Historical and Rhythmic Significance of the word `Mutha Fucka` in hip-hop.
For the past month and a half now, every Saturday, myself and one other British friend have been giving seminars on the differences between GAm (General American English) and RP (British English), and thus far, amongst the most interesting topics I`ve been able to present on has been on the historical and rhythmical significance of the phrase `Mutha Fucka` in hip-hop music, and consequently General American English.
Given the fact that the word `fuck` actually outdates the discovery of the Americas, the history and signigance of that was left to my British partner, whilst I focused in on MF, which apparently was developed solely in the states, and as the saying goes “Is as American as apple pie.”
From what I`ve found out, the word was originally developed by young slaves as a derogatory term for their masters who were both having affairs and at times, literally raping their mothers. Given the fact that it was only used by slaves (who dared never say it around their masters) it remained relatively unknown among the rest of the American population for hundreds of years until it was officially recorded in 1918. Even after that however, it still remained a dialectical term used only in AAVE (African American Vernacular English) for several decades after that. Although with time it began it`s proliferation outside of the African American community, it still however stayed closely tied with it, and naturally found it`s why into hip-hop music where it still plays a much more prevalent role than in all other forms of music.
Many theorize however, that the reasons for this aren`t simply because of its historically close ties with African American culture. While standard American English speaking usually utilizes either an Iamb (stress, unstress, stress, unstress- EX. What time is it?) or an Amphibrach rhythm (U, U, S, U, U, S- EX. It’s the time to get busy.) Hip-hop music utilizes the reverse of an Iamb (S,U,S,U), a rhythm pattern called a Trochee. As such, one reason that MF is probably used so much is because it also happens to be perfectly Trocheeic. (Mutha Fucka), and in addition to that, it’s quadra-syllabic structure also means that it would fit perfectly into a 4/4 metre.
Beyond that, in looking at the structure of the word myself, I also noticed that all four of those syllables utilize the same vowel sound (in this case, a schwa, which also happens to be the simplest and most commonly used sound in spoken English) and as such, rhythmically, it has perfect assonance; a value that phonetically makes it easy to both hear and say, and traditionally was one of the strengths of Shakespearean literature.
So what’s the bottom line? Despite what everyone may say about the level of profanity in hip-hop music, apparently, it isn’t all just “for the fuck of it”;)
Given the fact that the word `fuck` actually outdates the discovery of the Americas, the history and signigance of that was left to my British partner, whilst I focused in on MF, which apparently was developed solely in the states, and as the saying goes “Is as American as apple pie.”
From what I`ve found out, the word was originally developed by young slaves as a derogatory term for their masters who were both having affairs and at times, literally raping their mothers. Given the fact that it was only used by slaves (who dared never say it around their masters) it remained relatively unknown among the rest of the American population for hundreds of years until it was officially recorded in 1918. Even after that however, it still remained a dialectical term used only in AAVE (African American Vernacular English) for several decades after that. Although with time it began it`s proliferation outside of the African American community, it still however stayed closely tied with it, and naturally found it`s why into hip-hop music where it still plays a much more prevalent role than in all other forms of music.
Many theorize however, that the reasons for this aren`t simply because of its historically close ties with African American culture. While standard American English speaking usually utilizes either an Iamb (stress, unstress, stress, unstress- EX. What time is it?) or an Amphibrach rhythm (U, U, S, U, U, S- EX. It’s the time to get busy.) Hip-hop music utilizes the reverse of an Iamb (S,U,S,U), a rhythm pattern called a Trochee. As such, one reason that MF is probably used so much is because it also happens to be perfectly Trocheeic. (Mutha Fucka), and in addition to that, it’s quadra-syllabic structure also means that it would fit perfectly into a 4/4 metre.
Beyond that, in looking at the structure of the word myself, I also noticed that all four of those syllables utilize the same vowel sound (in this case, a schwa, which also happens to be the simplest and most commonly used sound in spoken English) and as such, rhythmically, it has perfect assonance; a value that phonetically makes it easy to both hear and say, and traditionally was one of the strengths of Shakespearean literature.
So what’s the bottom line? Despite what everyone may say about the level of profanity in hip-hop music, apparently, it isn’t all just “for the fuck of it”;)
posted by Chuck at 7:09 PM
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