Hip Hop: Flow is the Vocal Presentation of Your Lyrics--Not the Written Text

R1 was for acceptance not arguments. Flow.As I've stated it is the vocalization of your words & how you pronounce them in order to maintain rhythm & cadence.According to Genius.com's the Rapper's Flow Encyclopedia, Martin Connor explains flow: "The three categories we can use to describe a rapper’s flow that concern us here...[He then gives 3 terms that pertain to vocalizing words.] When I say the word “flow”, it means the rhythmic structure that arises in a rap from the interaction between the rapper’s words and the strictly musical rhythms of those words...."[1][1]- http://genius.com...Martin Connor, a credible independent Hip Hop analyst? You decide: http://genius.com...I was prepared to unleash a plethora of credible evidence explaining flow pertains to your vocalization of words with rhythm & cadence. But as I read Con's arguments I saw them riddled with false or irrelevant claims. So instead of flooding you with facts upon facts this round about vocalized flow (but keeping to the guidelines), I'll address Con in rebuttals that crumble his case with elementary revelation.Rebuttals:"Your argument, as I understand it, vests its prime contention in the idea that the written word does not dictate the way in which a verse is recited in a rap song..."- Actually Con, my prime resolution is the opposite: "Flow is the Vocal Presentation of Your Lyrics." There is nothing scientific or theoretical about this resolution. It is as simple as it is state. Flow, in Hip Hop, is your vocalization of your or someone else's written or orally-heard lyrics. If I write a rap it is my written lyrical guide. But the moment I begin to vocalize the text the written lyrics are transformed into a workable flow of harmonious sounds."...your perspective erroneously neglects the complexity of literary devices..."- Actually the mere simplistic understanding of my resolution locks one's mental aptitude into the logical fact that "flow" is born out of the pronunciation of "words" whether written down then recited or created instantaneously through the artistic form Hip Hop calls "freestyle"." Adopting your thesis would mean that the Shakespearean Iambic Pentameter would not work, as it fundamentally contradicts the nature of your argument."- You have not given a visual example of an iambic pentameter, therefore we have no evidence to substantiate your allegation of it "not work[ing]" or "contradict[ing] the nature of [my] argument." Please provide visual evidence & not speculation (or like the respectful courtroom legal term "facts not in evidence")."...much has been said about the written word, but mainly in media theory..."- Are we going to deal in theories or realities? Indeed, my R1 presentation of the rules, to any logical-thinking person's inspection, emphatically mandates verifiable evidence not theoretical guesswork. I humbly bring out this prediction I made, my first words written were "Any opponent accepting this challenge will lose." No, I didn't state this out of vainglory, but out of understanding of the erroneous sentiment that written words means flow in Hip Hop. And here, you begin your argumentation with a theory." Rappers write with this idea in mind: what they write, (ie, the lyrical content of their music), will likely outlive the music itself."- This is a very titillating statement. But sadly it is one of speculation since you did not follow the rule of providing "a famous rapper's" words about "flow" nor citing a "credible Hip Hop guru" to "validat[e] your case." We have no evidence of any rapper testifying as you claim that they "write with this idea in mind: what they write...will likely outlive the music itself." Yes, a very titillating statement, but it lacks an authority to substantiate it."In this case, the written word came first..."- This argumentation is all wrong. Where is the proof that Eminem wrote these lyrics before he vocalized them? Wait, before you answer. Here is the 800 pound gorilla that completely destroys this argument: perhaps Slim Shady freestyled them before writing them, making flow come before the written words. I'm not attempting to prove the contrary, just revealing your allegation is unsubstantiated, effectively nullifying your angle of argument here because its guesswork."In the line above, "oranges" would break a flow that did not establish the prerequisite ("doors off the hinges") in such a way that "orange" could be modified. "- Wrong, sir. The removal of "oranges" does not "break the flow", a removal would simply eliminate a rhyming word. The vocalization would still be smooth, the rhyming rhythm would still be audible. "As orange does not have any rhyming words in the English language..."Evidence #1"Pull up to the park in somethin foreignTangerine Porsche same color a orange"[2][2]- http://rap.genius.com...