Summary Of Tara Betts Hip Hop Analogies

In Tara Betts “Hip hop Analogies,” the speaker uses free verse to express that one must have support, reciprocation, and a sense of completeness or being whole in order to achieve a good relationship. The speaker says, “ If you be microphone/ then I be palm” (Betts 11-12), to express a support system. If this analogy is taken in the figurative text, it can be implied that the palm is the support and the microphone is the voice or representative of self-expression. When one uses a microphone to speak, they use it to be heard –to express themselves. When they use the microphone, in most cases, they have to use their [hands] or their palm to hold it. The palm is that support system; the humanness in that person; or the ability to get things handled/ done. This analogy symbolizes that

For example, when the speaker uses the analogy, “ If you be...then I be” (1-35), she is indicating the reciprocation process. In Layman’s terms, this simply means that what is done for one is done for the other in return; kind of like saying “if you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours;”or if you do something for me, I'll do the same in return. Reciprocation in a relationship shows that one person isn't doing all the work that is required of all the parties involved, but that all work equally towards the same goal; it's a partnership. Through reciprocation, one gains the idea of contingency that gives a sense of wholeness and completeness –harmony ; meaning that one can't exist without the other, but if they both exist their expectations are fulfilled and they are in sync with one another. Lastly, the speaker uses the analogy, “If you be turntable/ then I be crossfader” (21-22), as a way of saying that she wants the person that she's in a relationship with as well as herself to be in harmony –in sync. A crossfader is technology that merges music together seamlessly without anyone realizing