Rap music is the best kind of music, please do not Tweet me, message me, Facebook me, Skype me, or MySpace me. I am right, and I will explain to you why rap music is the most culturally important genre in this gosh dang US of A. Trigger warning: I hate the Beatles and will (will) bash them throughout this article to prove Nicki Minaj is a better artist than Paul McCartney.
Politically forward: Rap music has always been overlooked as one of the most active and influential genres of music when it comes to politics, pop culture, and current events. People always associate classic rock and other styles of rock music as “political music” but they really are not as forward-moving as we think. Like, four white dudes singing about Vietnam is a little overdone to me and I’m over it, to be honest. “F*ck Tha Police” by N.W.A came out in 1988 and is still so up to date (which is terrifying and sad and embarrassing) but people write it off because it was six young, black guys questioning authority. But, the lyrics are genius. A few examples, “so police think they have the authority to kill a minority,” “but don’t let it be a black and a white one, cause they’ll slam you down to the street top, black police showing off for the white cop,” or the closing line just “I want justice.” Chills, Eazy E, chills. Another political song that has been shooed to the side because of presentation is Jay-Z’s “99 Problems.” That entire verse about being pulled over by a police! OMG! “He said ‘son, do you know what I’m stopping you for’/ cause I’m young, an’ I’m black, an’ my hats real low” how does that not wake you up like a freakin’ alarm clock. Then… then, he mentions how he got pulled over for going one mile over the speed limit. Shook. Tell me whats up, Jay. Tell everybody what is up.
Lyrics are everything: I’m a poet, I recognized good spoken word when I hear it. And no shade, but saying “yellow submarine” like 42 times isn't good spoken word. Neither is chanting “babe, I’m gonna leave you” for six minutes- I’m looking at you Led Zeppelin. Side note: I have wanted to diss Led Zeppelin my entire life, I feel free, I still love you Robert Plant. Anyways… you know what is lyrical genius? Having songs so full, and so fast paced that your words fill three pages and every line is a power packed punch. For example, Ringo Starr says “in an octopus’s garden” three times over for his final verse of that song, Tupac says, “I could see you coming home from work late/ in the kitchen tryin’ to fix us a hot plate/ya just working with the scraps you were given/ and Mama made miracles every Thanksgiving.” Don’t even tell me when you hear Tupac tell his Mama “you are appreciated” you don’t want to call your mom and just cry in your car’s Bluetooth. Rap music has much deeper emotions than people associate with it, you just have realize that just because it isn’t as easy to decipher does not mean it isn’t there. Onward, some rap lyrics are not soul-wrenching but are just genius. Example, Nicki Minaj in any song where she is “multiple” rappers. Like, she truly gives so much of herself she creates more of herself. Her verse in Monster deserves to be hung up in the MoMA, when she says “and if I’m fake I ain’t notice cause my money ain’t”!!!! I done lost it! Rap lyrics are art- T-Pain really rhymed mansion with Wisconsin? How? How do you do that? UM OKAY LAST ONE, WHEN CARDI B SAID “THESE IS RED BOTTOMS, THESE IS BLOODY SHOES.” God, I could keep going but I think I’ve said enough. (What about when Nicki says “I don’t say ‘hi’ I say ‘keys to the Benz” let me be alone with that for a minute.) (“Today was a good day, I didn’t even have to use my AK” like come on).
Female rappers deserve to run the United States: I once wrote a ten page thesis paper on female rappers alone. I have zero regrets about it. Female rappers destroy every box they have been put in and kill the game with their bare hands and acrylic nails. They take a genre of music that was basically created by men, for men and flip the whole script. Women like Nicki Minaj, Salt n’ Pepa, M.I.A, Cardi B, Missy Elliot, and Eve deserve far more recognition and respect than they’re given. We forget about names like Left Eye Lopez and Spinderella, but these are women who shaped a subculture. Music-wise, but also style, beats, fashion, and aesthetics have been influenced so much by female rappers. Like when Nicki said, “you can be the king but watch the queen conquer,” you feel me?
Beef: No other genre has beef the way rap music has beef- believe me. I know there is small pockets within other genres, like, Rolling Stones VS the Beatles or Bob Seger VS Bruce Springsteen. But John Lennon never made a diss track about Mick Jagger, now did he? Diss tracks are the best. And every major rapper or hip-hop artist seems to have beef with someone, and I am living for it. Obviously the number one would be Tupac VS Biggie, but I’ll name some of the best aside from them:
-Jay Z VS Nas
-Meek Mill VS Drake
-Nicki Minaj VS Remy Ma
-N.W.A VS Ice Cube (after the created art together, RIP)
-Joe Budden VS all of Migos (dewihtlewklihiwadleftoffbahnboujee)
-Joe Budden VS Lil Yachty
-Me rapping along to Cardi B VS my steering wheel
Beefs like this create masterpieces like “Hit ‘Em Up” by Tupac and more recently, “No Frauds.” They also produce incredible one-liners like “is that a world tour or your girls tour”… well, Meek, which one is it? And my personal favorite; memes. What would 2017 be without “dewihtlewklihiwadleftoffbahnboujee” and, of course, “well, wrap it up den.” Thank you Joe Budden for trying to pop off on Migos.
American Culture at its Peak: Warning: country music is being excluded from this right now because obviously I know that is also an American gem. Anyways, rap music is purely American, and that to me is incredibly important. America has a tough time in the culture department because this country is basically like a newborn in comparison to other countries. We don’t have thousand-year-old traditions because we’re, like, not even three hundred years old. BUT… rap music is wholesome and American- not only is the music American but the culture that it has breed and created is also almost strictly American. Of course in this day and age we have British rappers, European rappers, Australian rappers, Middle Eastern rappers and more. But rap music was something created by an African American man in the 1970’s in the Bronx. Aside from being one of the most popular genres of music created by the black community in the USA, the entire culture that surrounds rap music is something very specific to this country. The chains, the gangs, the slang terms which create nearly a second language (I’m going to come back to that), the style, the beats- that was all created here. Rock music is British, so did pop music, Jazz is African and dance music is from South America and Sweden, evidently. Of course, America birthed other types of music, but in the context of hugely influential culture, rap music was the biggest bop we got. Rap music has shaped generations since its debut in the 70’s. Our culture is different because of rap. I.e, rap music is our culture.
The Language: The other day me and my mom were in the car for a while, and she loves rap music too, so we were having a conversation about why it's top-drawer. One of the reasons I brought up was the language that surrounds rap music is incredibly detailed and difficult to understand- almost like learning a new dialect or language. She didn’t immediately agree with me, so I continued to try and explain how rap has almost created, if not only spread and popularized, American Vernacular English. Many people believe this is an improper way to speak and dismiss is most likely because of the use of slang and racial bias. In reality, being able to understand a sub-language as its own is incredibly impressive. I proved this to my mom by saying an entire sentence in current terms that I understood and would speak to my friends or co-workers in, and she didn’t understand what I meant. This is something produced by rap music. Like, Snoop basically created speaking forizzle in only slang tizzles so the drizzles can’t understizzle. I just laughed out loud typing that.
The Clothes: I added this last minute because how can we not talk about these iconic LEWKS.
