It’s not often that Lil’ Wayne and John Donne are mentioned in the same discussion of poetic meter, or that Biggie’s sexual innuendo is pitted against Shakespeare’s 17th-century puns. Then again, it’s not often that rap music is given a thorough literary analysis. Adam Bradley, professor of English at Claremont McKenna College, does just that in Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop (Basic Civitas).

Long gone are the days when long verse poetry captured the imaginations of the masses. These days, Bradley argues, rap has succeeded where contemporary poetry has failed by retaining the popular appeal of predictability while simultaneously staying innovative.

Bradley’s book is ultimately successful, with a readable text that can engage diehard hip-hop heads, conventional poetry buffs or any combination of the two. The book is broken down into six chapters, each offering its own distinct form of literary analysis, including rhythm, wordplay and signifying, and is replete with a number of convincing sing-along examples, from the pioneering raps of Melle Mel to the surprisingly catchy rhymes of Eminem.

Bradley also uses poetics to analyze rap’s looming controversies. Do you secretly bob your head to the most distasteful misogynist lyrics on the radio? Blame the rhythm. Tired of every commercial rapper trying to sound like 50 Cent? Blame familiar rhyme themes.

Certainly not all of rap’s contradictions are easily explained by poetics, but Bradley is careful not to take sides. Instead, he accepts the art form for what it is—engaging, problematic and fun.