In this long post, I will compare the philosophy behind japanese calligraphy and modern rap. I will use this metaphor to explore a cultural shift in rap that I believe happened in the 2010s. this will also serve as a sort of counterargument to the "modern rap is lazy and bad" trope.

let's start by looking at Western calligraphy.

it's very ornate, maybe even a little difficult to read, but it's still meant to be as uniform and perfect as possible. ideally, the calligraphy is so neat that it looks printed, and we kind of forget that someone wrote it. The goal of this style is to put the focus on the text itself, and to keep it away from the calligrapher/process of calligraphy. When evaluating calligraphy like this, we don't really think about how it was written, we just focus on the letters themselves and how intricate they are.

Compare this to the old-school rap paradigm. we aren't meant to think about the process behind the song. The engineering is meant to be invisible, so that we hear the song as if it was being performed live right in front of us. Ideally, the listener forgets about how the rapper physically stood in the booth and recorded the lines. No attention is given to how the bars were recorded; the focus is entirely on what the bars are.

This is ignoring the actions that result in a consumable art product, and only focusing on the product itself. (paradigm 1)

Now, let's look at Japanese calligraphy.

Japanese calligraphy started off kind of like western calligraphy: artistic, but still uniform for the most part (as seen above). However, it developed into something very different (as seen below).

This might look like something a kid scribbled down, but it's actually the work of Emperor Saga. compared to what I described above, it seems messy and haphazard, but this isn't by mistake. The goal is to look as cool and effortless as possible, even at the expense of legibility.

The main difference I want to point out is that this style is specifically meant to call to mind the actions that resulted in the consumable final product. When we see this kind of calligraphy, we are supposed to think about how the artist's hand moved through time and space in a unified, fluid motion. We might even get a sense of rhythm from it. The more we think about the artist's actions and how fluid or effortless they were, the better.

Another example:

This is placing the focus on the actions that result in a consumable art product, as opposed to just thinking about the product itself. (paradigm 2)

If you've gotten this far, you probably know where I'm going from here. I believe that there was a paradigm shift in rap from 1 to 2 sometime in the mid 2010s. Of course, we had stuff like DJ screw tapes that were tapping into that 2nd paradigm in the 90s, but the mainstream was still following paradigm number 1 into the mid 2010s.

When soundcloud rap comes around, we see that start to change. I'm going to use Carti as a case study here, but this stuff applies across the whole scene.

I'm saying paradigm 2 means focusing on the creation process more, so let's think about it in terms of performance art. what is the best way to walk into a studio, get in the booth, and record a song? Like with Japanese calligraphy, I'm arguing that it's all about doing this in the coolest, most effortless, and natural way. The end product might be "sloppy", but that shouldn't matter if it successfully brings to mind how the artist carried themselves while recording. shifting the focus like this means all the details of how the song was recorded add to the steeze. where was the studio located? what was it like inside? who was the artist with? what was the artist wearing? what time was it? None of these things have a direct impact on the music, but they are aspects of the actual physical performance itself

this type of bullshit always feels disingenuous and lowkey racist.

2nd post to say “tl;dr” not for sale

WORK IN PROGRESS

okie dokie

why do u say that?

I made this thread bc I think the calligraphy metaphor is fun, and i want to see how far I can take it. I'm not standing on it like it's my thesis or anything. like I'm aware it's a kind of unserious, but I don't think I'm being disingenuous. definitely don't think i'm being racist lol

A white dude calling something racist

true..

cosign

Actually it makes perfect sense

Nothing on Arabic calligraphy ?

i love when someone tries to dunk on here and gets no likes

interesting post OP you can tell u put a lot of work in

Great write up OP

I know the type of s*** you’re talking about where you’ll have someone try and ironically compare chief Keef to some philosopher but I didn’t get that type of vibe from OPs post

just not familiar w it, pmo

Metaphors are supposed to clarify not obscure. Read this post then listen to Carti do an approaching 10 year old Future/Thug impression.

forbidden knowledge itt