Saturday, September 13, 2008

translation, transliteration, imitation, interpretation, audience, performance

I'm not sure what to do with this clip, but I find it interesting in many ways. At the center is a rap battle, framed in what appears to be a traditional setting for the event-audience, participants, chorus. The battle progresses in a normative fashion through the first rhetor's presentation. His address, while drawing on audience connection (syllogism), is directed toward his challenger. The second rhetor violates the norms of the event in several ways. First, the respondent prefaces his reply with an address to the crowd not his "opponent," in what can be interpreted as his making a preemptive apology for his awaited reply. Second, as he constructs his response, he addresses the audience more often as interlocutor than the first rhetor, effectively re-situating the first rhetor out of the normative role in the battle. Note the second rhetor's use of the third person pronoun "he" in most of his reply. Further, his establishment of rhyme scheme is spotty and his flow is nonexistent. The first rhetor decreases the physical distance between himself and the speaker, which is completely within the accepted norms of the freestyle battle. So long as the participants do not touch, there is no viable grounds to perceive that the rules of engagement have been violated. However, it is clear by now to the seasoned observer that the second rhetor is not familiar with the norms of the performance. In other words, "He don't know the rules." While is claim to having his space invaded is elsewhere and at other times an acceptable response, in this context his request to have the first rhetor increase the physical distance is an invalid request. It is his responsibility to increase the social distance either by retreating himself or propelling the first rhetor away with a verbal reply. Instead he chooses "fist to cuffs."

In and of itself, the performance is interesting, if not disheartening. Granted, there have been more and more severe physical altercations, let alone wars, started as result of someone getting their feelings hurt. Still, if you don't want to get burned, stay out of the kitchen. I should insert some commentary here referencing Aristotle and rhetorical truth and physical violence, but I can't recall what he said.

And I still need to address the "meta" commentary in this clip, which, while humorous, is a mis-representation of the original text that it purports to translate. More later.
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