Free Style and the Lyrical Poem

- written by Angela K Brown

A lyrical poem is a type of free style poem that is performed on stage in front of a live audience.

Artist who perform free style rap speak their craft in a lyric form of unrehearsed poetry competition. A

lyric poem is a song that uses meter, rhythm and rhyme. When spoken word is performed in front of an

audience the artist is competing for the audience approval. Performing free style and performing spoken

word are similar when they must appeal to an audience to win the competition. You do not have to be a

rocket scientist to perform its artistry, but you must acquire the talent of expression in conveying a new

idea to the audience. A spoken word poem is a lyrical poem because of it musical artistry. A spoken

word poem is performed in front of an audience for entertainment. The truth will set you free. To some

the truth may be offensive and yet at that period it is something that is needed to be said. A spoken

word poem is not limited to express free speech because of the theatrical performance sets the climate

of the audience solidarity to find comfort in the message being said by the spoken word artist.

Russel Simmons produced some of the greatest hip hop artist out of New York. He produced

artist like LL Cool J, Out Kast, Notorious BIG, Fresh Prince and Run DMC to name a few. Names of the

artist who help transform hip hop music world. Russ was able to use poetry with a backdrop of hip hop

drum beats. It is the drum beats in African music that made the spiritual song powerful. When you

combine powerful words that rhyme to meter of the drum the temperament of the song transform to a

audio composition where the words are not singing words but the lyrics become a relationship

combined with sound the song.

When Russel Simmons discovered Def Poetry Jam, he found a way of using the lyrical poem in a

theatrical narrative. It was because of Russ Simmons spoken word became a free style art. Simmons

took some of the best hip hop and rap artist in the industry to perform poetry at their best vocal talent
and music artistry. Russ used the idea of traditional poetry to acquire the same respect for modern

poetry artistry.

The history of slam poetry began with a small group of people telling a story about their culture.

The purpose of poetry slam was to entertain an audience by telling jokes to some found offensive. This

form of artistry performance expanded in front of live audiences in the form of a poem. A narrative

poem was used to tell a story. A -hop poem a cultural identity used to reveal human condition set to jazz

music. A poetry slam associates an artist culture with virtues of sociology and current events. A spoken

word associates how culture combines with politics. There is a common theme of writing a lyrical poem

by expressing what the themes means and how it applies to you in your current life.

A spoken word poem is used to say something someone would not ordinarily say, but wanted to

say and did not know how to say it. A spoken word poem is used to create dialog, insight for what is

going on in current events. A spoken word poem reveals an attitude toward the social conditions of

politics. A spoken word poem carefully uses words in the form of a lyric. A lyric is words to a song. A lyric

has a beginning, a middle and an ending of a poem. A lyric poem is like a narrative because it reveals a

story that is formal in the life of the poet.

When an artist performs his poem, he uses his emotions to set the tone of the stage. When an

artist creates the mood of the audience he lets the audience become emotionally involved with the

poet’s character. The audience relates to the poetic artistry through its satire, comedy and offensive

lyrics that are used to entertain.

A free style artist will say what is on his mind set to a music beat. The music can change and the

free style artist will keep the same formality of speech saying what is on his mind. The contest between

free style artist is being able to keep up with his style of poetry under different conditions not knowing

how the audience reacts or not knowing what his competitor is going to say next in rebuttal words. Free
style performance is what some athletes call a form of capping or for girls gabbing off the court. A free

style artist talks about their cultural identity in comparison to someone else and raps their lines to

music.

Some of the greatest theatrical performances was written by Oscar Wild because he set the

tone of the audience to feel emotional. Russel Simmons idea of using def poetry slam was successful for

the same reasons. Russel Simmons was able to sell a pitch to his audience. The pitch was an idea used to

sell a story, a theatrical performance that was convincing in as few words abstracting concrete details to

reveal an artist attitude with respect to his cultural identity.