Introduction It is evident to almost any person who listens to rap that it is simply not what it used to be. The meaningful lyrics have now been filled with a game of “I bet I have more money than you.” Rap actually originated in 1979 with the song King Tim III (Personality Jock) which is contrary to what most people believe. Most people believe that Rappers Delight was the first rap song but it is a common misconception. It was actually the second song released but it was a much more popular song than King Tim which gives reason as to why there is a misconception (Mize). It has been almost almost forty years since the first hip hop song came out and things are wildly different now. However, one thing that has stayed relatively the same, is what people think makes rapping a “black” thing: African American Vernacular English, or AAVE for short. AAVE is most prominent in rap so it is fair to say that if rap has changed, the amount AAVE used in it has changed as well. However, to what degree? This brings about the question “To what extent did AAVE become more prominent in rap and how did it evolve?” As a young girl who has grown up with a love for classic rap and everything it represents, it disheartens me to see what the genre of music has come to. The essence of rap has seemingly lost itself. Or rather, people have lost it. This is an important topic for me because I have always been a fan of rap but have also been accused of “talking white.” Meaning I do not speak how a black person is “supposed” to speak. This is worth investigating to see how language can essentially affect a culture. I intend to answer this research question by first properly defining AAVE and outlining the evolution of rap. I will then proceed to dissect the use of AAVE in different rap songs from four different decades to properly assess whether there was an increase or decrease in the use of AAVE. A song by a popular white rapper will also be dissected to compare to the findings to determine whether AAVE really is just a “black” or a “rap” thing. The types of AAVE that we will be discussing will be both phonological and grammatical. The phonological feature discussed will be the realization of the final -ng as n in gerunds. The grammatical features will be the use of the word “ain't” and the generalization of is and was instead of are and were (Rickford 4,7). Based off of if the use of AAVE has increased or decreased over the decades, I will then discuss the reason for this increase or decrease and how relevant AAVE has become to rap culture.
Roots of African American Vernacular English
The origins of the language is said to have began in Southern America during slavery. There are a few theories as to where the language is rooted. One hypothesis states that the language descended from a creole. A creole is defined as a language developed from the contact of two different languages. The African slaves brought over to the United States were strategically separated from people from their country for fear that slaves who spoke the same language would congregate and develop plans to revolt against their slave owners (Durgut, 2). This caused slaves to develop their own language in order for them to better communicate amongst themselves. Another theory states that African American Vernacular Englishes origins are in a Western African language (Durgut, 2). The final theory is that AAVE was derived from what the black slaves heard their white masters (Durgut, 2).
People usually refer to AAVE as “Ebonics” which comes from the words “ebony” and “phonics.” The word ebonics tends to carry a negative connotation despite its founders intentions. The term ‘African American Vernacular English’ basically signifies 'black language'. The term was coined in 1973 by a gathering of black researchers who loathed the negative undertones of terms like 'Nonstandard Negro English' that had been instituted in the 1960s. In any case, the term Ebonics never got among language specialists, and a great deal less among the overall population. That all changed with the "Ebonics" contention of December 1996 when the Oakland (CA) School Board remembered it as the "essential" dialect of its dominant part African American students and set out to consider in showing them Standard or Scholarly English (Baugh). Those who speak Ebonics are typically seen as less educated and unsophisticated. African American Vernacular is typically more popular in the south east of the United States. In this investigation we will be looking at the phonological and grammatical features of AAVE.
This map shows where AAVE was most popular during the times of slavery.
Origins of Rap
Kool DJ Herc is credited as being the founding father of hip hop. He is known for spinning records to make a “loop.” This allowed him to play a section of a song for however long he wanted. This got very popular around the Bronx where he lived, but the genre still was not taken seriously. Rap had been overlooked until the Sugarhill Gang's release of the song “Rapper's Delight” in 1979 (Plastic Little Raps). Before then, rap was seen as a “trend” by record producers, but they quickly recognized the genre as legitimate when the song reached the Billboard's Top 40 (Lynch). More and more rappers began emerging as time went by and rap rapidly grew as one of the most popular music genres in the United States. We also begin to see the emergence of rap culture. We see the first Master of Ceremonies (MCs) such as Coke La Rock and beatboxers such as Doug E. Fresh. In today's rap, we can without a doubt see that rap has definitely has evolved from then. Old school hip hop generally consisted of simple lyrics. Now rap consists of more loud, complex lyrics. To better demonstrate this, in the song “Rapper’s Delight” by The Sugarhill Gang the opening lyric is “I said a hip hop, The hippie, the hippie, To the hip, hip hop, and you don't stop, a rock it” (Genius). Because of this lyrics simplicity, it catches the listeners attention and is easier to memorize. An example of the more complex lyrics of today, in Kendrick Lamar's “m.A.A.d City” the opening lyrics are “If Pirus and Crips all got along, They’d probably gun me down by the end of the song” (Genius). This lyric touches on important topics such as gun violence and gang violence which also catches the listeners attention. In the 80s rap became more integrated as we begin to see more caucasian rappers and females in rap like Salt-n-Pepa. It is evident that rap stood the test of time because today we continue to see a lot of rap artists such as the Migos, J. Cole, and Nicki Minaj. The message in current rap is generally about violence, drugs, women, as well as political issues. When rap first came out it was more political issues than anything else, it is true that rappers back then spoke of women too but in a more glorifying way rather than a sexualizing way. This is seen in Method Man's 1995 song You’re All I Need where he says “Nothin’ make a man feel better than a woman/Queen with a crown that be down for whatever (Genius).” On the other hand, Waka Flocka’s 2010 hit No Hands hook says Girl, drop it to the flo’ I love the way your booty go (Genius).” This goes without saying the extent to which the main ideas of rap has changed.
