How are the medieval writings of Icelanders, notably the sagas, like contemporary American rap music? In content, each raises the exchange of threats and insults to the level of ritual. I discuss the art of dis, or trash talk, in Part I of this series. What about the conditions in which the sagas and rap music came into being? I don't want to make too much out of the similarities, but there are some.
Each was born in violence. Rap blossomed in the poverty and systemized, racialized violence against African American and immigrant communities in American cities. Following on the heels of the blues and hard jazz, hip-hop culture came of age after rust-belt declines, white flight, crack epidemic, and the draconian policing and racialized sentencing that devastated black men. The sagas were written down in relatively peaceful, settler Iceland, but following centuries of oral tradition that idolized old-time Viking ways. In historical works, Scandinavians went Viking: raiding, trading, and exploring across great swaths of the known world, from Constantinople to the mythic north and North America. During these times, Scandinavians organized into warring factions following local chieftains and eventually kings. Not only did bands go abroad in high Viking style, they also warred among themselves. In independent Iceland of the 12th and 13th centuries poverty was acute, the land was in decline due to overuse and an encroaching 'Little Ice Age', there was no centralized state, and disagreements were adjudicated in large part by numbers and the sword.
The sagas were, and rap lyrics are, meant to be delivered verbally: recited out loud to an audience. Whereas rappers often speak with their own voice in the first person, saga orators take on the voices of characters from the past, from their collective past. Artists of both cultures engage in verbal contests that are more than symbolic. At stake are honor, reputation, and economic winnings. The words are important, verbal skills valued. Dis and bragadoccio enable speakers to show off and tear down their enemies at the same time, one step short of pulling out a spear or glock. These creative forms comprise medieval flyting and reach an artistic pinnacle in modern rap music, where whole songs are often dedicated to them.
Separated as they may be by close to a century, it’s no surprise that performers from both art forms come out swinging, so to speak. There’s a neat parallel between Loki’s boasting, “If it’s just we two who wrangle with wounding words: I’ll turn out rich in my replies,” and Big Daddy Kane’s boasting, “I'm the authentic poet to get lyrical / For you to beat me, it's gonna take a miracle.” Writers and performers talked themselves up to distinguish themselves, trash their competition, and capture attention.
Each art focuses on manhood and the loss of manhood in sexual deviancy, with rappers referring to “penis envy” and the Sagas “cock-craving.” Homophobia comes as no surprise in these rather male-dominated contexts, found in the many taunts and insults from Odin saying Loki “played the witch” to Eminem commanding a would-be competitor, presumed male, to “suck a dick.” In the Old Norse Poem Lokasenna, Njord says that Loki has “borne babies himself,” reference to another myth when Loki transforms into a mare and gets knocked up by a stallion (his babies are horrific monsters). This may be akin to modern transphobia.
Much rap music, especially early rap, has been one-sidedly misogynistic in a way that the sagas and other medieval Icelandic texts often avoid. The sagas present roles for women that are often more complicated, or multiple. But there is a place in both art forms for powerful women. Female rappers, like Niki Minaj who calls herself, “A bad bitch,” have found ways to exercise their verbal, sexual, and commercial power and subvert the male-dominated preserves of rap culture. In these lady wordsmiths, we see saga women like Gunnhild, who curses Hrut not to enjoy sexual pleasure with his intended in Njal's Saga, and the indomitable Spes, who cuckolds her unimpressive husband with Thorstein, a manful Icelander, in Constantinople in Grettir's Saga.
The presence of potty and scatological humor in Icelandic and contemporary texts says much about the supposed evolution of art over time. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Each was born in violence. Rap blossomed in the poverty and systemized, racialized violence against African American and immigrant communities in American cities. Following on the heels of the blues and hard jazz, hip-hop culture came of age after rust-belt declines, white flight, crack epidemic, and the draconian policing and racialized sentencing that devastated black men. The sagas were written down in relatively peaceful, settler Iceland, but following centuries of oral tradition that idolized old-time Viking ways. In historical works, Scandinavians went Viking: raiding, trading, and exploring across great swaths of the known world, from Constantinople to the mythic north and North America. During these times, Scandinavians organized into warring factions following local chieftains and eventually kings. Not only did bands go abroad in high Viking style, they also warred among themselves. In independent Iceland of the 12th and 13th centuries poverty was acute, the land was in decline due to overuse and an encroaching 'Little Ice Age', there was no centralized state, and disagreements were adjudicated in large part by numbers and the sword.
The sagas were, and rap lyrics are, meant to be delivered verbally: recited out loud to an audience. Whereas rappers often speak with their own voice in the first person, saga orators take on the voices of characters from the past, from their collective past. Artists of both cultures engage in verbal contests that are more than symbolic. At stake are honor, reputation, and economic winnings. The words are important, verbal skills valued. Dis and bragadoccio enable speakers to show off and tear down their enemies at the same time, one step short of pulling out a spear or glock. These creative forms comprise medieval flyting and reach an artistic pinnacle in modern rap music, where whole songs are often dedicated to them.
Separated as they may be by close to a century, it’s no surprise that performers from both art forms come out swinging, so to speak. There’s a neat parallel between Loki’s boasting, “If it’s just we two who wrangle with wounding words: I’ll turn out rich in my replies,” and Big Daddy Kane’s boasting, “I'm the authentic poet to get lyrical / For you to beat me, it's gonna take a miracle.” Writers and performers talked themselves up to distinguish themselves, trash their competition, and capture attention.
Each art focuses on manhood and the loss of manhood in sexual deviancy, with rappers referring to “penis envy” and the Sagas “cock-craving.” Homophobia comes as no surprise in these rather male-dominated contexts, found in the many taunts and insults from Odin saying Loki “played the witch” to Eminem commanding a would-be competitor, presumed male, to “suck a dick.” In the Old Norse Poem Lokasenna, Njord says that Loki has “borne babies himself,” reference to another myth when Loki transforms into a mare and gets knocked up by a stallion (his babies are horrific monsters). This may be akin to modern transphobia.
Much rap music, especially early rap, has been one-sidedly misogynistic in a way that the sagas and other medieval Icelandic texts often avoid. The sagas present roles for women that are often more complicated, or multiple. But there is a place in both art forms for powerful women. Female rappers, like Niki Minaj who calls herself, “A bad bitch,” have found ways to exercise their verbal, sexual, and commercial power and subvert the male-dominated preserves of rap culture. In these lady wordsmiths, we see saga women like Gunnhild, who curses Hrut not to enjoy sexual pleasure with his intended in Njal's Saga, and the indomitable Spes, who cuckolds her unimpressive husband with Thorstein, a manful Icelander, in Constantinople in Grettir's Saga.
The presence of potty and scatological humor in Icelandic and contemporary texts says much about the supposed evolution of art over time. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
