Jason for Day 12

Rappers and Their Use of Apostrophes

Because an apostrophe shows omission, as in the missing
“o” of “don’t” or the missing “ha” of “could’ve,”
I think it ought in fact to be “Li’l’ Kim” rather than
“Lil’ Kim” or “Li’l’ Bow Wow” instead of “Lil’
Bow Wow.” Other rappers dispense with the apostrophe
altogether, as in “Lil Wayne,” while no one places
the apostrophe between the “I” and the “l” to form
“Li’l,” despite Wikipedia’s insistence that this is
a frequent spelling. I personally, am on the li’l’
side, at only five foot six, but have never considered
going by the appellation “Lil’ Jason” or “Lil Jason,”
though I have considered “Li’l’ Schneiderman,”
“Li’l Schneidy,” and “Lil Schneids” as rap names.
My debut album will feature guest appearances
only by muscians who play fast and loose with
punctuation, like “Will.I.Am,” “?uestlove,”
and the symbol formerly naming Prince. My debut
alb’m will be named by my twitter feed and the songs
will all be found poems based on nineteenth
century grammar textbooks and flarf poems.
It will sell fewer copies than I have hits on youtube,
and that will be s’d. It will make me cr’.