li flick. I had seen about 4 Ben Henderson fights before this one and considered myself a fan after the first one. I like his style. I’ve seen him pull of impossible escapes. On a sid note he’s represented by Roc Nation and faithfully throws the diamond up before every fight. And after Urijah Faber and Jose Aldo, I consider him the best fighter in WEC. In other words he was my dude. Now here’s how it relates to life. Nowadays the word “hater” gets thrown around a lot. Everyone has haters. Hate hate hate hate. Everyone is talking about their haters… EVERYONE. Which begs to question… if everyone has haters and hates haters…then who the fuck is out there hating. Who are the haters?? This seems to be a question that no one ever asks but this fight made me realize one scenario where the hater is evident. That fucking kick off of the cage was AMAZING… simply amazing to see in real time in a championship MMA fight. Each fight that night was gonna be the last one before the WEC/UFC merger so yeah… huge fight. Now, before the fight when Pettis was walking in he had a lot of attitude. He seemed like a young inexperienced aggressive dude, the likes of which I have seen get DESTROYED over and over in MMA fights. Little did I know that he has a been a rising star and I had just never heard of him. Honestly, after the kick, I was amazed and appalled at the same time. As awestruck as I was, there was a bad taste in my mouth… I would liken it to a Pistons/Lakers/Cavs fan when Jordan was ripping shit up in the 80′s. There are a lot of Michael Jordan fans who are fans because Mike wreaked havoc on their teams repeatedly. You hated him. But still he dispatched of your squad so handedly that you had to be like… “Fuck… he’s simply unstoppable.” And if you don’t, if you can’t swallow your pride and appreciate someone that, if even for one performance, personifies the very reason that you watch your favorite sport… then you are a hater. No questions. No exceptions. Somewhere I realized that in the Henderson/Pettis fight. And I had to give it to him. I’ll definitely be checking for Anthony Pettis fights in the future.
