Examples of Hanif Abdurraqib’s Descriptive Language:

Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest:

Hanif Abdurraqib writes a letter to QTIP and Phife in Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest. In one section of Abdurraqib’s letter to QTIP, he addresses the LA case of police brutality–the Rodney King’s experience which rocked the nation in the early 1990’s. Abdurraqib commends QTIP for simply making music that the black community can dance to even during a dire time like that. I appreciate Abdurraqib’s straight forward tone when he tells QTIP that his music wasn’t doing the kind of work that Public Enemy did because it was honest. He writes, “You were never the sonic force that Public Enemy was, with the big-voiced siren shouting down the kingdom of your oppressors until their empire trembled to dust” (58). In this moment, Abdurraqib uses metaphor to compare the power of Public Enemy’s lyrics to a “big-voiced siren” that influences listeners. He addresses the power of the “oppressors” that Public Enemy calls out as crumbling–their “empire trembled to dust.” In this moment I visualize a large building falling to the ground dramatically by the exposing lyrics of Public Enemy. It would be one thing to say that Public Enemy exposed the injustices of certain public institutions including the government and police force. But it’s a lot more impactful to visualize this sentiment through a scenic, dramatic metaphor.

Lost Notes 1980:

In Abdurraqib’s Lost Notes 1980 podcast episode on Ian Curtis, he uses beautiful language on memory and death. Here is a quote for context and the quote on his use of descriptive language:

Context:

“For all of New Order’s success throughout the 80s – the band’s soundtrack-ready songs and rapturous live performances, I love the way the first single came to life the most. I think a lot about the voices of the dead – the voices of our dearly beloved and how they can fade into memory after too long.”

Descriptive Language:

“Only when I open an old diary or read an old letter does the sound of someone’s voice come flooding back to me. The way that some people write and fall into the language of their old writing is like a lighthouse. Another way to stretch out and expand the memory of a person. To step into their old words. To remember their voice for a moment and ask other people to bask in that memory.”

Abdurraqib appreciates the preservation of a lost ones memory in song “Ceremony.” Ceremony is a song by Joy Division that wasn’t released while Ian Curtis was alive. It was releases as New Order’s debut single. Abdurraqib states that the language in “Ceremony” offers clarity and remembrance like a lighthouse. Amidst the darkening, fading memory that comes for the living who think back to lost loved ones, Abdurraqib expresses that we only remember and hold onto glimmers but language like an old diary can bring back details like the sound of someones voice. This was a haunting yet powerful moment Abdurraqib draws upon on death and memory and the lighthouse image was simple yet impactful.