I’ve been curious about this for awhile, but after getting the latest Weird Al CD I’ve finally gotten around to asking.
What is the reason for the deliberate misspellings in rap/hip-hop song names and artist names? I’m talking about things like “Hot in Herre” and “Tha” for “The” and that sort of thing. I thought perhaps it might be a dialect thing (spelling it “tha” because it can be pronounced that way) but I see no reason at all for spelling “here” “herre” (unless I’m missing something really obvious). I can’t think of any other specific examples at the moment, but I know that every time I glance over the rap section at the local Tower Records I see way too many examples of this for it to be coincidence or random.
Any rap/hip-hop fans out there who can answer this one for me?
It is an attempt to spell things the way they are pronounced. For a non-rap example see the “Nomaaaa” posters around Boston , capital of the US’s “r-less” accent, for Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciapara. Other examples include Chrissake for Christ’s sake and hangin’ out instead of hanging out.
It is also an attempt to make the lyrics look different. It puts one in a different frame of mind. For a non-rap example see “cum.” It is something that is only related to one topic, sex. The “rap spellings” relate to rap.
I hope you’re kidding. What’s wrong with spelling things the way they’re supposed to be spelled? Looking like one dropped out of elementary school might sell to a certain target audience, but it’s not impressing the mainstream any.
While not a huge hip-hop fan, I understand this. I have know people who talk about getting their “hair-a” done, tell their kids to get “ench-erre” (in here), etc.
Yes, it is an example of spelling it the way it is pronounced. As for those who question why they can’t set an example and spell it correctly, I’d rather they set an example and not rap about selling drugs, or their bi-atches and ho’s and shooting people. Let’s work on those things, then we can nitpick over their spelling.
It’s all about marketing. They break the rules and all the kiddies find that so cool, and buy all their CDs in droves, just to be hip.
Thank God all the bands in my day knew how to spell correctly. You’d never see such cheesy sheenanigans from such class acts as Led Zeppelin, Def Leppard, Megadeth, the Beatles…
It looks to me like how I hear some southern ebonics. I am no authority on this, but the “r” sound to end a word can sometimes come out sounding more like “arruh”.
Specifically, Hearing people talk about the “Arruh Kelly” sex tape and how “Arruh Kelly” is such a dog.
Led Zeppelin was spelled that way so that it would be pronounced correctly. They worried that if it was spelled Lead Zeppelin it would be pronounced Lead as in Follow the LEADer.
In the song “Hot In Herre” they pronounce it “HERRE” and that’s why it’s spelled as such. (sort of like “HER” but with a different sounding E)
Nelly, the artist who did that song, is from St. Louis and pronounces alot of things like that. I cannot claim it to be true but I’d bet that the place in St. Louis where he grew up pronounced it like that.
