Vocal Écriture: Derrida and Rap Poetics – Programming Voice

This article has two goals. First, to analyze the poetics of rap through the lens of Derrida's early thought on the nature of signification, fleshing out the form of this " postmodern " school of poetry. Second, to demonstrate the continuing relevance of deconstruction vis-à-vis contemporary popular culture and to use such an analysis as a means by which to teach core Derridean concepts. I begin by introducing some theoretical problems concerning the " neo-oral " turn in post-print culture. This leads to a discussion of rap poetics broadly conceived in the context of Derrida's critique of representation. My argument is that rap poetry as praxis undermines the assumptions of print culture in a parallel manner as Derrida's critique of phonocentrism in theory, and that this is the heart of the aesthetic. I then outline " oral picto-hieroglyphs " or the Derridean notion of écriture, as not merely a deferral or absence, but as a " re-appropriation of self-presence. " In rap, as in other forms of singer-songwriting, " neo-oral " poetry engages in a unique writing practice made possible by technological mediation. To engage in a close reading apropos this argument, I turn to a verse by Ghostface Killah, a poet whose work is untouched in the academy.