Premium
Creative technology and rap
Author(s) -
CH’IEN EVELYN
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
world englishes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.6
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-971X
pISSN - 0883-2919
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-971x.2010.01686.x
Subject(s) - creativity , rhyme , vision , pace , computer science , linguistics , rhythm , software , resource (disambiguation) , human–computer interaction , sociology , aesthetics , art , psychology , programming language , poetry , social psychology , philosophy , computer network , geodesy , anthropology , geography
This paper describes how a linguistic form, rap, can evolve in tandem with technological advances and manifest human‐machine creativity. Rather than assuming that the interplay between machines and technology makes humans robotic or machine‐like, the paper explores how the pressure of executing artistic visions using technology can drive humans—in this case rappers and scratchers—to be extremely creative. Technology, which is largely the source for creating rhythm, speed, flow of rap, can then alter word choice, rhyme scheme, meter, and other phrasing arrangements. The changes in rap result in creativity in transcriptions of rap, including new orthographies, words, and rhymes. This paper provides a detailed examination of how technological software generates new linguistic habits as it forces the rapper to contort language in support of the computer's capacity to create rhythm, tracks, and determine the pace of utterances.