Abstract
Many different forms of notation have been used for representing rap performances in analytical articles over the past two decades. Per Adams 2014, modern musicology on rap begins with Krims 2000. The most frequent type of notation used to analyze rap–flow diagrams, which depict rhythmic duration and accent horizontally over a typographic visualization of rap’s normative 4/4 measure–can be found in Krims 2000. These diagrams independently became much more highly developed to now include rhyme schemes, as well as more specific rhythms (Adams 2009.) Since this time, an entire family of methods for notating rap has been theorized (Miyakawa 2005, Connor 2014, Ranganathan 2015, Condit-Schulz 2016, Ohriner 2016, Connor 2018). A comparison of the abilities of these notations to represent separate aspects of the rap performance like pitch, beat, melody, and rhythm can reveal important insights about what rap musicologists are studying, how they are studying it, and what genus of conclusions they are coming to. Because the rap culture itself is un-notated, an evolved form of the traditional Western sheet music system can best meet the demands of the entire genre, even if some notational forms are better locally, or in specific contexts. The widespread availability of digital transcription, playback, and electronic recording helps to overcome previously insurmountable obstacles to its use. In the future, analysts may depend on an interpenetrating ecosystem of notation, each fit for the needs of the moment, rather than a standard notation. The overemphasis on rhythm of prevailing systems of notation make it clear just how many domains in rap remain underexplored, especially in the intersection between linguistics and rap, as in the sonority hierarchy, phonologies and their conscious exploitation by native speakers, or the durational aspect of semantically meaningful utterances.