(Click on 0:55 I set for instant reference) http://www.youtube.com...Evidence #2Here in the link below we see a rhyme dictionary basing orange's many rhyming words off syllabic phonetics. http://www.rhymezone.com..."...flow is dictated by the written word..."- Umm, who is contesting that? I never said or without clarity ever implied flow isn't dictated by the written lyrics. My argument isn't the written word does NOT determine flow; but rather, and rather restrictively, flow isn't written lyrics. The two are not synonyms. One is like father, one is like son--they're not Siamese twins. The familial reference is a model upon which to distinguish the two characteristics, not a diagram upon which both are comparatively equivalent. "...however, that rap can transcend the written word..."- My opponent does not have a grasp on the understand of the musical genre "rap". Rap is independent of written words. Here is it's cultural definition: "[Rap] is "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics"[3] Wikipedia is sourcing a dictionary! Wiki further defines rap as "includ[ing] "content", "flow" (rhythm and rhyme), and "delivery".[3[4] Nothing about written words. The latter portion is sourced from "How to Rap 2: Advanced Flow & Delivery Techniques" a book analyzing the art form rap. Notice again what is mentioned about the books contents on explaining Advanced Flow & Delivery Techniques: "Edwards asks advanced wordsmiths for advice on rhythm, melody, pitch, timing, enunciation, percussion, playing characters, rhyme schemes, and rhyme patterns." Nothing is mentioned about the pen & pad, Hip Hop slang for "wrote down lyrics".[5][3]- http://en.wikipedia.org...[4]- http://en.wikipedia.org... (Wikipedia reference)[5]- http://roychristopher.com... (The actual parent source)"Though we cannot neglect that there does exist a few parallels between them, rap songs and poems are fundamentally different in one important way: Rap, as we know it, is, as I see it, a modern take on poems, influenced by popular culture and cultivated by a fundamentally commercial and selfish desire to sell. By such a definition, Rap is a creation of popular culture; a creation that resulted from the influence of the written word."- I'm not being snide but all that except your last sentence was surplusage. Irrelevant. Reiterate: "a creation that resulted from the influence of the written word." This is theory like he claim, and we know from experience & a simple dictionary a theory is an unproven claim that seems to be true or might be true. I will demonstrate that his media theory claim lacks any serious contemplation. In Wikipedia's sidebar on Language it reads "Cuneiform is the first known form of written language, but spoken language predates writing by at least tens of thousands of years."[6] Is it not reasonable to assume, based on scientific history that spoken words came before written words, that ghetto spoken rap came before written rap? Con's media theory argument is based in speculative bad rhetoric. There's no meat on that bone.[6]- http://en.wikipedia.org..."...what the author of a given piece intends to write that dictates the flow..."- I'm sorry, but isn't that argument EXACTLY THE SAME as my resolution? "(Pro) Flow is the Vocal Presentation of Your Lyrics." The difference is the grammatical construction of the wording. But both are saying the same resolution which is in violation of R1. As I have said so many times, you-all are misinterpreting "flow" for "grammatical pacing." How you write your lyrics [short, long, extremely long] will dictate your grammatical pace but you can flow them many different ways [slow, fast, super fast, chopping]. In writing, such as novels, pace is "the management of action and time throughout a story;"[7] "pacing [is] briefly detailing the action that links one scene to another,"[7] and again, "Pacing is the movement of time in a story that drives the plot forward."[7] Some people erroneously describe this literary technique as "flow" using the word as an establishing technical term rather than a descriptive of how well the story progressed; instead of using it for how the story's climax was accomplished, which pacing already does. This is why many DDO members confuse the two words. They're taking a fiction-based technical term & using it as the equivalence of a vocaized musical technique. One is for written, one is for spoken. In Hip Hop, however, vocal pacing is similar to vocal flow, the former deals with the breaths you take to deliver your flow; the latter is the audible rhythms & cadence you put behind your spoken words. That is why people often exclaim: "Dude has mad flow!" That flow was bomb!" "My flow so cold..."[8].[7]- http://classroom.synonym.com...[8]- 2nd Video http://www.youtube.com...