ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the literature in the theopoetics field and demonstrates its connection with hip-hop culture. It argues that underground rap, in its ability to create new metaphysics that by nature structure, restructure, and post-structure ways of being in the world, theopoetically form this “Next Universe” where the creative impulse runs too fast to be trapped by ossified dogmas, stereotypes, and oppressive systems. Theopoetics is the reshaping impulse that responds to the shortcomings of a universe by birthing a new universe where said shortcomings are not present, at best, or are significantly less evident, at least. Theopoetics responds to impending ruptures in theological systems, ruptures which could signal the end of a particular religious, quasi-religious, or philosophical tradition. The chapter also looks at some of the important literature in the theopoetics field as it intersects with the texture of underground hip-hop culture.
