Dallas Public Library

Talking 'bout your mama, the dozens, snaps, and the deep roots of rap, Elijah Wald

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 201-231) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Talking 'bout your mama

bibliography

879527844

Elijah Wald

the dozens, snaps, and the deep roots of rap

"At its simplest, the dozens is a comic concatenation of "yo' mama" jokes. At its most complex, it is a form of social interaction that reaches back to African ceremonial rituals. Whether considered vernacular poetry, verbal dueling, a test of street cool, or just a mess of dirty insults, the dozens has been a basic building block of African-American culture. A game which could inspire raucous laughter or escalate to violence, it provided a wellspring of rhymes, attitude, and raw humor that has influenced pop musicians from Jelly Roll Morton to Ice Cube. Wald explores the depth of the dozens' roots, looking at mother-insulting and verbal combat from Greenland to the sources of the Niger, and shows its breadth of influence in the seminal writings of Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston; the comedy of Richard Pryor and George Carlin; the dark humor of the blues; the hip slang and competitive jamming of jazz; and most recently in the improvisatory battling of rap. A forbidden language beneath the surface of American popular culture, the dozens links children's clapping rhymes to low-down juke joints and the most modern street verse to the earliest African American folklore"--Publisher's website

A trip down Twelfth Street -- The name of the game -- Singing the dozens -- Country dozens and dirty blues -- The literary dozens -- Studying the street -- The martial art of rhyming -- Around the world with your mother -- African roots -- Slipping across the color line -- Why do they (we) do that? -- Rapping, snapping, and battling

Talking about your mama