Just FYI, because it’s extremely important, and it’s a very serious matter:
In “Book of Rhymes”, one of the best tracks on Eminem’s new album, released on the 18th, Eminem says the words “amygdala hippocampus” – and rhymes them – not just the ends of the words but every syllable of each word. If he ever married again, and it wasn’t to Kim, whom he has already married twice, he’d marry a compound syllable rhyme. Amygdala hippocampus? I don’t even know what that is although I know it has to do with the brain.
“the amygdala hippocampus is gonna trigger the ignoramus”
It’s easy to know what he means: My brain is going to make you feel stupid.
But the rhymes are what matters. Not the meaning, but the rhymes. It’s a flex.
There’s the “IG” sound:
aMYGdala
TRIGger
IGnoramus.
He turns amy”GDALA” and GONNA into a rhyme because of how he says it and the cadence.
Then there’s an internal rhyme: the short “i” sound:
Hipp
CampIS
IS
Tr”I”gger
I”gnoramIS.
Then the easy one: Campus and “ramus.
Look at what he’s done. Why, Marshall. You’re almost 50. Relax. But he can’t relax.
Speaking of which and this is from an older song: The phrase “beg the question” is so mis-used it should be retired. It does not mean “ask the question.” News anchors use it as “ask the question.” Journalists use it as “ask the question.” Film critics use it as “ask the question.” It bothers me every time. It doesn’t mean what you think it means. Please stop. One of the only contemporary people – outside of grammar nerds – who has used it correctly is Eminem. I suppose he is a grammar nerd then, 8th grade education and all. I can’t remember which song now, but I had to rewind it back a couple of times, thinking, “Holy shit … I think that’s right.”
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