April is National Poetry Month (oh, don’t tell us you forgot!). To celebrate, VIBE decided to pay homage to our favorite form of poetry: Haiku! Haiku is a Japanese poetry style that allows poets to express themselves using 17 syllables over three lines—five syllables in the first line, seven in the second line, and five in the third line. Using the top 10 songs on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop chart, we’ve taken some of our favorite poets (i.e. rappers and singers) and reinterpreted their chart-topping hits into Haiku poems. With all due respect to Diddy, this is the remix.
Ed Note: Click on the song title to be taken to listen to each one at Imeem
The Poets: Jamie Foxx feat. T-Pain
The Poem:“Blame It…” from Jamie Foxx’s Intuition (J, 2008)
The Haiku:
Drink the alcohol
Drink a lot of alcohol
There is your excuse
The Poets: T.I. feat. Justin Timberlake
The Poem:“Dead and Gone” from T.I.’s Paper Trail (Grand Hustle/Atlantic, 2008)
The Haiku:
The road has been long
Lost some friends along the way
Still I have survived
The Poets: Keri Hilson feat. Lil Wayne
The Poem:“Turnin’ Me On” from Keri Hilson’s In a Perfect World… (Mosley/Zone 4/Interscope, 2009)
The Haiku:
You’re turning me on
No, you are turning me on
Ms. Keri baby
The Poet: The-Dream
The Poem: “Rockin’ That Sh**” from Love vs Money (Def Jam, 2009)
The Haiku
The dance is simple
Move your hips from side to side
Yeah, girl, just like that
The Poets: Soulja Boy Tell’Em feat. Sammie
The Poem:“Kiss Me Thru The Phone” from Soulja Boy’s iSouljaBoyTellem (Collipark/Interscope, 2008)
The Haiku:
If I could see you
I would kiss you but I can’t
So kiss through the phone
The Poet: Pleasure P
The Poem: “Boyfriend #2” from the upcoming The Introduction of Marcus Cooper (Atlantic)
The Haiku:
Boyfriend number 2
Is better than boyfriend one
At least I hope so
The Poem: “Turn My Swag On” from Soulja Boy’s iSouljaBoyTellem (Collipark/Interscope, 2008)
The Haiku:
I turn my swag on
When I hop up out my bed
It stays on all day
The Poet: Rick Ross feat. John Legend
The Poem: “Magnificent” from Rick Ross’s Deeper Than Rap (Maybach/Poe Boy/Def Jam, 2009)
The Haiku:
Girl, I can tell you
How to be magnificent
But let me show you
The Poet: Musiq Soulchild
The Poem: “Sobeautiful” from OnMyRadio (Atlantic, 2008)
The Haiku:
You are beautiful
Did I say that already
Then so beautiful
The Poet: Jennifer Hudson
The Poem: “If This Isn’t Love” from Jennifer Hudson (Arista, 2008)
The Haiku:
I thought this was love
I could have sworn this was love
I was wrong, my bad
home
