reyshizz

Most people who write music boast about how lyrical their works are, but I wonder if they know what that means. In my categorization of the six different types of rappers, I talk of the “Lyricist” as one who writes music that focuses on word play and uses literary tools such as metaphors and double entendres. I think that definition scratches the surface but there is much more involved. To dive deeper into the matter let talk about where the notion came from to begin with.

It started with poetry. Lyric Poetry is a poem with rhyming that expresses personal feelings. It can be set to music but not necessary (Wikipedia). I also found this description on Lyrical Works.com:

Lyric poetry is honest and direct, an emotional outpouring from the poet’s heart. A lyric poem is not intended to impress you with its erudition or cleverness, so you won’t find an elaborate construction of intellectual or poetic conceits. Rather, the poem appears spontaneous, very human, even conversational. Many lyric poems are quite simple, yet very moving.

As you may have noticed the above definitions do not describe how the work is written but what the work is about. It’s personal, it has human quality and it speaks to the emotions.

Back tracking to lyricism as it applies to music, is there a relationship? In music can we take a personal subject matter and describe it using metaphors (and other literary tools) to provoke an emotional response? I say yes, and that is what it means to be lyrical.