Rap & Poetry: Charlie Luckie
So first, I’d like to point out that I do in fact think very highly of my own writing capabilities, but I was one thousand percent joking during the conversation linked above. The way my anxiety is set up I could NEVER be a battle rapper. Even if I could rap, I would definitely never challenge Charlie Luckie. I’ve seen this man completely slaughter his opponents on the mic and I’m almost certain he’d annihilate me and not feel a drop of remorse. Though I am in the habit of setting myself up for failure, winning a rap battle between the two of us is something even my crazy can’t convince me I’m capable of. However, I did thoroughly enjoy pretending like I’d be brave (or dumb) enough to challenge Mr. Luckie.
If you haven’t listened to our chat yet I strongly recommend you click this link now!
The gentleman I keep referencing is Charlie Luckie: an extremely talented, Florida based rapper (two things we won’t hold against him.) Honestly, this was a spontaneous conversation that occurred simply because I read a very biased post that got me pondering the similarities and differences between rap and poetry. I may have gotten a little obsessed with trying to think it through and somehow decided that since I’m a poet I also had to have the opinion of a rapper in order for my data to be valid. I was also curious how different our opinions would be. Naturally this led to me using Facebook in the middle of the night to call and have rather long conversations with two battle rappers I’d met in Alabama over eight years ago. Yall really indulge my crazy then wonder why I behave the way I do.
Anywho, I don’t recall exactly where I saw it but the post that started this train of thought read something along the lines of, “All poets can be rappers, but not all rappers can be poets.”
My initial thought was not friendly, uplifting, nor was it going to benefit anyone’s growth; and that’s not the person I want to be. I tried to see pass my judgment, rearrange the words, think about the point that was trying to be made rather than focus on the words actually posted and still, I concluded that the post was in fact stupid and the postee was more than likely not a gifted rapper or poet. But now the comparison was in my head and Buddy here we are!
I hope by now you’ve clicked the dang link!
Both mine and Charlie’s thoughts on the matter were very much so aligned. I do feel like there are certain rap styles that are more poetic than others. There are also poets like spoken word artists and storytellers that would probably make better rappers than those that write other styles of poetry. I’m not going to go over everything we discussed because I know you heard it for yourself, but there is one thing I’d like to point out. Charlie proved there is in fact a poetic influence in his rap when he mentioned that learning about poetry in school helped him figure out he could write cool stuff. It’s also evident by the fact that he started writing at a young age then began putting his work to music years later. And just so we’re clear, like super super clear… I must give Charlie his props and commend him on both his talent and confidence. What he does is not easy! I’ve tried. So I greatly appreciate him sharing his time with me and his patience with my constant fake challenges. Go follow him!
I do believe a really talented singer or rapper could turn any of my poems into a song; whereas there are songs that would not make sense without the musical production. I’ve concluded that this is the line of thought the original postee must’ve been having. However, the fact that I myself cannot rap invalidates their post and supports my initial judgement. Thanks, come again.
Creatively yours,
Miss Bee Poetic, Expressive, Sick Wit It
