Jacques: Rapper Jaden Smith’s album 'SYRE' opens with “BLUE” - a 12 minute song split
into four parts with an opening hook that
takes inspiration from none other than the
legendary 16th century English poet and playwright,
William Shakespeare.
Jaden: It started with me learning about Shakespearean
Iambic Pentameter
All of that singing stuff is written in Shakespearean
Iambic Pentameter but it’s sung..so it’s
a poem that is sung by two people that are angels.
Jacques: Iambic Pentameter is a term used
to describe a particular rhythm used in some
poems, plays and speeches.
Lines are written with 10 alternating stressed
and unstressed syllables split into 5 parts.
It appears throughout Shakespeare’s work.
Jacques: Jaden used iambic pentameter intentionally
on “B” “L” “U” “E”, and it’s
very common throughout hip-hop, even if the rappers didn’t intend to.
Jacques: Many of Shakespeare’s sonnets can even be rapped to hip hop beats, as evidenced by
British rapper, Akala.
Jacques: Jaden also named his 2012 song, "Shakespeare," after the poet; although his verse isn't in
iambic pentameter.
Jacques: The flow is theoretically as old
as the english language and inspired Jaden
on a song that he couldn’t wait to release.
Jaden: I’ve been waiting to talk about this
song for SO long.
Three years!
Like I always wondered if anyone would have
questions about it, if I would even get the
opportunity to talk about it...but yea man..probably my favorite song.
Jacques: I’m Jacques Morel with Genius news,
bringing you the meaning and the knowledge
behind the music.
Peace!
