This book makes a spirited argument for hip-hop as an important form of contemporary American poetry. It discusses hip-hop artists such as Eminem, Jay-Z, and Kanye West alongside canonical poets like Shakespeare, Wordsworth, and Auden. This book is penned in an accessible style that will appeal to general readers and students interested in hip hop and/or contemporary poetry. It offers an overview of three prominent rhymes favored by hip hop artists: doggerel, insult, and seduction.

Introduction: because it rhymes -- Reduced to rhyme: contemporary doggerel -- The art of rhymed insult -- Making love in mirrors: hip-hop seduction verse -- The inheritors of hip hop: reclaiming rhyme -- Conclusion: on the present and future of rhyme.