Eminem - Yellow Brick Road.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btbOw953Nls

After reading my first two posts you'd be forgiven for thinking that i only listened, or liked, Muslim rappers from the south side of Chicago. So, here is easily one of the most talented rappers of all time. While i do disagree with a lot of what he has to say, sometimes his verses are just so incredibly written that you can't ignore them. Case-in-point: Yellow Brick Road, verse two. Eminem shows that he is the master of assonance, alliteration, and enjambment. Some background on the song, because i only really want to showcase verse two, is that this song is not just a autobiography of his early career and life, but a response to a tape he recorded when he was angry one day, in which he said some pretty racist things (in Eminem's mind anyway).

So i did a little bit of a break down of the one verse. I seperated out the lines, and isolated the syllabics. So the " | " is breaking up the lines, and then the lines are separated into groups.

I roam | the streets | so much (6)

they call | me a | drifter (6)

Sometimes | I stick up (5)

a thumb | just to | hitch hike (6)

Just to | get picked up (5)

to get | me a | lift to (6)

8 mile | and Van Dyke (5)

And steal | a god | damn bike (6)

from some | body's | back yard (6)

And drop | it off | at the park (7)

that was | the half| way mark (6)

To meet | Kim had | to walk (6)

back to | her ma ma's (5)

on Chal | mers af | ter dark (6)

To sneak | me in | the house (6)

when I'm | kicked out | my mom's (6)

Thats a | bout the time (5)

I first | met Proof | with --> (5)

Goofy | Gary | on the (6)

steps At | Osbourne | handing out (6)

some flyers, | he was doing (5)

some tal | ent shows |At Cen (6)

terline | High,I had | told him | to stop by (7)

and check | this out | sometime (6)

He look'd | at me (4)

like I'm | out my mind (5)

shook his | head like | white boys (6)

don't know | how to rhyme (5)

I spit | out a line (4)

and rhymed | birthday | with first place (7)

And we | both had | the same (6)

rhymes that | sound alike (5)

We was | on the | same shit (6)

that Big | Daddy | Kane shit (6)

when com | pound syl | lables | sound combined (8)

From that | day we | was down | to ride (8)

somehow | we knew | we'd meet | again (8)

somewhere | down the line (5)

So there is a lot to look at here. Fortunately there isn't a lot of 'depth' to this song, so there isn't any metaphor, although it does start off with a sort of simile. I would challenge any of my readers to think of a way to say something is like something else, without using the words 'like' or 'as'. Its one of those hallmarks of the English language that we need to use those two to make a simile. So now i'd like to point out the pattern in the syllabils. Starting at the second line, it alternates from 6/line to 5/line, and for the next few lines it holds true to that pattern, all the while holding to ABAABBA rhyme scheme. The trick to this is that he is rhyming the vowels. And he isn't rhyming the ends of the words, but rather, the middles. He mentions this technique at the end, about compound syllables . But the really talented part of this verse is the enjambment- that is, when the line does not end at the end of the line. So for example: to get me a lift to/ 8 mile and Van Dyke/ to steal a god damn bike. The thought doesn't end with the words "lift to", but that is where the natural line ends, that is where the closure is, because of the rhyme on the words 'stick up' in the previous lines. But the sentence and the thought continues into the next line. Eminem does this constantly through this song. Take a read through it, and see what i mean. Another good example of this technique is: That's about the time/ I first met Proof with/Goofy Gary". See how the thought contiunes over multiple lines? Now there is more i could do with this, by really going in depth and looking at the Iambs or looking at the closure achieved by the Ternary groupings, but that is a lot of work that i don't want to do. So, take a look at this song, a sort of autobiography of Eminem's youth. One final comment on the song as a whole; it was designed to show his progress and change as a rapper over the years, which is why the flow, or style, changes so much throughout the song.