Either respect the flow or learn your lesson...It's a random Jay-Z line that has stuck with me for a long time. Respect the flow. For many years now I have listened to rap music with a keen ear towards flow. Many times an individual's flow can be seen to be as important as what the individual is actually saying. But where does this "flow" come from? In my experience flow can be defined as the rhythmic portion of rap. There are obviously many different layers involved in developing one's flow, but the rhythm is where it starts. So where does rhythmic poetry begin? What better place to start than in Ancient Greece with a mysterious artist named Homer? When I read the Odyssey in high school I first thought it was boring. I liked the characters, but it was just way too long for a "cool, Sparknotes abusing 15 year old" to actually read. Maybe a year later in my Latin class we started to talk about poetic meter and all of the sudden I had a whole new appreciation for the epic. The Jay-Z line again resonated. "Respect the flow". When my Latin teacher read it with the "flow" or meter intact I realized how much of the story I was truly missing. Regardless of what your opinions are on Homer himself there is no doubt that the Homeric traditions developed a revolutionary poetic metric system. A meter that goes by the name of "dactylic hexameter" Look for a second at the picture above. This is the basis of dactylic hexameter. The word "dactylos" is the Greek word for finger so this is where the meter derives. It consists of one long syllable followed by two short syllables. The two short syllables equal one long syllable much like in music where a short syllable would represent a half note and a long syllable a whole note. The hexameter indicates that there are six metrons in a row. This picture will help you better understand: Notice that the final metron is called the "anceps". This technically does not follow the dactyl pattern since it has a variation that allows for either two long syllables in a row or one long syllable and one short syllable. A potential problem arises in the meter when you have a word that has no long, but the beauty of the meter is that it stays intact even when replacing the "dactyl" with a "spondee". "Spondee" represents a substitution where the writer replaces the dactyl (long-short-short syllable pattern) with a long-long syllable pattern. This variation allows for the pattern to be both structured while still being flexible. The first seven lines of the Aeneid provide a good place to follow the meter: Now follow along as I write the rhythm pattern for the first three lines using a dum-diddy system

1 dum diddy/dum diddy/dum dum/dum dum/dum diddy/anceps
2 dum diddy/dum dum/dum diddy/dum dum/dum diddy/anceps
3 dum diddy/dum dum/dum dum/dum dum/dum diddy/anceps

So just by looking at those 3 lines alone you can see the stringent yet flexible uses of the meter. There are some examples of dactylic hexameter in modern rap, but the major point being made here is that rap does have some of its rhythmic roots as far reaching as Classical Times and even beyond. Many may be offended that I bring this up citing that I am snubbing rap forefathers such as the Sugarhill Gang or even the Griots well before them, but that is not my intention. My intention is to instruct the audience that just as Jay-Z's flow must be respected so too must Homer's.

SO STOP DISRESPECTING THE "FLOW"