THE RAP PAGES: Remember when pop-rock purists...

THE RAP PAGES: Remember when pop-rock purists recoiled at the idea that rap lyrics would ever be viewed as serious art? But lyrics to more than 150 rap tunes are now library-ready literature--with the Penguin Books seal of approval. The prestigious publisher has just released “Rap: The Lyrics,” which offers the words to songs reaching back as far as the Sugarhill Gang’s 1979 “Rapper’s Delight.”

And the volume doesn’t shy away from rap’s most notorious and profane moments, including the lyrics to N.W.A.’s “F--- tha Police,” the Geto Boys’ bloody “Mind of a Lunatic” and both the clean and dirty versions of 2 Live Crew’s “Me So Horny.” Ice-T’s heavy-metal “Cop Killer,” though, is not included.

Here’s one of our favorite lines, from Three Times Dope’s “The Greatest Man Alive”: “E.S.T., the ackniculous wonder, I’m the greatest man alive.” Don’t bother checking your dictionary for ackniculous. We already did--it’s not there.