I was reading a blog the other day and was concerned by a statement regarding the literacy of rappers. Rap and Hip-Hop are important musical genres. As a sheltered, relatively privileged white male I will never know the challenges and difficulties of growing up on the streets of Harlem, L.A etc. However, through the poetry of Tupac Shakur, NAS, Notorious BIG, Jay- Z etc I can try and understand and contemplate what it's like growing up in an environment where you aspire to be a drug dealer or a gangster. Blues music in the early 20th Century was an outlet for African-American musicians to tell their own stories. Rap and Hip-Hop are the Blues of today. I imagine the 'rappers' being referred to were the musicians you hear on pop stations now. This isn't rap. It is commercial pop music...does this sounds familiar to our lecture on Commercial Media? The real audience of this 'music' is advertisers and an audience that is dumbed down.
Tupac Shakur is considered perhaps the most poetic of rappers. He was an incredibly well-read and intelligent young man. Here is a link to a list of books he was known to have read http://www.alleyezonme.com/tupacsReadingList.phtml. Is it any surprise then that this man could create such poignant lyrics as in one of his best known songs Changes.
I see no changes. All I see is racist faces.
Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races we under.
I wonder what it takes to make this one better place...
let's erase the wasted.
Or his ode to his mother, Dear Mama
A poor single mother on welfare, tell me how ya did it
There's no way I can pay you back
But the plan is to show you that I understand
You are appreciated
If anyone rivals Tupac for pure poetry it would be NAS. His debut Illmatic, released in 1994, was a revelation. His track NY State of Mind is an autobiographical story of his days working the corners as a drug dealer.
One of his later songs I Can, released in 2002 is a desperate plea to boy and girls who were in danger of following his early choices in life and ending up on the streets dealing drugs. I wanted to find a few lines from this but ended up adding the entire third verse because it is so powerful and brilliant.
Be, be, 'fore we came to this country
We were kings and queens, never porch monkeys
There was empires in Africa called Kush
Timbuktu, where every race came to get books
To learn from black teachers who taught Greeks and Romans
Asian Arabs and gave them gold when
Gold was converted to money it all changed
Money then became empowerment for Europeans
The Persian military invaded
They heard about the gold, the teachings, and everything sacred
Africa was almost robbed naked
Slavery was money, so they began making slave ships
Egypt was the place that Alexander the Great went
He was so shocked at the mountains with black faces
Shot up they nose to impose what basically
Still goes on today, you see?
If the truth is told, the youth can grow
Then learn to survive until they gain control
Nobody says you have to be gangstas, hoes
Read more learn more, change the globe
Ghetto children, do your thing
Hold your head up, little man, you're a king
Young Princess when you get your wedding ring
Your man is saying "She's my queen"Doesn't sound too illiterate to me.
Finally on to Jay-Z. Perhaps the most successful rapper of all time. Husband to Beyonce, hero to aspiring MC's and disadvantaged youths, mult-millionaire businessman. Perhaps the wittiest and cleverest rapper of the last twenty years aswell. And behind The Beatles (19) he has the second highest amount of number 1 albums on the American charts (12).
His soundtrack to American Gangster is a concept album of sorts. A semi-autobiographical look at his early life on the streets. The track American Dream is a twist on the traditional American Dream of suburbia.
Step One in this process, scramble up in your projects
And head to the heights where big coke is processed
You gotta convince 'em that you not from the Precinct
When it comes to wordplay though Jay-Z stands out from all other rappers. Take this example from Brooklyn (Go Hard)
I Jack, I Rob, I sin
Awww man, I'm Jackie Robinson
Except when I run base, I dodge the penNot only does it roll and flow so beautifully together but it also has multiple meanings. 'Run base' and 'dodge the pen' are both baseball terms. Running base also refers to dealing drugs and 'dodging the pen' would mean not being incarcerated. Ethics aside, it is without a doubt wonderfully witty.
How about these lines from Blue Magic, also from American Gangster.
Blame Reagan for making me into a monster
Blame Oliver North and Iran-Contra
I ran contraband that they sponsoredHe repeats the same syllables. Iran-Contra/ I ran contra. What was he referring to? During Ronald Reagan's second term senior members of his administration secrectly facilitated arms sales to Iran, a country that was and remains under an arms embargo.
Rap is a truly important cultural and social tradition and instead of being marginalised and judged by people who don't understand it, it should be investigated, analysed and ultimately celebrated for the geniuses that continue to carry on it's legacy.
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