1. Alim / 31.1 (March 2003)
JEngL On Some Serious Next Millennium Rap Ishhh 10.1177/0075424202250619
ARTICLE
On Some Serious Next Millennium Rap Ishhh
Pharoahe Monch, Hip Hop Poetics, and
the Internal Rhymes of Internal Affairs
H. SAMY ALIM
Stanford University
By examining the Hip Hop poetics on Pharoahe Monch’s album, Internal Affairs (1999), this
article demonstrates the linguistic inventiveness and innovativeness of contemporary Afri-
can American lyricists. As poets, Hip Hop MCs (rhymers) have both built on and expanded