Sucker MC’s- Run DMC
The widely regarded first ever popular rap song to be officially released is “Rapper’s Delight,” as aforementioned. However, due to the song being fourteen minutes long, I will be opting for a shorter song, still representative of the 80’s decade. The first song discussed will be Sucker MC’s by Run DMC. In the song Sucker MC’s there is an abundance of the phonological and grammatical features of AAVE. The use of ebonics throughout this song is frequent. There is a phonological verbal tense marking here. One of the most prominent is the realization of the final -ng as -n’ in gerunds. An example would be when one of the artists say “And then we talkin’ autograph…” The artist uses talkin’ rather than the American Standard English (SE) version; talking. This same realization of the final ng is seen another fifteen times total in the song. Another grammatical feature of AAVE is the generalization of is and was to use with plural and second person subjects instead of are and were. The artist uses this when he says, “…you sucker MCs is who I please” rather than “…you sucker MCs are who I please.” This verbal tense marking is a very distinctive feature of AAVE however, it was only used once throughout this particular song. The word “ain’t” is usually associated with AAVE. Ain’t is a contraction that can mean is not, am not, are not, or even has not. In this song, the word ain’t is only used a total of two times (Genius).
Nothin’ but a G Thang- Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg
The second song discussed, representative of the 90s will be Nothin’ but a G Thang by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. Similar to the song from the 80’s, the word ain’t is not used many times despite it being a prominent feature of AAVE. The word ain’t is only used twice throughout the song. As for the realization of the final -ng as -n’ in gerunds, it is used a little bit more than the previous song with it being used eighteen times. In the case of generalizing is and was instead of are and were, it is only used once. This is when the rapper says “Snoop Doggy Dogg and Dr. Dre is at the do’.” Here, the artist is supposed to use are being that there are two subjects (Genius).
This is where the songs chosen are split into two different centuries. What has been previously discussed were songs from the 1980s and 1990s. As we enter the 21st century, there may be a completely different use of AAVE seeing as the culture is taking a new phase and times are changing. In the present day, AAVE is used as more of a trend which can also be said to be a reason as to why the amounts of its used has either increased act the change of the century or not. While back in the day, AAVE wasn’t a trend. It was genuinely how black people communicated with each other.
Knuck If You Buck- Crime Mob
The third song that we will be looking at is Knuck If You Buck by Crime Mob. In this song representative of the 2000s the realization of the final -ng sound is used a grand total of forty two times. This is in great contrast to the songs from the previous decades which only came out to a measly fifteen and eighteen. This could be because of a possible change in culture that occured yet is unclear. Music of the 20th century were more “struggle” driven. Music was more about the daily hardships faced on their community. Lyrics had meaning, a story to tell, it was a spoken word, in a sense. However, in this century rap music has taken a turn for the, what some might say, worst. Now lyrics are typically about women, who has more money than who and so on and so forth. This song, Knuck If You Buck, for example is about fighting which is a far more violent topic than the songs of the originators. Due to the possible change in what they focus on in rap, this may have affected the use of AAVE in the lyrics. As for the use of ain’t, it was used a sum of five times throughout. This is not significantly larger than the previous songs but still shows that the use of ain’t is seemingly increasing within the rap community. The generalization of is and was is used only once throughout this song but it is used in a form of negation which is something that has not been seen in other songs. The artist says “…you wasn’t wise…” instead of the Standard English version which would be “…you weren’t wise…” (Genius)
Romans Revenge- Nicki Minaj
The fourth song that will be discussed is Roman's Revenge by female rapper Nicki Minaj featuring Eminem. Since rap music is a male dominated genre as well as African American dominated, female artist Nicki Minaj will be used to see if gender plays an underlying role in the amount of AAVE used. In this song realization of the final -ng is used twenty seven times which is less than the 2000s era rap song but still considerably more than the eighties and ninetys rap. The word ain’t is used nine times which is the highest number recorded so far of the songs selected. On the other hand, the generalization of is and was rather than are and were only appears two times throughout the song (Genius). This makes it somewhat evident that out of the songs previously selected, it is in contrast from the twentieth century rap but there is not a considerable enough difference to say that gender has a role in the amount of AAVE used.
