Guess that's why they broke and you're so paid
September 7, 2010 6:33 PM Subscribe
This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's Request -- loup
Lil Wayne = Vladimir Nabakov
Nuh-uh.
posted by angrycat at 6:44 PM on September 7, 2010 [6 favorites]
Nuh-uh.
posted by angrycat at 6:44 PM on September 7, 2010 [6 favorites]
but worth it for the adorable pic of very young thomas pynchon :)
posted by supermedusa at 6:44 PM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by supermedusa at 6:44 PM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
This is pretty cool, actually; they're on-the-mark with some of the comparisons. I thought Wu-Tang Clan = Beat Poets was apt.
And [8] Chuck D = John Steinbeck
Both are socially conscious, plain-spoken, and obvious in their political agendas. And they should both be required high-school consumption.
Word.
posted by heyho at 6:47 PM on September 7, 2010 [3 favorites]
And [8] Chuck D = John Steinbeck
Both are socially conscious, plain-spoken, and obvious in their political agendas. And they should both be required high-school consumption.
Word.
posted by heyho at 6:47 PM on September 7, 2010 [3 favorites]
In case anyone doesn't want to scroll through:
1. Big Boi = William Faulkner
2. Ja Rule = Jay McInerney
3. The Notorious B.I.G. = Ernest Hemingway
4. Tupac Shakur = F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. Wu-Tang Clan = Beat Poets
6. Lil Wayne = Vladimir Nabakov
7. MF Doom = Thomas Pynchon
8. Chuck D = John Steinbeck
9. Nicki Minaj = Gertrude Stein
10. Jay-Z = Tom Wolfe
I thought the comparisons were often spot-on. Always glad to see someone else putting their BA in English to use.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 6:57 PM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
1. Big Boi = William Faulkner
2. Ja Rule = Jay McInerney
3. The Notorious B.I.G. = Ernest Hemingway
4. Tupac Shakur = F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. Wu-Tang Clan = Beat Poets
6. Lil Wayne = Vladimir Nabakov
7. MF Doom = Thomas Pynchon
8. Chuck D = John Steinbeck
9. Nicki Minaj = Gertrude Stein
10. Jay-Z = Tom Wolfe
I thought the comparisons were often spot-on. Always glad to see someone else putting their BA in English to use.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 6:57 PM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
Needs more Run DMC.
posted by Mister_A at 6:59 PM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Mister_A at 6:59 PM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
P. Diddy should be the one linked with F. Scott Fitzgerald. I'd almost want to link Tupac to Hunter S. Thompson, and I'm liking Queen Latifah for Gertrude Stein
posted by fuse theorem at 7:06 PM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by fuse theorem at 7:06 PM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
Biggie/Hemingway was perfect, and they didn't even go into how both of them were famously obsessed with the idea of their own deaths before dying tragically.
posted by Navelgazer at 7:14 PM on September 7, 2010 [4 favorites]
posted by Navelgazer at 7:14 PM on September 7, 2010 [4 favorites]
Lil Wayne = Vladimir Nabakov
I didn't realize how much I loved Nabokov until I read this and I felt straight up offended.
posted by mmmbacon at 7:14 PM on September 7, 2010 [2 favorites]
I didn't realize how much I loved Nabokov until I read this and I felt straight up offended.
posted by mmmbacon at 7:14 PM on September 7, 2010 [2 favorites]
Kool Keith = James Joyce
Free-associative word play with scatology.
posted by Joe Beese at 7:24 PM on September 7, 2010 [2 favorites]
Free-associative word play with scatology.
posted by Joe Beese at 7:24 PM on September 7, 2010 [2 favorites]
Eminem = Norman Mailer?
posted by Navelgazer at 7:25 PM on September 7, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by Navelgazer at 7:25 PM on September 7, 2010 [2 favorites]
Lil Wayne = Vladimir Nabakov
Well, they do kinda look similar.
posted by ovvl at 7:30 PM on September 7, 2010
Well, they do kinda look similar.
posted by ovvl at 7:30 PM on September 7, 2010
50 Cent = Ayn Rand
posted by naju at 7:41 PM on September 7, 2010 [14 favorites]
posted by naju at 7:41 PM on September 7, 2010 [14 favorites]
Somehow, the way the page rendered or whatever while I was scrolling down, just for a split second, it showed the top of Lil Wayne's head and then the shriveled forehead of Nabokov that I somehow mistook for William S. Burroughs. Anyway, to me, it really really looked like William S. Burroughs, andjust for a second I thought "Yes, well, they got this one right. Lil Wayne = William S. Burroughs."
