The literary singularity of Roots Manuva’s Awfully Deep

Hip hop has received considerable critical attention over the last 40 years, and is often celebrated for its political and cultural significance within youth subcultures. Although scholars frequently emphasise rap’s relation to the lives of socially and economically marginalised young people, they often neglect to give sufficient attention to the aesthetic value of rap lyrics. This is, in part, due to the success of cultural studies and its influence on academic discourses and mainstream debates on contemporary art. However, I suggest that alongside considerations of the social, cultural and political significance of rap artists’ work, global rap studies needs to address rap’s formal qualities. This will aid our understanding of the pleasure that is found within this oral-poetic form and how rap artists produce their effects. Rap is the most popular poetic form in the world, and it may very well be that it is in the aesthetic qualities of this cultural form that scholars will find much of lasting value. [...]