Structure
From the perspective of traditional poetic theory, almost the entire song, excluding the chorus, can be described as being written in anapestic tetrameter. However, though this poetic label accurately describes the short-short-long pattern that dominates Eminem's flow in this song, it fails to capture the musical rhythm of his delivery, which in Rap is more significant. Eminem delivers his short-short-long "anapestic" rhythm in a highly syncopated manner which is completely off the beat: he rests on the beat itself, 1,2,3,4, and delivers his words on the other 16th notes (e & a), accenting the last 16th note, the same place where the kick drum hits. This highly syncopated rhythm gives this piece much of its dramatic tension and is identical to the rhythm of the piano accompaniment. The chorus adapts lines from the song "As the Rhyme Goes On" from Eric B. and Rakim's debut album Paid in Full in which Rakim raps, "I'm the R, the A, to the K, I M--if I wasn't, then why would I say I am?" - Rakim would later be signed to Aftermath, but left before releasing an album.
Read more about this topic: The Way I Am (Eminem Song)
Famous quotes containing the word structure:
“There is no such thing as a language, not if a language is anything like what many philosophers and linguists have supposed. There is therefore no such thing to be learned, mastered, or born with. We must give up the idea of a clearly defined shared structure which language-users acquire and then apply to cases.”
—Donald Davidson (b. 1917)
“I’m a Sunday School teacher, and I’ve always known that the structure of law is founded on the Christian ethic that you shall love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself—a very high and perfect standard. We all know the fallibility of man, and the contentions in society, as described by Reinhold Niebuhr and many others, don’t permit us to achieve perfection.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“Vashtar: So it’s finished. A structure to house one man and the greatest treasure of all time.
Senta: And a structure that will last for all time.
Vashtar: Only history will tell that.
Senta: Sire, will he not be remembered?
Vashtar: Yes, he’ll be remembered. The pyramid’ll keep his memory alive. In that he built better than he knew.”
—William Faulkner (1897–1962)