I'm not sure if it's totally appropriate, but at the time it felt really right in a way I find myself hard pressed to defend now.
(P.S. This is all great and all, but I really wish we could just talk about how good the new Big Boi album is.)
posted by Tiresias at 7:43 PM on September 7, 2010
I'm not sure if it's totally appropriate, but at the time it felt really right in a way I find myself hard pressed to defend now.
(P.S. This is all great and all, but I really wish we could just talk about how good the new Big Boi album is.)
posted by Tiresias at 7:43 PM on September 7, 2010
And they should both be required high-school consumption.
Bleh.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 7:46 PM on September 7, 2010
Bleh.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 7:46 PM on September 7, 2010
If Tupac is F Scott Fitzgerald, who is Nathanial West?
posted by drezdn at 7:47 PM on September 7, 2010
posted by drezdn at 7:47 PM on September 7, 2010
That was wack. As in weak or out of wack. Or as in it lacked. Specifically, a knowledge of rap.
Go home and do you homework. Listen to what your missin before you mess with the written word.
It's five o'clock somewhere and you still don't know what time it is.
It's three am eternally and still you don't get what a crime this is.
But don't turn back. Instead follow me on where you're thinking you were first.
Rakim Brother J and KRS were literally chaos upon the verse.
I mean, you think you're a philosopher because you toss off a few names for the rest of us to review?
On preview it seems you don't know what you mean. Like it was just a dream.
Except one in which—so-called author—you're all wet.
The Kings of Rock got forgot. You say Who? I say'd study. You'd better you bet.
You say Big Boi is Faulkner that's a comparison the rest of us can only regret.
While you make allusions conclusions and go with that, the truth is this:
Rap is its own Vonnegut.
posted by Mike Mongo at 7:50 PM on September 7, 2010 [15 favorites]
Go home and do you homework. Listen to what your missin before you mess with the written word.
It's five o'clock somewhere and you still don't know what time it is.
It's three am eternally and still you don't get what a crime this is.
But don't turn back. Instead follow me on where you're thinking you were first.
Rakim Brother J and KRS were literally chaos upon the verse.
I mean, you think you're a philosopher because you toss off a few names for the rest of us to review?
On preview it seems you don't know what you mean. Like it was just a dream.
Except one in which—so-called author—you're all wet.
The Kings of Rock got forgot. You say Who? I say'd study. You'd better you bet.
You say Big Boi is Faulkner that's a comparison the rest of us can only regret.
While you make allusions conclusions and go with that, the truth is this:
Rap is its own Vonnegut.
posted by Mike Mongo at 7:50 PM on September 7, 2010 [15 favorites]
Eminem = Norman Mailer?
No, the white rapper has to correspond to a black literary figure.
posted by kenko at 7:59 PM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
No, the white rapper has to correspond to a black literary figure.
posted by kenko at 7:59 PM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
No, the white rapper has to correspond to a black literary figure.
Eminem = Richard Wright
posted by KingEdRa at 8:04 PM on September 7, 2010 [3 favorites]
Eminem = Richard Wright
posted by KingEdRa at 8:04 PM on September 7, 2010 [3 favorites]
I dunno, I thought the Eminem = Norman Mailer comparison was clever.
posted by heyho at 8:15 PM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by heyho at 8:15 PM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
Heyho, I'd say MC Serch = Norman Mailer. (The lil' imp on my shoulder wanted me to type "Vanilla Ice = Norman Mailer," tho)
posted by KingEdRa at 8:28 PM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by KingEdRa at 8:28 PM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
Rap is its own Vonnegut.
This is love.
posted by psylosyren at 8:31 PM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
This is love.
posted by psylosyren at 8:31 PM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
If you like this, you might enjoy HuffPo's If Rappers Were Colleges.
