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“She like ‘Don’t you know this s**t already?’‘N***a ain’t you rich already?’”

“Yeah but I got dumb as s**t, hanging around these rappers cause they dumb as s**t.”

That’s from J. Cole ladies and gentlemen, and boy is he right. I’m a hip-hop nerd to the core. The sheer emotion and adrenaline of rap music to me is unmatched. But over the years I’ve slowly realized just how problematic the genre is. My undying love for rap music has made me look very foolish and ignorant (keep an eye out for a special post on women’s day to see what I mean). Binging on a strict hip-hop only diet, my English level deteriorated, and I started to hear myself seriously think before formulating a sentence or saying something in a conversation, just to make sure it made sense. The glorification of violence, the pervasive misogyny, the sexism, the drug talk / use / abuse, the shallow materialism are all too common. It’s also redundant to the point where if you don’t catch yourself, you start to think that it’s an acceptable behavior to display. For example, the song quoted at the beginning of this article has some very questionable, offensive and tasteless lyrics if you listen to it, even though it comes from a rapper who kicks some serious knowledge. I love the song, but you won’t hear me rapping / playing it out loud in public. To J. Cole’s credit though, he has gone through a major artistic transformation, making the whole world even bigger fans.

There are rappers who make good conscious hip-hop music, and we all love it, but let’s be honest here: hip-hop was originally party music. Fun music. Conscious rap is good when you’re in a specific kind of mood and you want to be serious and think about life. It’s serious music. It’s angry music. It’s motivational music. It’s borderline sad, nostalgic music; these are all necessary emotions that we need as human beings. But life takes such a daily toll on all of us that our primary concern is to be relaxed and happy, and I hate to break it to you, but conscious rap music isn’t made for that. It might actually depress you even more. People are usually more in the mood for just being carefree and not having to think too much or take themselves too seriously. And if you’re about to turn up with your clique, would you rather listen to this? Or this? Yes we might enjoy these morally degrading songs, we might even sing along to them, but that doesn’t mean we condone or share the same views as the artists who make these songs. At least some of us don’t. We do it for the thrill, for the chance to escape our problems for a while. These songs are made for that, and they’re so catchy and so much fun you can’t ignore them.

I’m a fan of every artist that I’ve mentioned or linked to in this post. Their music keeps me balanced and that’s a good thing. With that being said I recently found an eclectic list of artist my dad made to help me expand my music taste, after he heard me listening to a Birdman and Lil Wayne song where Birdman says the word “n***a” ten times in twenty seconds. Stunna! Feel free to pick any of these artists and go from there, they’re all great:

  • Dire Straits (Mark Knopfler)
  • The Police (Sting)
  • Pink Floyd (Listen to their song “Money” before you do anything else!)
  • Ray Barretto
  • Quincy Jones
  • Wally Badarou
  • Ray Lema
  • Rokia Traoré
  • Toumani Diabaté
  • Vangelis
  • Herbie Hancock
  • Ron Carter
  • Geroge Benson
  • Earl Klugh
  • Joe Sample (Melodie of Love)
  • George Washington
  • Amy Winehouse
  • Bernard Lavilliers
  • Daniel Balavoine
  • Jean Jacques Goldman
  • Wynton Marsalis
  • Eric Gale
  • Khaled
  • Fania All Stars
  • Buena Vista Social Club (They’re so dope! Be sure to check out the AfroCubism album)
  • Carlos Santana (His album “Supernatural” is my favorite album of all time. Period.)
  • Gloria Estefan
  • Richard Bona (He’s a genius)
  • Lokua Kanza (He’ll really draw emotion out of you)
  • Johnny Pacheco
  • Michel Petrucciani
  • Bob James
  • Ron Carter
  • Ali Farka Touré
  • Lindsey Stirling

There are so many more that I want to suggest too! If anyone is interested let me know and I’ll be happy to share.

4 Comments

  1. Haha. I have thought about this too. Even if at the beginning we sin’t share the same view as the artist, after singing and dancing on their songs often, we get our subconscious mind programmed to have share the same view as the authors. Thanks for sharing the list from your dad, I will tap in that too.

  2. Hello Theo
    Congratulations for stepping put of you confort zone as you mentionned!! Keep it pu my dear and let your Dreaml come true! You could always count on my support! Waiting for you in Montreal when ever possible
    Pa MBEKOU

    1. Tonton it’s so great to read from you. I was going to e-mail you in the new year, but things got in the way and I apologize for that. I hope you and the family are doing well. I wish you health, love and prosperity. As soon as I’m in Montreal I will come down to say hello! Take Care of yourself.

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