Last week, when I felt particularly tired, I took a break from studying to watch "Everyday Struggle," my favorite web series, in which retired rapper Joe Budden and internet personality DJ Akademiks discuss relevant topics in hip-hop. While talking about the NFL and Trump last week, Joe Budden suddenly interjected to ask Akademiks about whether he had listened to “Laila’s Wisdom,” the newest album by hip-hop artist Rapsody. Then Budden started to go on a rant about how it could possibly be the best hip-hop album of the year.
At this point, my exhaustion had entirely disappeared and I suddenly sat upright, thinking how it was even possible that a rapper I had never heard of had put out an album that was better than “DAMN.,” “4:44” and “Flower Boy.”
I grabbed my phone, opened up Spotify, and started listening.
And, wow, was I sleeping on Rapsody.
After listening to “Laila’s Wisdom,” I can confidently agree with Joe Budden and say she has put out one of the best hip-hop albums of the year. The title of the album was inspired by Rapsody’s grandmother Laila, always telling her to “give me my flowers while I’m here.” Rapsody clarified after the album’s release that what Laila meant was that one always has to show love. And through giving music to people on this album, Rapsody is giving her love to the world.
This philosophy and her motto of “culture over everything” are the central messages that are carried through the album. Some rappers serve the culture by dedicating an album to politics (think Kendrick Lamar's “To Pimp a Butterfly”) and some dedicate albums to showing their more emotional side (like Kanye West's “808’s and Heartbreak”).
Rapsody, however, literally covers all possible topics to rap about on “Laila’s Wisdom,” and she never spreads herself too thin.
A standout track on the album is “Power,” which features Kendrick Lamar and Lance Skiiiwalker. Rapsody and Kendrick discuss both material and abstract things that hold power, like seduction, police badges, guns, and skin color. Rapsody has an especially clever bar that goes: “Bombs over Baghdad to have a flag to brag ‘bout don’t make you a big boy, ‘cause you got a nice stack.” She not only exposes how all wars are started because of money and pride, but also weaves in the title of the song B.O.B by Outkast and the names of both musicians in that group, Big Boi and Andre 3000, or “Three Stacks.”
A more introspective track on the album is “Ridin’,” in which Rapsody expresses her self-esteem issues along with guest artist GQ. Meanwhile the next song on the album, “Sassy,” is a complete 180-degree turn from “Ridin’.” The song is inspired by Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise” and communicates how strength and perseverance are tools for success. Two contradicting songs on the same album back to back like this takes me back to the great contradictions in Kendrick Lamar’s “DAMN.,” in which he says “I can’t fake humble just ‘cause your a** is insecure” on “PRIDE” while discussing how rappers must stay humble on the track “HUMBLE.” Rapsody thus displays many contradicting layers of her personality on the album, which is a true indication of her incredible artistry.
More contradictions on the album appear when she discusses the hip-hop culture as it is today on the tracks “Nobody” and “You Should Know.” In “Nobody,” Rapsody centers on her belief that “oldheads” in hip-hop hating on the newer generation of trap artists is actually tearing the hip-hop community and culture apart. Meanwhile on “You Should Know” she insults the mumble rappers who are being pushed by record labels to represent hip-hop as it is today.
Unexpectedly, though, “You Should Know” ends with a guest verse from Busta Rhymes, who starts rapping about love, sex, and his respect for women, which contradicts the rest of the song, but then leads into one of the best trilogies of songs on an album I have ever heard. First after “You Should Know” comes the track “A Rollercoaster Jam Called Love.” Busta Rhymes’s verse about the honeymoon phase in love leads into this track in which Rapsody seemingly describes the thoughts leading to the separation of a couple after the honeymoon phase.
Rapsody mentions the importance of individuality in love and lays out the rollercoaster in a relationship of going between depending on each other and deciding to be more independent. The song ends in a verse about a breakup, which is a perfect transition into the next song in the trilogy, “U Used 2 Love Me,” in which Rapsody says she’ll love her ex forever, but also how she is no longer in love. Then “U Used 2 Love Me” ends in the sound of footsteps and then a knock on a door, leading the listener to visualize someone walking up to a door and knocking on it. This, again, is a flawless transition to the final song in the trilogy, “Knock On My Door.” Rapsody, now a single woman in the story of the album, raps about her newly found sexual confidence and giving other men a chance to love her. This trilogy about Rapsody’s love life perfectly conveys all of her thoughts on love for both oneself and for someone else, and is altogether produced and cut very cleverly.
The final song on the album, “Jesus Coming,” is a heartbreaking song about young people in urban communities taking each other’s lives. In the second verse of the song she communicates the horror of this situation by describing a scenario in which an innocent mother and her child both die in the crossfires of a gang shootout. Meanwhile, the third verse is written from the perspective of one of the shooters, who explains that he is shooting at others because he is fighting for his family to stay alive. By highlighting these two points of view Rapsody encapsulates wholly the complexity and terror surrounding gang violence, which certainly enlightened someone like me who has never been familiar with gang violence themselves.
And thus, Rapsody has created one of the best hip-hop albums of 2017, proving that she is one of the most underrated artists in the game right now. Not only does she discuss a multitude of cultural and social issues, but she also bares her soul and gives great advice on love and insecurity throughout the album. Whether "Laila's Wisdom" will blow up in sales is yet to be seen, but one thing is certain: Rapsody’s skills as an MC and as an artist can no longer be denied.