Also, Wu-Tang = beat poets is a total cop-out, even with the RZA, GZA, ODB = Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs thing. I'm no expert on the Beats, but let me give this a shot:
RZA: Lawrence Ferlinghetti
GZA: Allen Ginsberg
Meth: Jack Kerouac
Rae: Herbert Huncke
Ghost: William S. Burroughs
Deck: Gary Snyder
Killa: Gregory Corso
U-God: John Clellon Holmes
ODB: Neal Cassady
Yeah, it's not perfect, but it's a start.
posted by box at 8:40 PM on September 7, 2010 [2 favorites]
Also, Wu-Tang = beat poets is a total cop-out, even with the RZA, GZA, ODB = Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs thing. I'm no expert on the Beats, but let me give this a shot:
RZA: Lawrence Ferlinghetti
GZA: Allen Ginsberg
Meth: Jack Kerouac
Rae: Herbert Huncke
Ghost: William S. Burroughs
Deck: Gary Snyder
Killa: Gregory Corso
U-God: John Clellon Holmes
ODB: Neal Cassady
Yeah, it's not perfect, but it's a start.
posted by box at 8:40 PM on September 7, 2010 [2 favorites]
And Cappadonna can be, uh, Rexroth.
posted by box at 8:41 PM on September 7, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by box at 8:41 PM on September 7, 2010 [2 favorites]
Nas = Salman Rushdie
posted by auralcoral at 8:51 PM on September 7, 2010
posted by auralcoral at 8:51 PM on September 7, 2010
Lil Wayne = Vladimir Nabakov
I didn't realize how much I loved Nabokov until I read this
Oddly, it wasn't until I read this that I realized how much I dislike Wayne.
If he dies young, he's going to have a shot at passing 'Pac as most overrated rapper of all time.
posted by box at 8:53 PM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
I didn't realize how much I loved Nabokov until I read this
Oddly, it wasn't until I read this that I realized how much I dislike Wayne.
If he dies young, he's going to have a shot at passing 'Pac as most overrated rapper of all time.
posted by box at 8:53 PM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
Websites And the Websites They Want To Be Like.
1. FlavorWire - Cracked
--Next Page->
posted by empath at 8:54 PM on September 7, 2010 [9 favorites]
1. FlavorWire - Cracked
--Next Page->
posted by empath at 8:54 PM on September 7, 2010 [9 favorites]
3. The Notorious B.I.G. = Ernest Hemingway
I've always thought that Hemingway had a very rap aesthetic. He's uncompromising, relentless late adolescent: at the same time he was a really human and humane writer and a massive, massive dickhead.
When he was a correspondent in the Spanish Civil War he used to refer to the prostitutes who worked in and around the foreign hotels as the "whores de combat". If that's not a rap joke, I don't know what is.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 9:07 PM on September 7, 2010 [3 favorites]
I've always thought that Hemingway had a very rap aesthetic. He's uncompromising, relentless late adolescent: at the same time he was a really human and humane writer and a massive, massive dickhead.
When he was a correspondent in the Spanish Civil War he used to refer to the prostitutes who worked in and around the foreign hotels as the "whores de combat". If that's not a rap joke, I don't know what is.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 9:07 PM on September 7, 2010 [3 favorites]
I love most of the literary guys. Does this mean it's time for me to stop worrying and learn to love rap? I guess now I'll have to try.
posted by chatongriffes at 9:27 PM on September 7, 2010
posted by chatongriffes at 9:27 PM on September 7, 2010
I loved this article, but I take exception to this:
Not to mention their mutual disdain for parties and bullshit…
Now maybe this writer misspoke, and I can't speak for Hemmingway, but Biggie was a staunch advocate of Parties and Bullshit.
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 10:19 PM on September 7, 2010 [2 favorites]
Not to mention their mutual disdain for parties and bullshit…
Now maybe this writer misspoke, and I can't speak for Hemmingway, but Biggie was a staunch advocate of Parties and Bullshit.
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 10:19 PM on September 7, 2010 [2 favorites]
also, I'm confident MeFi can come up with a rap counterpart for David Foster Wallace. Slug? Aesop? i guess they're more hip-hop...
posted by auralcoral at 10:27 PM on September 7, 2010
posted by auralcoral at 10:27 PM on September 7, 2010
box: ODB: Neal Cassady
So clearly what you are saying is that I need to buy some Neal Cassady books right fucking now.
auralcoral: Nas = Salman Rushdie
No, Nas == Irvine Welsh. A seminal work when no one knew who he was, which he has been chasing and cribbing from for the rest of his mediocre career, throwing around a bunch of words to try to say Something Serious without ever being in any real danger of coming close.
