Fraters Libertas

Rapper's Delight, Readers' Lament

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse .... the Star Tribune starts rapping.

In what I presume is a light hearted attempt to summarize 2003, fussy, middle-aged white guy Bill McAulife tries to channel Tupac Shakur. (And if McAulife isn’t a fussy, middle-aged white guy, my apologies for stereotyping. In my defense I was profiling based on the fact he raps like a fussy, middle-aged white guy).

But even amid the light-hearted rapping, the Star Tribune is able to get it’s holiday message through. The title of the piece? Rapping up 2003: A year of despair.

Ed over at Captain’s Quarters (an accomplished poet in his own right, even for a middle aged white guy), does a fine job of further analyzing this embarrassment.

I’d like to see Ed tackle some of Bill McAulife’s previous verse. Like his 2002 Waltz. Or his 2000 Poem. Please compare and contrast and tell me how either of these differ in structure and style from his so-called rapping.

UPDATE: The Bard of the Northern Alliance, Captain Ed, accepts the challenge of analyzing the back catalog of Strib poet Bill McAulife. This is a huge act of pubic service on Ed’s part, since just reading the the poetry of Bill McAulife is more of a challenge than most are willing to take.

Thanks for taking the bullet on this one Ed. And rest up, since the doggerel of McAulife appears to be an annual Star Tribune tradition, we’re going to need your services again one year from today.