On the train back to Queens tonight, I found a seat next to a young man thoroughly engrossed in entering text into his RAZR. When I stealthily glanced over at the text message he was composing, I saw that it was not actually a message… it was a few lines of awful slam poetry (or, worse, hipster rap). God, it was bad. I wish I remembered one of the rhymes. What’s more troubling to me, however, is that this isn’t the first time I’ve seen people in the 18-24 set composing (abysmally bad) lyrics/poems on their cell phone on the subway. If this is what the next generation has to offer, the future of hip-hop and poetry is dim indeed.