Rushdie, with the consistent, dark humor and the deliberate joy in layering on more and more layers of words to paint a vivid mental image, that's a hard one. GZA at his best is a fair comparison, but he doesn't go to that level often enough. Ghostface in his stories is close, but with simpler wordplay, and again only sometimes. Slick Rick is more consistent, but again less dense word-play and much hornier than Rushdie.
posted by paisley henosis at 11:24 PM on September 7, 2010
So clearly what you are saying is that I need to buy some Neal Cassady books right fucking now.
auralcoral: Nas = Salman Rushdie
No, Nas == Irvine Welsh. A seminal work when no one knew who he was, which he has been chasing and cribbing from for the rest of his mediocre career, throwing around a bunch of words to try to say Something Serious without ever being in any real danger of coming close.
Rushdie, with the consistent, dark humor and the deliberate joy in layering on more and more layers of words to paint a vivid mental image, that's a hard one. GZA at his best is a fair comparison, but he doesn't go to that level often enough. Ghostface in his stories is close, but with simpler wordplay, and again only sometimes. Slick Rick is more consistent, but again less dense word-play and much hornier than Rushdie.
posted by paisley henosis at 11:24 PM on September 7, 2010
auralcoral: Slug? Aesop? i guess they're more hip-hop...
Please don't do this. Not just 'please don't do this on the Blue," but please, just don't do this.
posted by paisley henosis at 11:24 PM on September 7, 2010 [2 favorites]
Please don't do this. Not just 'please don't do this on the Blue," but please, just don't do this.
posted by paisley henosis at 11:24 PM on September 7, 2010 [2 favorites]
So frustrating to see an "I love it when you call me Big Papa" opportunity wasted.
posted by carbide at 1:14 AM on September 8, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by carbide at 1:14 AM on September 8, 2010 [2 favorites]
50 Cent = Ayn RandGo Atlas, it's your birthday...
posted by nickrussell at 2:33 AM on September 8, 2010 [2 favorites]
pardon me snarkey henosis, i'm not trying to start the age-old rap vs. hip-hop definition argument, i just could never justify to myself calling Atmosphere rap. I just can't.
posted by auralcoral at 4:12 AM on September 8, 2010
posted by auralcoral at 4:12 AM on September 8, 2010
MF Doom is more a DFW or a Nabokov than Weezy Dwayne Wayne. I don't know. Lil Wayne to me is like. . . Chuck Palahniuk.
posted by orville sash at 5:50 AM on September 8, 2010
posted by orville sash at 5:50 AM on September 8, 2010
MF Doom = E.E. Cummings
His genius is overshadowed by gimmicks and attitudes toward capitalization.
posted by box at 6:03 AM on September 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
His genius is overshadowed by gimmicks and attitudes toward capitalization.
posted by box at 6:03 AM on September 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
His genius is overshadowed by gimmicks and attitudes toward capitalization
Well... As for gimmicks, Cummings has written hundreds of straight poems and form is at times essential in his experimental poems (for instance).
posted by ersatz at 6:24 AM on September 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
Well... As for gimmicks, Cummings has written hundreds of straight poems and form is at times essential in his experimental poems (for instance).
posted by ersatz at 6:24 AM on September 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
Don't get me wrong--I'm a big fan. But if someone knows two things about Cummings, the other one is concrete poetry.
posted by box at 6:33 AM on September 8, 2010
posted by box at 6:33 AM on September 8, 2010
auralcoral: pardon me snarkey henosis, i'm not trying to start the age-old rap vs. hip-hop definition argument, i just could never justify to myself calling Atmosphere rap. I just can't.
So...what do you call what Slug is doing over the beat of every Atmosphere song?
Sounds like you need schooling in the four elements, son.
posted by joedan at 7:55 AM on September 8, 2010
So...what do you call what Slug is doing over the beat of every Atmosphere song?
Sounds like you need schooling in the four elements, son.
posted by joedan at 7:55 AM on September 8, 2010
Thank god they didn't include Kanye West, because he is basically illiterate.
