Montrovant
Fuzzy bears!
I'd have to disagree with your contention you are not confused. You first wondered why rap was considered poetry set to music and other music forms were not. Then you claimed you could hear me being pretentious. Since you can neither hear me nor was I trying to impress you I can only surmise you are indeed confused.
If you understand there is a difference between rapping and singing then you are halfway there. Rap involves primarily the same form as poetry and the focus is on the words as well. With singing the focus is on the music and the singers ability to hit notes, runs, etc. You can sing without uttering an intelligible word or even having a message. Try that doing that with rap and you start to understand.
What I actually said is that the description poetry set to music could be used for any kind of music with lyrics. That continues to be true, unless you contend that lyrics which are sung rather than rapped are not poetry.
I said your post was pretentious-sounding. If you don't understand how I was using that phrase, I don't know what to tell you. Obviously I don't mean that I am listening to your voice. I mean that what you wrote had a pretentious tone to it. Rather than answer my question, you gave a 'ask someone who does it and you'll know' answer, which implies that I can't understand on my own and wouldn't understand any explanation you gave me, and also assumes I am not a traditional singer who cannot rap or vice versa.
What is or is not the focus of singing is entirely up to the singer/band. There is no rule that the focus must be on the music and the ability to hit notes. Singers can focus on the words, that is not something exclusive to rap.
What does 'rap has primarily the same form as poetry' mean? There are various kinds of poetry. Often poetry has no true rules or forms at all and is a free-flowing thing. What is the huge difference in rap lyrics and sung lyrics that makes rap more poetry (which is still something you have yet to explain, what is 'more' poetry?)? Is it not possible for rap lyrics to be sung traditionally, or lyrics from traditionally sung songs to be rapped?
I would say that the main difference between rapping and singing is not whether one is poetry and the other not, or one being 'more' poetry than the other, but simply the presentation of the lyrics. Those lyrics could be exactly the same. There is no need for poetry to be spoken, rapped or sung before it becomes poetry. All lyrics can be seen as poetry set to music.
To your original question I gave this answer.
Rap is more so poetry than most other forms of music specifically because their is very little singing done by the rapper. Its straight verses set to music. The interplay of words and figurative meanings are the focal point.
You wanted to dissect that further and I told you to:
Ask any rapper that cannot sing or any singer that cannot rap and you will know why.
I write poetry and rap lyrics. They are very similar in structure in that they usually convey a profound message in a figurative fashion. Rap has the added difficulty of using words that rhyme or sound like they rhyme when rapping. The talent of rapping is something a lot of singers do not have and the reverse could be said of rappers. Since rapping hinges on the words being more figurative than literal just like poetry then its closer to poetry than singing. Thats the difference.
Here's what I don't understand. Why are any lyrics only 'close' to poetry? They ARE poetry.
Singing usually has the added difficulty of using words that rhyme or sound like they rhyme when singing.
Can you not have rap songs based on the literal? Are songs that are sung never figurative?
I think you are creating an artificial difference between rap lyrics and traditionally sung lyrics.
As I've said, someone could use the exact same words and rap or sing if they wanted to.
If you could give an example of rap lyrics that could not be sung, maybe I'd see this difference you are speaking of.