AHC: The Roman Republic invents rap

[Erodoeht Tlevesoor]

With a point of divergance from the founding of Rome to the start of the Empire, have the Romans invent hardcore gangster rap.
Bonus: They create a rap put down against Hannibal or another great enemy

[Zeldar155]

What the hell?... I've got nothing...

[XanXar]

We should have AHCs like this one.....

[Maxwell Edison II]

I've heard Gambia or somewhere in the vicinity has some kind of rap-like traditional singing.

[Wolfpaw]

Originally Posted by Erodoeht Tlevesoor

With a point of divergance from the founding of Rome to the start of the Empire, have the Romans invent hardcore gangster rap.
Bonus: They create a rap put down against Hannibal or another great enemy

Just have a bunch of poor--yet somehow literate Romans--start righting really brutal poems that are lyrical, at times rhyme, and also lament the problems of racism and life in low-income neighborhoods.

So, I dunno. A poor Cicero? Basically, some poet gets born poor, lives a shitty life, and starts chanting about it.

[MNP]

Hmm, when was it most important historically for poems to rhyme?

[Marc Pasquin]

Originally Posted by MNP

Hmm, when was it most important historically for poems to rhyme?

as long as it was a mnemonic trick for people to remember long text.

[Grouchio]

1. This is ASB. The African slave trade and classical music weren't around yet, so "rap as we know it" wouldn't have existed as a result.
2. Rap isn't real music. It's just ghetto trash talk with corny rhyming.

[Wolfpaw]

Originally Posted by Grouchio

2. Rap isn't real music. It's just ghetto trash talk with corny rhyming.

Wow. The ignorance in this post is just astounding.

Beethoven isn't real music; it's just scraping cat guts. Folk music isn't real music, it's just hick shtick.

[Zeldar155]

Originally Posted by Wolfpaw

Wow. The ignorance in this post is just astounding.

Beethoven isn't real music; it's just scraping cat guts. Folk music isn't real music, it's just hick shtick.

Actually you just walked into general ignorance! They didn't use cat gut, it was just a rumour they set about to dominate the market, as the competition didn't want to kill cats (which was seen as bad luck etc) QI knowledge ftw.

[Tallest Skil]

Originally Posted by Erodoeht Tlevesoor

…have the Romans invent hardcore gangster rap.

*phat beetz dropping*

Te adiuvāre possum? Me adiuvāre potes?
Perpetuum mobile musica contra bonos mores!

*bridge, comprised of record* scratching*

*Well, bronze discs on stone.

[Wolfpaw]

Originally Posted by Zeldar155

Actually you just walked into general ignorance! They didn't use cat gut, it was just a rumour they set about to dominate the market, as the competition didn't want to kill cats (which was seen as bad luck etc) QI knowledge ftw.

Never stopped people from callin' musicians gut-scrapers.

[Zeldar155]

Originally Posted by Wolfpaw

Never stopped people from callin' musicians gut-scrapers.

That's because its what I said, general ignorance.

[Wolfpaw]

Originally Posted by Zeldar155

That's because its what I said, general ignorance.

No it's not. The strings were still made out of animal guts, just not cat guts.

[Zeldar155]

Originally Posted by Wolfpaw

No it's not. The strings were still made out of animal guts, just not cat guts.

Ah, yes, but I thought you were still clinging on to the cat gut theory, my bad.

[Erodoeht Tlevesoor]

A Libyan salve from Carthage meets up with a bankrupt poet and they become Biggius and Pacius. This form of poetry becomes popular among Romans leading up to the battle of Zama when Scipio Africanus uses a hard-core put down rap to goad Hannibal into attacking him.

[AtriumCarceris]

I wouldn't imagine it'd be that difficult actually. There was already lyrical poetry that went to music, you just need somebody to change it to being more rap like and it might catch on. It was already no longer sung by Roman times.

In fact, there's no good reason to think that the Lyric poetry during this time wasn't rap-like in delivery. It wasn't sung, it merely had a meter. Then there were the Neoterics who dropped all the normal poetry things and instead made poems about "mundane" things like their friends, their lives, or whatever. Sounds very rap like to me. So it's probably not too big of a stretch. Just make it catch on to the lower class and have it take off from there.

[PlayerOne]

Hannibal is so devastated by the sick burns laid upon him, he surrenders, and Carthage becomes a Roman record label. With the aid of their sweet rhymes, the Romans bust ass across the Mediterranean, and quickly become a lyrical hegemony.

However, the R&B tunes and migrations from raiding gangstas in the north lead Romans to abandon several provinces, due to their lack in swag and the overwhelming presence of white people.

This eventually leads to the division of the Roman Empire, the West Coast and the East Coast. The Western Coast collapses following the death of Emperor Tupac I, surviving in the form of successor studios and independent albums, while the Eastern Coast survives until Emperor B.I.G "the Notorious" surrenders to the Ottoman Turks.

[Marc Pasquin]

Originally Posted by Tallest Skil

*bridge, comprised of record* scratching*

*Well, bronze discs on stone.

scraping tablets ?

[Vinland]

From what I remember from studying Latin poetry (it was part of a general course, I had no choice), apparently the poetry was always meant to be read with a particular meter, but wasn't typically set to music, though Greek poetry was. To my recollection, it never really rhymed in Latin, though, unless our pronunciation is just way off. All things considered, it's not much of a stretch for Romans to start playing music alongside their poetry and maybe have it start rhyming. It might sound a bit more like beat poetry to us, though. I can't think of any particular event that might send cultural trends in this direction though. Maybe Catullus discovers beatboxing as a child and goes to town with it?

...I'm pretty sure I just suggested in all seriousness that it's entirely plausible for ancient Romans to invent rap. This is a strange moment for me. Reminds me of when my world history teacher tried to trick our class into believing that "foshizzle" came from the Byzantines.