Lil Wayne, Imitatio, and the Poetics of Cannibalism

Abstract:This paper explores rapper Lil Wayne's use of the language of food and consumption through the lens of critical theorizing about poetic imitatio ("imitation") from antiquity through the staggered Renaissances across Europe. I suggest that Lil Wayne's use of consumptive imagery points to a poetics of artistic engagement—what I term a "poetics of cannibalism"—that has lurked in the background of theorizing about imitatio for millennia. Scholars have recognized a range of deep-seated traditions going back to antiquity analogizing literature to physical bodies, literary reception to "consumption," and the notion that competitive poetics is inherently violent. But rarely are these traditions merged in discussions of imitatio. This study sheds light both on the tradition of theorizing about imitatio and on Lil Wayne's place in it. More broadly, the paper interrogates the role food plays in mimetic arts and in discussions of poetics and reception.