Lose Yourself- Eminem
The song Lose Yourself by white american rapper Eminem will be the song discussed next. Since rap is a black male dominated genre, it is essential to see if the use of AAVE in rap is exclusive to black people. By looking at the use of AAVE in a white rappers lyrics (given that there is some), we can see if the use is different in the way they use it or the number of times it is being used. In this song, there is no use of the word “ain’t.” All of the other songs by black rappers analyzed had at least one appearance of the word ain’t. This song also only has one use of is and was as a generalization of are and were. As for the use of the realization of -ng as -n, it was seen throughout the song five times. This is considerably less than the amount of times African American Vernacular was used in songs written by African Americans. Even the most common of the three types discussed (generalization of -ng as -n’) isn’t used nearly as many times (Genius). This can be due to the fact that the generalization is used mostly in the south and Eminem was born in the north. It also shows that just because AAVE is dominant in rap music that its use can be avoided by the people it is not completely “meant for.” This opposes the point of AAVE being used as a trend because it shows that someone who is apart of rap culture but not a part of the African American aspect of it can avoid using Black English.
Total use of AAVE
Ain’t
Is/Was, Are/Were
-ng as -n’
Song
Sucker MC’s
2
1
15
Nothin’ But a G Thang
2
1
18
Knuck If You Buck
5
1
42
Roman’s Revenge
9
2
27
Lose Yourself
0
1
5
AAVE and Education
There can be countless reasons as to why the use of AAVE in song lyrics has increased, but one of the most obvious reasons comes down to one thing: education. Back when rap was still on the rise, young black people had no choice but to seek an education if they wanted to make it somewhere in life. AAVE is seen as an uneducated version of Standard English (SE.) Now that it is easier to make a living as a rapper, more young African Americans are not seeing the point in taking their education seriously. In the 1980s, being a rapper was fairly new. Now, a lot of kids have aspirations of becoming a rapper because they see so many examples of well-off rappers before them. While it is true that the drop-out rates of African Americans have decreased, the value of the diploma that they are receiving is to be questioned. Research shows that even though graduation rates are at an all time high, ACT and SAT scores are not up to par as well as the percentage of college graduates who go to college (Wong). This can be due to the improvement of technology. With computers getting smarter and phones becoming more easily accessible, the youth is beginning to rely more the internet than anything else. They are not retaining as much information as people in the 80s and 90s once had to. However, This is not to say that rappers are uneducated in any way shape or form. Rap is essentially poetry, rappers need an extensive vocabulary in order for certain words to rhyme or to fit a complex idea into a few words.
AAVE and Its Relevance
AAVE is relevant because it is a part of rap culture. AAVE was something african americans had as their own. It was something meant to be exclusive to the rap culture. AAVE was made by black people for black people. When this new genre “rap” came around, and it used language that young black people were familiar with, it was, in essence, a new beginning. The use of the colloquial terms found in AAVE made it easier for the black population to connect to the lyrics especially since when rap first debuted it was more meaningful. However, now people are beginning to hijack the “uneducated” language as their own. It has come to the point where African American Vernacular English is not exclusively used by African Americans. Everyone wants to speak in AAVE because it is seen as some form of trend. It is considered hip or cool. “Since non-mainstream culture and music are particularly influential in setting trends, young people, especially, adopt slang created by African Americans who dominate the entertainment world.” (Reyes, 512) Other cultures want to adopt the language originally used by slaves, however, were the oppressors when slavery was still around. Regardless, AAVE is what makes rap, rap. You will rarely see the use of this distinct language in a music genre not originated by black people.
Conclusion
The goal of this essay was to characterize African American Vernacular English and its significance and development in rap lyrics. It has been made evident that the amount of “Black English” has increased due to the amount of times certain features have appeared in songs from four different decades. The reason for the increase has also been provided in this essay. This reason being education. It was also discussed in this essay why AAVE is so relevant to rap culture and how it will continue to be relevant. I have made it clear that the use of AAVE is not specific to gender but there seems to be a correlation within race. There, however, have been a few limitations on this essay. One of the limitations being the spectrum of African American Vernacular English. Since there are so many different aspects of the language, it was extremely hard to just stick to the main three that I have presented in this essay. It can also be argued that the words that were chosen are also features of just Standard English spoken in a southern accent. This however can be because of the similarity of the regions in which AAVE was prominent. While it was discussed how African American Vernacular English is no longer exclusive to African Americans and has been adopted by other cultures and races, a question that may arise from this research is whether or not Black English should be exclusive to black people considering the fact that society as a whole is moving in a more inclusive direction.