Constantinople Rap

Warnings From The Ancient World

Daisy Dunn | The Critic | 10th March 2022

Notes on Constantinople, formerly Byzantium, under the Roman Emperor Justinian in the 6th century. The postal service was as good as that in any modern country. Hagia Sophia was completed by 10,000 labourers in six years. But 40 per cent of the population would die before the age of 18 from disease and pollution, notably lead-poisoning from the smelting of silver coinage (1,400 words)

Unrappable Words

Daniel Levin Becker | Literary Hub | 28th February 2022

Are there "unrappable words" — words so "ungainly and "unwieldy" as to resist for even rap’s "powers of assimilation"? Probably not. We may have to listen a while before we hear words such as pulchritude or amortize or hoarfrost or chilblains dropped over a beat. But somebody will rise to the occasion. Rap loves words that are "challenging to use, surprising to hear, satisfying to say" (1,360 words)

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