Then again, they did include lil wayne.
posted by lkc at 1:45 PM on September 8, 2010
Then again, they did include lil wayne.
posted by lkc at 1:45 PM on September 8, 2010
Sorry, guys, writers win this one hard. Partly because if each rap counts as a page, most of these guys barely make it out of novella.
posted by klangklangston at 2:45 PM on September 8, 2010
posted by klangklangston at 2:45 PM on September 8, 2010
I think Eminem is a horror writer. "But which," is the question.
posted by fontgoddess at 4:02 PM on September 8, 2010
posted by fontgoddess at 4:02 PM on September 8, 2010
Why is Nicki Minaj taking the place of Salt-n-Peppa, Missy Elliot, or Lil' Kim as the token Mainstream Rap Female/s? Plus, the Gertrude Stein comparison was totally off...Minaj hasn't even dropped her first album yet and she's getting about as much airplay as Drake. I'd say that ODB would be more Gertrude Stein in terms of content. Eg:
"A to the Pox doing Night Fever
Cancer, herpes, mumps, seizures
Diabetes, TV if you're against me
You die easier!
Cops don't have a show whatsoever
Ain't no more doctors, ministers
Nurses can't give us searches
There won't be electric, won't be churches
Cause your body go against you
Whether it's a lie or whether it's true
You can't use violent mentalities anymore
It ain't lambskin
You can't use the word napkin
...
Big Baby Jesus
I can't wait"
versus
"In between a place and candy is a narrow foot-path that shows more mounting than anything, so much really that a calling meaning a bolster measured a whole thing with that. A virgin a whole virgin is judged made and so between curves and outlines and real seasons and more out glasses and a perfectly unprecedented arrangement between old ladies and mild colds there is no satin wood shining."
I feel like a lot of the comparisons were not very thought out or deep. Plus, passing Wu-Tang off as The Beat Poets™ was soooo cheap.
posted by 200burritos at 5:26 PM on September 8, 2010
"A to the Pox doing Night Fever
Cancer, herpes, mumps, seizures
Diabetes, TV if you're against me
You die easier!
Cops don't have a show whatsoever
Ain't no more doctors, ministers
Nurses can't give us searches
There won't be electric, won't be churches
Cause your body go against you
Whether it's a lie or whether it's true
You can't use violent mentalities anymore
It ain't lambskin
You can't use the word napkin
...
Big Baby Jesus
I can't wait"
versus
"In between a place and candy is a narrow foot-path that shows more mounting than anything, so much really that a calling meaning a bolster measured a whole thing with that. A virgin a whole virgin is judged made and so between curves and outlines and real seasons and more out glasses and a perfectly unprecedented arrangement between old ladies and mild colds there is no satin wood shining."
I feel like a lot of the comparisons were not very thought out or deep. Plus, passing Wu-Tang off as The Beat Poets™ was soooo cheap.
posted by 200burritos at 5:26 PM on September 8, 2010
I know he's been mentioned, but I think ODB = Hunter S. Thompson.
And Will Smith = Stephen King? Yes. YES!
posted by Leta at 9:22 PM on September 8, 2010
And Will Smith = Stephen King? Yes. YES!
posted by Leta at 9:22 PM on September 8, 2010
Mr. Lif = Sinclair Lewis
His politics get in the way of his writing skills, and vice versa.
Big L = John Kennedy Toole
Bright, wordy, often hilarious cult favorite, but died with too small an output to really ever be one of the greats.
Kool G Rap = Ed McBain
Reliable, workmanlike wordsmith is loved by hardcore fans, but too entrenched in a genre ghetto to get much respect from critics.
posted by box at 10:33 AM on September 9, 2010
His politics get in the way of his writing skills, and vice versa.
Big L = John Kennedy Toole
Bright, wordy, often hilarious cult favorite, but died with too small an output to really ever be one of the greats.
Kool G Rap = Ed McBain
Reliable, workmanlike wordsmith is loved by hardcore fans, but too entrenched in a genre ghetto to get much respect from critics.
posted by box at 10:33 AM on September 9, 2010
Dr. Dre = James Patterson
He makes a lot of money, but he's more of a brand than an author, and many of his best words were written by somebody else.
posted by box at 5:19 PM on September 9, 2010
He makes a lot of money, but he's more of a brand than an author, and many of his best words were written by somebody else.
posted by box at 5:19 PM on September 9, 2010
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